Character Design - Shaman

Caracter design that I made, it was an art test for a video game studio. I had little time for planning and try more design variants, but I did my best. The premise was: "Northern shaman summoning guardian spirits", and I had to work in a similar style to their samples.

I took my time to gather references enough to create something coherent with their style but keeping it faithful to the nordic shamans. So, I read a lot about their culture and the why of their clothes and accesories, and figured out that most of the time the drum is absent in character designs, even when it's an important item.

So, I didn't want to make another classic shaman cliché (the old man with a long staff) and tried to make something more "battle oriented", where this shaman uses a sacrificial dagger as a weapon, but also uses the pommel of the dagger to play the drum. Doing so, she can hold her battle stance while calling the guardian spirits, activating different protective or damaging spells.

Also, her drum can be used not at all as a shield, but as a blut weapon hitting with the bear hard skull. And for her pose, I wanted something that resembles a shamanic dance, but also ready for battle.

It would be great if I had enough time to think more ideas but time was short. I decided to add a few more details on the rendering after the test was made, so I could give her a closer touch to what I usually make, and I'm happy with the result anyway.