character concept - duke of london

TITEL TEST2

Character Conceptby Ulrike Schwertberger

1 RESEARCH

CHARACTER CONCEPT DUKE OF LONDON

Setting & Moodboard

My character is the main promotional character of a fictional upcoming Steampunk-style card game aimed at young adults titled “Duke of London”.

The game is set in an alternate Victorian-era London, in which humans and strange creatures from all over the world come to the city with great ambitions. Players are dealt character cards, have to collect influence points and ultimately become “Duke of London”.

The character appearing on the box of the game and on promotional material should create attention with a unique look. His appearance should also fit into the 19th century industrial look of the game.

On the right you can see the Moodboard I created in order to get a general idea of the style I was going for in terms of branding and character design.


My concept idea was a character whose appearance is very “naturalis-tic” in contrast to the civilized clothing he is wearing.

My inspiration from the animal world was the Weedy seadragon, whose appendages I included in the design.

The character is a biped who comes from a semiaquatic environment, but he has a human-like body type with frog-like feet.

Additionally, his appearance should underline that he is an intelligent and educated character, which is why I added a little beard to make him look more ‘wise’.

Character inspiration


In terms of clothing, I was inspired by the clothes worn by gentlemen and dandies of the 19th century.

This style is particulary popular in the Steampunk genre and can be found in many variations in works of fiction or Steampunk costumes.

Clothing

2 DEvElopmEnt


It is interesting to note that my idea shifted from a beast-like character to a more elegant, aquatic character during the process of sketching.

Early sketches


Sir Cloozok Wellington is one of the playable charac-ters in the card game Duke of London. He came to the city by swimming in the River Thames, probably from quite far away. His race is a peaceful folk, however they are not known to leave their homeland which makes Cloozok a somewhat exotic visitor.

Background

Sly, intelligent and ambitious. Cloozok is highly edu-cated and appreciates art and literature - a “man of culture”. He is not a good fighter and enjoys a cup of tea while reading a book. He lacks the financial funds to purchase expensive art for himself, which is why he strives to become Duke of London.

Personality

The character is wearing Victorian-era style up-per-class clothing with seahorse-like details in the back of the coat. There are other aquatic elements like the cravat which looks like kelp and seashell buttons.He also uses a walking cane with a seahorse head.

Clothing and appearance

3 BRAnDInG


Branding concept

I looked at brands with a vintage look and the take-away was that almost all of these brands use letter-ing-style font logos with decorative elements such as swirly lines.

I also included this vintage style in the advertising material for the brand.

Suitable freebies for the cardgame brand would be items which would also have been popular in 19th century London. The freebies I designed are: Wine, Eau de Perfume and Earl Grey Tea. I also included a T-Shirt design because this item would make it easier to make the brand well-known.

This is also suitable because the consumers of this cardgame would be adults aged between 15-35 years.


Logo

I included a clockwork wheel in the logo design because this element is very popular within the Steampunk genre.

The typeface also adds to the vintage, 19th century look.


Web banner


Launch party

Wine bottle

Perfume

Earl Grey Tea

T-shirt

TITEL TEST2 created forL5 Concept Development & Animation

Leeds Beckett University

November 2015

character concept - duke of london

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