Students on our BA (Hons) Illustration for Commercial Application degree programme have been working with award-winning studio for video games and concept art Atomhawk on a live brief which explores character development for an upcoming game.

Speaking of the brief student Savannah Thornton explained, “Our project was given to us by Atomhawk to create a concept for their upcoming AAA game ‘Denizens Of The Drift’ specifically, one of the main characters to feature called Odette. Who is described as the guiding light of the people, who live’s there because of her confidence and quick thinking. With this information we had to produce a realistically rendered full body drawing of this character while thinking of the world she lives in and how she would fit into the game.”

Student Jess hardy continued; “The project we were given was quite inspiring, having us create a fully-fledged character design set in a sci-fi/modern-world for a mock video game. It was very interesting to be given such a specific brief to see how we could make it into our own and develop our own character will a fully-fledged personality.

Savannah’s concept is based on a character “that was still someone people would look to in a sort of ‘big sister’ way with a not so authoritarian energy to her whilst still being assured that she can get the job done. I took inspiration mainly from DIY fashion and alternative styles like scene kids to make a character that stood out as their own person and could be spotted in a crowd while sticking to the brief of modern clothes, and the knowledge that most people in the drift don’t have a lot to go around and cherish what they do own. So it wouldn’t make sense to have her have brand new clothes with no wear and tear. I also like the idea that she customizes her own clothes like the spikes on her shoes and her hand painted shirt. Which could open windows for customization in game like collectable stencils, or patches for her long black jacket representing different gangs in the drift or locations in the game.”

Jess said that she was happy with the final work, “the outcomes that I have created I am very happy with, a full turnaround for my character design of Odette, an enigmatic personality with lots of life based of the Afropunk subculture. It was really fun creating her design and putting her into an environment where I used a wide range of techniques and brushes to get my ideal outcome.”

Speaking of skills developed during the module and career prospects she reflected “I have enhanced my digital skills immensely for this project and found out what it really takes to create a good character design through a process of research and experimentation. I am looking to go into concept art in the future, so collaborating with Atomhawk for this project has given me a good foot in the door, in terms of industry. ”

Savannah said that she is “Overall, really happy with my results” and attributes her success to the course “I couldn’t have done it without the input from my tutors and other classmates on the illustration course here who gave their critique to help my ideas grow organically in the right direction and this whole brief gave me insight into the world of concept art and Atomhawk as a brand. It was an honour to create for such a big company and I am eager for more opportunities like this in the future!”

Speaking of the course Jess said that she “thoroughly enjoyed working on my degree so far as I have been given amazing opportunities from the school alongside the support given by tutors that help me develop my work to the best of my ability.”

If you are interested in studying illustration at degree level make sure you check out our industry focused course here for details like modules and course partners! You can keep up to date with Savannah’s work on her Instagram @Saphthorn. Check out Jess’s work by following @-ye0man-!