Zhar Character Concept

Hello everyone, it’s been a long minute since my last post. Since graduating, I’ve been working on some exciting freelance projects, and it’s been refreshing to step outside my usual 3D workflow and focus more heavily on 2D work. Today I’m sharing a character concept from a fantasy project that I’ve been given permission to post, a piece that may also lead into future illustrations, which I’m also excited about. Huge thanks to Stan for trusting me with this design, and I’m looking forward to what’s next :)

As for the character himself, the design went through many iterations and refinements, I've included some in this post. The core goal was to create a cold-inspired assassin hero, reflected through a restrained, cool colour palette. This was a deliberate contrast to the story’s antihero, who will carry a far more volatile and dangerous visual language (but I’ll leave it at that). Overall, this project has been a great change of pace from my usual work, and I’m happy with where the design landed. As always, feedback is welcome, and I hope you enjoy the shift in style.