Character Conception, Inspiration, and Reference
Leona Lionheart is a character I designed for a Dungeons and Dragons (Gygax and Arneson, 1974) campaign. She is a young Paladin aspiring to join the Order of the Golden Lion, a Paladin order that requires members to carry out duties that aid their own and other good faiths (Martin and Boyd, 1996). Leona is a lawful good character and is still innocent of the world’s evils, nobly fighting for her cause.
Leona’s inspirations come from my values, which you can see reflected in some of my favourite literature, games, and film. I like the idea of strong female characters who break stereotypes and fight for a noble cause. Some of the movies, game characters, and literature that have influenced me are Mulan (Mulan, 1998), A Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood, 1996), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, 1984), Overwatch – Brigette (Overwatch, 2016), and League of Legends – Leona (League of Legends, 2009). I adapted Leona from the character I wrote for a short Dungeons and Dragons (Gygax and Arneson, 1974) campaign with my friends. I spent a lot of time conceiving a character that closely reflected my beliefs; I believe this will help me create this character as it will have more personality, as an extension of my own and based on my own experiences and values.
Leona was born into a noble family in a small village. A foul scourge plagues the area, and the local authority hires men to fight against the monsters. In this country, women are expected to be homemakers, and it is abnormal for women to join the local military. Her father was the town blacksmith and taught her how to shape metals, expecting her to follow in his footsteps. Instead, she forged herself an armour set in secret, and when she was 18, she left her town to prove herself worthy of fighting alongside her peers. She has joined a small band of adventurers and seeks to join a Paladin order before eventually returning home to free her town of the scourge using the magic she has learned along the way.
Leona’s armour is heavily damaged and scratched, reflecting the many battles she has fought. She smithed her armour many years ago herself, and you can see deep gouges that were unable to be polished out. Leona polishes the edges of her armour using gold metal polish, which is how Paladins in the Order of The Golden Lion shine their armour (Martin and Boyd, 1996). There will be some cloth parts to her armour, which will be coloured blue or white based on colour symbolism from the Middle Ages; during the latter half of the Middle Ages, the colour white was commonly seen as priestly and pure, and blue as loyal and virtuous (Ward, 2020). The armour should be slightly bulky for her frame, adding visually to the idea that she must “grow into her role” as a Paladin.
I sourced the following reference images and organised them using the software “Pure Ref”. I chose female characters that resembled my vision for Leona (Gallery One). However, because I wanted the armour to look bulky, I later decided to use male armour as a reference instead while designing the outfit (Gallery Two). This decision to use male armour was because most female armour designs were relatively lightweight in design and often more revealing than I wanted. Many of the male armours are also closer in colour scheme and shape, with many more hard edges than the flowy edges seen in many female armour designs. I chose a hard-edged male-oriented design for Leona to show her strong personality and desire to prove herself equal to the men of her village.
Gallery One:
Gallery Two:
Description References:
Atwood, M., 1996. The Handmaid’s Tale. Vintage Publishing.
Gygax, G. and Arneson, D., 1974. Dungeons & Dragons. TSR (1974–1997), Wizards of the Coast (1997–present).
League of Legends. 2009. [game] Developed by Riot Games.
Martin, J. and Boyd, E., 1996. Faiths & Avatars. p.165.
Mulan. 1998. [film] Directed by T. Bancroft and B. Cook. Walt Disney Pictures.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. 1984. [film] Directed by H. Miyazaki. Topcraft.
Overwatch. 2016. [game] Developed by Blizzard Entertainment, Iron Galaxy.
Ward, M., 2020. True blue: the connection between colour and loyalty in the later Middle Ages. Journal of Medieval History, [online] 46(2), pp.133-155. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03044181.2020.1730936?scroll=top&needAccess=true> [Accessed 15 May 2021].
Description Image References:
Kelana, A., 2019. Armure Femme. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1nNyk3> [Accessed December 2020].
Lee, U., 2015. Knight In Armour. [image] Available at: <https://vk.com/doc48637682_425812674?hash=6931f10dfe706f6040&dl=14e8846019376988cb> [Accessed December 2020].
Gallery One References:
n.d. Alexeara Cansellarion, Paladin of Iomedae. [Digital Artwork].
BEAST Min, 2018. Paladin. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/AJEOW> [Accessed December 2020].
Belisle, E., n.d. Title 60. [image] Available at: <http://www.ericbelisle.com/characters> [Accessed December 2020].
Burmak, E., n.d. Warpriest, Cleric of Iomedae. [Digital Artwork].
Chan, J., 2010. Knight Exemplar. [Digital Art].
Changyoung, J., 2018. Astellia Work (아스텔리아 작업) 11. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qAn4g2> [Accessed December 2020].
Choi, J., 2016. Knight. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vwdlA?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email_digest_mailer> [Accessed December 2020].
Daudén, G., 2016. Character Concept Art: Knightess. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1B0Qo> [Accessed December 2020].
Guldemond, B., 2017. The Iron Swan. [image] Available at: <https://www.deviantart.com/artofbeng/art/The-Iron-Swan-715249504> [Accessed December 2020].
n.d. Hell’s Rebels. [Digital Artwork].
Hwan, K., 2017. lineage_atun. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/x9Rz1> [Accessed December 2020].
Imel, F., 2017. Paladin. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5qZVg> [Accessed December 2020].
Jeon, S., 2017. Crusader. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/y3r83> [Accessed December 2020].
Kennedy, H., 2018. Rise of the Runelords. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KnB2r> [Accessed December 2020].
Kim, H., 2019. Armor Knight 5. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/N5o3rg> [Accessed December 2020].
Kim, S., n.d. Hawk Armor. [Digital Art].
Kyu Ree, L., 2017. Paladin. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/WkvKE> [Accessed December 2020].
Lee, U., 2016. A Paladin. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/51YzP> [Accessed December 2020].
Mucuzi, 2017. Illustration. [Illustration].
Noh, H., 2018. Woman Character. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vn0Zv> [Accessed December 2020].
Park, J., 2011. Bless Team Concept. [image] Available at: <https://m.blog.naver.com/hyugard/221178679746> [Accessed December 2020].
Pitturru, R., n.d. Paladin. [Digital Art].
Troost, R., n.d. For Honor Concept Art. [image] Available at: <https://www.iamag.co/the-art-of-remko-troost-2/#jp-carousel-163436> [Accessed December 2020].
YoonArt, 2017. Royal Warrior. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/grZd8> [Accessed December 2020].
Zezhou, C., 2014. A Test. [image] Available at: <https://www.deviantart.com/zezhou/art/A-test-458032919> [Accessed December 2020].
バラバババ, 2013. 無題. [image] Available at: <https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/37031282> [Accessed December 2020].
Gallery Two References:
Chaei, M., 2019. Knight. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1nLREq> [Accessed December 2020].
DK Online, 2012. Guard NPC with thick armor, shield and spear. [image] Available at: <https://m.inven.co.kr/webzine/wznews.php?idx=39112&site=csgo&iskin=csgo> [Accessed December 2020].
Hyunji, Y., 2018. Knight_2. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/nAG3K> [Accessed December 2020].
Jungmin, J., n.d. Knight. [image] Available at: <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tVd3lIQQkfk/VqYT_y4pyRI/AAAAAAAHVQ4/Lb8een4Hdx0/s1600/Jungmin%2BJin%2528Dospi%2529-www.kaifineart.com-1.jpg> [Accessed December 2020].
Kang, S., 2017. Strong Knight Concept Art. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xxDDY> [Accessed December 2020].
Kho, G., 2017. shield flag knight man. [image] Available at: <https://kwangbeomkho.artstation.com/projects/vRvGd> [Accessed December 2020].
Namho, B., 2016. Knight of Light. [image] Available at: <https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/342906959113268322/> [Accessed December 2020].
Nawol, 2010. Crusader. [image] Available at: <https://www.deviantart.com/nawol/art/crusader-165382252> [Accessed December 2020].
Park, D., 2017. Crusader. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Z901X> [Accessed December 2020].
Park, J., 2011. Bless Works. [image] Available at: <https://m.blog.naver.com/hyugard/221178679746> [Accessed December 2020].
Park, S., 2018. Female Elf Knight. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xzJQ22> [Accessed December 2020].
SooJeong, K., 2018. Personal work. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qDRWR> [Accessed December 2020].
TaeKwon, K., 2015. Blue Knight. [image] Available at: <https://www.deviantart.com/arang9903/art/Blue-Knight-545352946> [Accessed December 2020].
TaeKwon, K., 2016. Paladin. [image] Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6wAg5> [Accessed December 2020].
yy6242, 2016. Paladin. [image] Available at: <https://www.deviantart.com/yy6242/art/Paladin-603535131> [Accessed December 2020].
No comments yet.