I got the opportunity to take part in a video game concept art workshop organized by @amc.studio.romania and I had so much fun!

I had this idea for a dark Orthodox inspired paladin for a while and I finally got to develop on it, but with a more western influence due to the requirements of the project. I'll probably revisit this idea sometime in the future.

I got inspired from mostly western late medieval to early renaissance armor and architecture and Orthodox clerical clothing. I really tried to use a bunch of architectural motifs in the armor and mace design like the bevor/gorget and visor both have merlons with arrow slits and crenels like the fortified monastery I designed beforehand. Also, the mace has those French buttress looking flanges and the whole silhouette resembles the one of the main tower of the church.

When he's glowing red he's blessed basically, I got inspired from Dark Souls invaders. He's the Hegumen of this fortified monastery. I was considering the title Pontifex at the beginning because it sounds cool lol. The letters on his clothes and armor are from the Glagolitic script, I got inspired from The Witcher 3 on that part.

I tried to go for a realistic rendering style and a very grounded in reality design for the most part even though it is a fantasy 3rd person RPG (again, inspired by The Witcher 3 and my personal taste in fantasy and armor).

I learned a lot and I got a lot of really insightful feedback that really helped me and again I had such a blast! I definitely need to work on more landscapes and buildings though.