Art Test- 2D Character Concept Art- Monkey Island TellTale Games- Week 1

10:56 BA2a , Specialism 0 Comments

Project Monkey Island: Lost Cove 

Project Description Telltale is creating a new installment in the Monkey Island franchise. Following on from its successes with Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Lost Cove features a mechanic where the player can switch between normal day time and a mystical and spooky twilight dimension. 

Task Requirements: Design a shopkeeper character that resides in a remote underwater sunken temple. You don’t know how they get custom but they are surprisingly happy with their situation. 

Design and present both their normal and twilight state. 

Task Specification ❖ Model Sheet ❖ Character Sheet ❖ Concept Painting


Having chosen this art test to get into some character design, I started out by scribbling some loose doodles to vent some preliminary ideas, research the visual style and understand the world of the game- will what I design fit into this universe?

I looked into existing designs and TellTale concept art, studying what kinds of characters already exist as a point of reference.



I was really quite taken with LeChuck the zombie pirate, who has many different forms throughout the series; its interesting to look at how that may influence my character's two forms. The ferrymen, a more supernatural character, I felt had a compelling design, an emphasis on curves seems paramount throughout the art direction of this game.

I wanted my shopkeeper to have an interesting quirk, like finding and keeping notes in bottles, displaying them. Among my first ideas, I liked the idea of a sea hag who was a beautiful mermaid by day, but monstrous in the twilight- or a thespian ghost who by day would pretend (poorly) to be a human by wearing a mask and a cape. There's a lot of comedy in the characters and world of Monkey Island, so I wanted my character to have a joke or gag tied to it, something Guybrush Threepwood could play with in an interesting way.

I got on a created some silhouettes.




Having only just learned the joys of the softbrush, this silhouette out of those I'd chosen and scribbled over stood out the most. I was really fond of the squat body and angular, thin arms, the backback roll also gave me an idea...


Scribbling these two forms out, I liked the idea of my salesman being some form of seasnail by twilight, his huge bagpack filled with wares becoming a snailshell. The idea of Guybrush making puns about my "Snailsman" who could've once been a "snailor" amused me too much not to push the idea forward.

From here I started iteration, focusing on head design to lead the rest of the character.


I was really fond of the original face, but decided upon the bearded head as I thought it was the most expressive, appearing as a more well-kept person- I also like the idea of attaching a snail shell to his beard.


Having a clearer idea of the head, I had little idea about the rest of the body, so did some quick sketches playing with shape and posture. A more sort of "Gollum" like crouched posture appealed, yet a more sophisticated, taller, thinner character also seemed like it could work, a little like the Happy Mask Salesman from Majora's Mask.





I eventually made the head more disheveled, extending the beard and adding nautical paraphenalia, however a compass monocle was an idea I quite enjoyed. I then played with body shapes, posture, costumes and colour.


Putting different objects on the backpack could really add some dynamics to the overall silhouette- I was most fond of No. 3 as of the sleeves and position, I feel he's be really tall but permanently crouching under the weight of his wares. I was fond of the sombrero, but preferred the hat from No. 2 due to the interesting shape.



   I like the idea of the coat being patchwork, handstitched from loose scraps taken from what washed into the cove, anything he finds being anything he sells. The hat he wears would have a coin attached, the first he found and what he took as a sign to become a salesman. I wasn't originally too keen on more rustic colours, so tried a more clownish palette.

However, I went back to my original colours, I just removed the blue and opted for purple instead.

I then started work designing the Twilight form, that of a snail. I imagined this "spooky twilight realm" to be like that in A Link to the Past, where people animals reflective of who they are, a sea snail in this guy's case.


Sketching out head designs for this form, I opted with the highest one, though a barnacle beard could've been a quirky feature.

I wasn't sure about placeent of the hat and originally wanted it held aloft by his right eye, but now think it better on his left to make the overall shape more harmonious.


I then started playing with shell designs, but felt the first, more traditional shell would fit the world of Monkey Island better and keep with the similarities of the human rucksack.

The interest would therefore be in the details, adding crystals to the barnacles and then a whole treasure chest, flag and seaweed. This I feel more comic and fitting.


I wanted colder colours for the twilight form, to contrast the human one and fit better with the them. I went with the bottom right as I felt it worked the best. Im quite keen on the idea of my snailsman sellking things that latch onto his shell, heeping his earnings in his chest. All things to be explored in the character sheet!

The human's bag I went back and redesigned, scribbling some loose shapes to the detail.


I now have enough to work on model sheets, character sheets and a final illustration, shall get on!