Spellcaster (Dorian Marquis) Design Process

Preliminary sketch concepts for Dorian. Dorian is a smarmy spellcaster that carries himself elegantly and has an affinity for fire.
I wanted the initial designs to reflect a mix of his refined yet cocky behavior, so it was ultimately narrowed down to G.

Exploring different costumes and weapons based on different cultures to see what fits him best. I wanted to give him a weapon and a magic aesthetic that fit his flashiness, and I ultimately chose the katar because I thought it was a unique weapon choice.

I took the time to give him some small details and callouts as well, so I could keep the small details in mind moving forward. One of the most important details here is the smoke turning into fire, which turned smoke into a prominent characteristic

Took the sketch from earlier and tested on a bunch of palettes, then chopped it down to these four. I wanted to give him warm colors to give him a daring impression, and the purple also fit that elegant aspect so I chose palette 3 in the end.

Trying variations on palette 3 with different tones and some colors I liked from the other palettes I didn't choose. I chose 2 because I wanted the reds as accent colors.

The two main distinguishing aspects of his design I wanted to be his weapons and fighting style, so I iterated on different designs for the katar and the sash based on some keywords I thought might fit his style.

first 'finished' design of Dorian. I eventually decided I wasn't satisfied with the silhouette so I changed him a bit more.

I was unsatisfied with the silhouette of the previous design so I decided to replace the katar for a more unique weapon with more silhouette and expand the cape a bit to give him more presence. I also gave him a spellbook belt to occupy the waist area.

I really liked the bladed sash weapon idea from earlier, so I iterated a bit more on his weapon design as a censer sash! I mainly used the "smoke" sash design from the earlier exploration.

Shaded Dorian with callouts!
Calling attention to the large glowing marks on his body, the patterns on his clothes, his weapons, and his style!

Halfbody of the shaded art

Finished!