Ukrainian Battle Commander
My name is Viktoriya Fajardo. I am a Ukrainian artist living in Texas, US. I graduated from Salt Lake Community College with a Graphic Design degree and worked in the field for 10 years.
The year 2020 really made me re-assess what I want from my career and what is the direction I want to move forward with. That is how I ended up with Marc Brunet's Art School program and started working towards becoming a game artist professional. I am learning to get better at 2D art and 3D modeling while applying all the tricks of the graphic design specialty to my works.
This is the make of the Ukranian Battle Commander.
Concept
I love traditional Ukrainian dress, however, I wanted to stay away from the straightforward copying of the historical ornaments. Therefore, I chose something I had no real experience in making before—an epic sci-fi scene.
Initial Sketches
Polling art peers on the initial design ideas proved to be very confusing, as the opinions were very divided. So, I decided to go the long route, granted the deadline was still far away, and concept out the two most popular thumbnails.
Having listened to a lot of peer feedback I decided to combine the parts from both designs that seemed the most appealing to people. That and the idea of constructing a virtual battlefield seemed the most interesting to me, so I settled on a fleet commander idea for the overall design.
Finalizing the Look
From this point came the most challenging part for me. Considering I had no prior experience with mechs or power armor, I had to figure out how to make it fit on a human character. Because of that, the process was somewhat backward–I started with a rough ZBrush sculpt.
3D helped me understand and balance out the armor and silhouette. Once I felt like the character looks nice enough, I finalized the concept sheet.
Splash Art
Creating the splash art proved to be a whole new battle.
Balancing enough storytelling to make the idea clear and not overwhelming the composition almost made me cry.
I also built a 3D blockout to make sure I don’t get confused with perspective and lighting setup.
Decals and Designs
I leaned on my graphic design background for a lot of the elements in the splash art, which I think helped with the screens and icons. Embroidery and Ukraine’s crest were the main themes, the rest derived from the floral arrangements that Ukraine’s outfits are famous for.
Final Thoughts
I tried to do something way outside of my comfort zone and art level at the time of the making.
Do I regret it?
Not really. My level of understanding of sci-fi designs, lighting, and perspective has jumped up significantly. Would I do it again? Probably…
Fail faster, learn harder. Who cares if I have PTSD now, right?
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