References, Silhouettes & Concepts.

In starting my character concept, wanted to find references of standard clothing using in the 1940s. I have created a mood board of images that reflect equipment used in the 1940s that id be interested in using on my character. Originally i wanted a British character to try to stand out from this obsession with nazi's having the spotlight with everything WW2 related. But then i decided that id be more interested in designing a character that is comprised of equipment from different regions, brought to that area during the conflict. France was in the centre of the conflict for most of the war between Britain and the Nazis. So I realised i could make my character a survivor living in France, salvaging equipment from both the parties.
I wanted to give my character a different build of face, instead of a classic caucasian frenchman i made my survivor an African immigrant working in france as the second world war begins.

Below you can see a development from silhouette to grayscale to full colour concept. I have created a character using my references from the collage above. Trying to show the survival history of my character you can see the bruises and blood he has gained from fighting nazi's, and also the provisions he has secured by searching abandoned houses. The painting style is based loosely on the concept art of Brink.

I started with a basic silhouette without any forms around the body, then after i had added some forms on the silhouette that imposed the clothing i wanted on my character, i created a grayscale painting using a soft brush, so i could get a better idea of the forms of items on my character. Then created a full colour concept painting using a colour palette similar to Team Fortress 2 or Brink. The characters face is based on african american actor Clint Dyer. I may make changes to the full colour concept with different pieces of clothing and equipment in the near future.