Real Worlds - Studies and Inspiration

Study the pre-existing characters:

Look at shape design, colourways (although for ttrpgs they will be fully customisable/ painted, but some games also have character customisation)

Lizards:

I did a very brief study of a bearded dragon and a komodo dragon before starting on some thumbnails, which can be found on this post: 

https://isaacsuniwork.blogspot.com/2025/02/real-worlds-character-thumbnails.html  

 

 I just wanted to get the gist of their face shapes and/ or warm up before getting started.

 

Similar game characters:

I'm taking a lot of inspiration from the dragonborn in Baldur's Gate 3 - of course, this is a fantasy game rather than sci-fi, but this game is also essentially a very expensive doll maker, so I can randomise and quickly get a lot of design ideas with full 3D references. I think the dragonborn faces specifically also suit Deadzone quite nicely/ they look pretty alien.

 

I'm also taking a great deal of inspiration from the metroid series, particularly the character Ridley:

(Sora et al 2018)

 

 

Ridley is a reptillian space pirate, which is perfect for the kind of character I want to design.

Mercenaries Moodboard:

 This was my initial moodboard for the mercenary character. I wanted them to be totally covered in armour and gadgets, most of my influence was coming from the Mandolorians form Star Wars. (Lucasfilm 1977)

Various old action figures:

 

Ages ago, when I was either 14 or 16, I made this guy to use as a 3D reference to help drawing because I couldn't imagine the helmet at various angles, and then the rest of it was to try and help fill in the rest of the design. He's based on all the same stuff I'm referencing as well as my old Bionicles (LEGO 2025) figures, which I've also taken a few pictures of to use as reference/inspiration: 

These are mostly just pictures of the ones I had as a kid, but I've put in some filler images in there too that aren't mine. Of course, the target demographic for Bionicles is a lot younger than that of Deadzone, but I bet there's a lot of overlap between the two communities. Ignoring the bright colours, these guys have a pretty similar design philosophy: the blocky shapes, the more simple armour designs, etc.

References (w.i.p.):

 

Larian Studios, 2023. Baldur's Gate 3 [PC]. Steam. Larian Studios. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1086940/Baldurs_Gate_3/ [Accessed 18 February 2025].

 

LEGO, 2025. LEGO BIONICLE [online]. Available at: https://www.lego.com/en-gb/themes/retired/lego-bionicle [Accessed 21 February 2025].

 
 
Nintendo, 1988. Metroid [Nintendo Entertainment System Game Pak] NES. Kyoto, Japan: Nintendo.

 
Sora Ltd. Et al., 2018. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [Nintendo Game Card]. Nintendo Switch. Kyoto, Japan: Nintendo. 

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, 1977. [Film]. Directed by George Lucas San Francisco, CA: Lucasfilm.

 

The Mandalorian, 2020. [TV] Disney +, 24 March 2020. Available at: https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/the-mandalorian/3jLIGMDYINqD?distributionPartner=google [Accessed 08 March 2025].