HIGHGUARD - ONYX

I’ve got permission from Wildlight to show future content. Unfortunately, Onyx may never see the light in Highguard, but she deserves a fair introduction. Let’s go!
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ONYX's Lore:
Onux was born with forbbiden powers. Since she was a little girl, her village casted her away. Myths speak about a terrifying witch that lived long ago that made a deal with dark spirits and became the most powerful spellcaster of the continent. Old scriptures show that her reign of fear lasted for decades until one day people united and with the help of some wardens managed to trick her and burry her into a deep deep underground tomb. But with her last words she made a promise: one day, she’ll return.
When Onyx was born, elders of her town recognized her green magic. Incredibly scared about what she could become they casted her and decided she was going to be a monster. Little Onyx felt rejected, hurt and alone… until one day she started to hear a voice. This voice told her she was born to do things bigger than herself. To bring the darkness back, to finish with a doomed humanity.
From that day, Onyx allowed herself to free her true powers and following her master, her journey to free darkness started.
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AD: Robert Taube
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Being the only character concept for the project and managing mtx was a huge challenge for me.
Most of these characters were designed from beggining to an end in 2-3 weeks max. One week for exploration and ref gathering, second week for concept refinement and another extra in case there's props and attitude sheets to do. Within these weeks, I had to take time from the character to lead the mtx team, so in reality, time was spread thin. Luckily, there was a clear vision for Onyx from the beggining!

Onyx is one for the most fun characters I worked on. We really wanted to show her mystical nature with her outfit. Scrolls, spell charms and her skin marked by old scriptures, adding semy triangular negative spaces all around her design to give her a spellcaster/trickster vibe.
Her hairstyle got many iterations, as we wanted to find a young and semy-innocent look for a fearless and scary witch to create that contrast between her look and her evil personality.
For Onyx the way she moves is very important. I wanted to pitch to the anim team for her to have twisted and strange moves, specially when she’s “possesed” by her powers. Her personality is a little awkward, since she’s not been closed to many people. There’s a part of her that trully enjoys the thrill of battle as she gets to trick and cause havoc in the battlefield.