Character Design Arena - Flameingo Fighter

On Instragram, Tanner Wilson (@t.m.wilson), a character designer I follow hosted a Character Design Battle of sorts. As a character designer and illustrator, I felt this brief was perfect for me as I enjoy designing fighters. This brief also helped me practice on a brief with a short deadline, while also getting my profile out there. I also wanted to implement some sort of fire element as I've been animating a lot of fire recently. Introducing the Flameingo Fighter!

Since the rules specified that it had to be a single pose on a flat background, I didn't bother with making a turnaround, though that would be helpful if I ever want to animate them.

My process was pretty straightforward, I wanted to create a character based off the pun 'flameingo':

Looking at different ways of blending bird and fire, while also looking for an art style that suited it

After narrowing down and combining the elements I liked, I started exploring outfit and colour scheme:

The clothing was used to show some more flair and character backstory

I feel the pose is a bit too static to express the flair this character has, and the outfit is a bit too simple for an illustration (perfect for animating though). I could've also played with light and shadow more because of the fire but the time limit for this project wouldn't allow it. Overall, I'm satisfied with the character but if I were animate them, I would probably develop the character more to refine them.