Liam Progress (Patreon)

Greenace was the concept artist for Liam (as well as several other sprites.) You can see I changed him up a fair bit in the final version.

Greenace posed him very stiffly, as usual, but it kind of works for this character so I kept that aspect of his pose. However, I dropped his arms to his side for a couple of reasons. 

First, I think his hands being behind his back will just look strange in some of the more action-focused sequences he's involved in. Second, his arms aren't really positioned properly anyway - for one, his elbows are far too low. Also, the arms aren't nearly angled enough. And angling his elbows out properly would have him taking up too much horizontal space on the screen. Very wide sprites (like Ally or Corvin) can be difficult to position and work with for group scenes. Positioning his arms straight at his sides keeps that rigidity to his stands (which is appropriate for the character), but takes up a lot less space.

I changed his outfit as I never particularly wanted him in a full suit - though he is something of a body guard, I just didn't see him dressing that formally. And I think, again, it'll be weird in some of the more action-focused scenes. Waistcoats are just...attractive. >3 

Finally, I made him younger. When I first described him to Greenace, I believe I said he should be in his late 20s or early 30s and I feel she made him look much older than that - especially with the gray streaks in his hair. He was just never meant to be that old and I feel like he kind of looks like a butler when he's that old. I got rid of his facial hair but was kind of torn on that one. I liked him with and without it but ultimately got rid of it just for ease and speed of coloring.

I also got rid of the scar. I like the idea of it, and considered giving him a slightly different one. But in the end, it feels a bit cliché. And though he does get in a lot of physical altercations, with his regeneration abilities, he wouldn't scar from those. Any scars he has would be pre-infection. And I ultimately felt it just didn't fit.

I darkened his hair and skin tones but tried to keep some of the original design with the sharp cheekbones, as well as the overall shape of his hair. I also kept his color scheme in the gray/black realm of things.

So that's all for this character! I hope you guys enjoy seeing the process of sprite creation from sprite to final product!