Premiering for Patrons : "Wilds of Eldraine" concept art work

Dear Patrons,
When the Patreon launched, I mentioned some special content would come added to what the Tiers have to offer.
It starts today as I will be posting here, and before I post it anywhere else, including my professional website, some of the concept art work I made for "Wilds of Eldraine", with some exclusive insight!
Back to 2017 :  Wizards of the Coast first contacted me to work on the Eldraine original set (the one that was released in 2019 as "Throne of Eldraine") concept push. For internal scheduling reasons, the Eldraine concept push team was moved to the "Theros Beyond Death" concept art session. At first, it was a bit of a disappointment for me. Back then, the Eldraine set, still at early concept phase, was presented to us as the "dark fairytale set". And I loved the idea!
But the Theros concept push turned out to be a wonderful experience, and I got to create two characters I'm especially proud of : Calix and Klothys. So, no regrets!
Fast forward to 2021. Art director Andrew Vallas sends me an email to ask whether I would be onboard for the next Eldraine set concept push. This time it was happening!! I would have my dark fairytale moment!
I will talk later about the concept push itself, as I'm going to post quite a few bits through the coming days.
A few weeks after the end of the Eldraine 3 weeks session, I'm receiving another email from Andrew, asking me to work on Will Kenrith's new appearance for the coming set.
The whole point was to design his king outfit. Also, the character lost his right leg facing the Blood Avatar, and that was a big part of the challenge in this design.
We don't go and work on such concepts "just like that". For Will, we received some help from a disability consultant regarding the prosthetics. There was a subtle balance to be found between making the prosthetic look believable, while still from a Fantasy world, but not thoughtlessly "cool" or "cyborg-like". We wanted Will to look strong, and still make his disability clear. So some realism was very necessary. For example, that's why you can see some bandage around his knee, to protect his stump. I imagined he would go and accept it as fully part of himself by doing the same on his other knee, as if his prosthetic was another type of leg armour for him.
As you can see, the general structure of the prosthetic is very real-life like. The fantasy element comes from the ice that Will build around it for extra protection during a fight. I added some delicate engraving, but didn't go too crazy. Again, it is a practical element, not an ornament.
The intent for the rest of the costume is pretty obvious : the "cold" motif was to be everywhere. You can see it as icicles on his shoulder, crown and forearms of course, but also as snowflakes patterns on the fabric parts. I had a lot of fun trying to find the good mix between the King and the Fighter. I grew very attached to Will through this visual development. It happens all the time! ^^I strongly believe a good design also comes from a good connexion with a character's personality and life.
See you next time with more Wilds of Eldraine concept arts!