Vanguard

Being the first Boss you encounter in Demon's Souls, Vanguard had to ride a fine balance of being true to the original, and a fitting "upgrade" for remake.
He was the first Character I worked on for the project and thus was the most challenging. Many factors had to go into the design and execution of the character, from matching proportions (so that animations and game play would feel as close to the original as possible.) to keeping a (some what) "goofy" look that the fans of the original might recognize.
While he does not looks exactly like the original, Art Direction, Character Art, Design, and animation, took a lot of time and care, and had many discussions to try and make the final version of this fella feel like the original. All while trying to bringing up the fidelity and realism to a standard that would match what we were trying to do for the rest of the game.

Much Respect to FromSoftware for making such and amazing classic.
Big thanks to Japan Studio for the opportunity to help share it with the world once again.

Company: BluePoint Games
Game: Demon’s Souls (Remake)
Position: Lead Character Artist
Responsibilities: Sculpted, Modeled, Textured
Original design and Model: FromSoft Games
Concept Credit: Sven Bybee
Art Director: Mark Skelton
Rigging: Tom Whitzer and Trey Lynne
Pose/ Animation: Dan Harfmann
Ingame Lighting: Michael Hahn-Rose
Material Tech Tech: Anthony Mann and Bruce Woodard