The 'RAM' Concept

Building on my horn wielding character sketch, I have begun to consider the character I will be creating in more depth. Here is a short paragraph describing my hero:

'John Ramsey is a Briton living in a Manhattan-like city. Ramsey works on construction sites, operating diggers and other heavy machinery. His left wing views means that he mostly hates his job, often building large corporate buildings. He prefers being assigned to demolition, a passion of his, seeing office buildings torn apart. This obsession carries over into private life, taking on the role of the masked avenger known by his adversaries as ‘Ram’. Unlike most ‘Superheroes’, Ram steers clear of street-level crime, targeting the powerful and corrupt. Ramsey has a very reclusive personality, only when wearing his mask does he begin to express himself. As Ram his personality shifts, and he becomes a very angry and frightening figure. He uses his sculpted horns as a form of intimidation, many of the people he confronts remembering him as a demon-like entity. His horns are also used to force entry through solid walls, and also as powerful weapons should his targets fight back.'

I am currently developing a 'RAM' concept which could be applied in in a game context. I feel that console gaming generally reaches out to a more mature audience. I also feel gamers enjoy a realistic approach, so I wanted RAM's attire to reflect his construction (more significantly demolition) work, as appose to a cartoon-like spandex approach. For this I gathered reference and tried some practical approaches, as well as hi-tech suited option:

I wanted my character initially to have a top-heavy gorilla-like posture, but in hindsight this compromises realism. Of the three I like the middle approach as I feel it is simple yet memorable. I do also like elements of the first, particularly the thickness of the horns and the utility belt. The armoured suit design feels almost insect-like with the large alien eyes. Also, my hero fights against the corrupt who use their wealth to cover their tracks and hide in plain sight. It seems unlikely that he would wear or even be able to afford a hi-tech expensive suit.

Practically, with the first design I experimented with a Mark Molnar custom brush collection featuring brushes form various artists. This was introduced to me by a classmate and was very helpful in creating different textures. There were soft brushes which worked well for the skin, and plenty of dry media brushes which worked well for fabric. I also applied a rust transparent render to add a grimy effect.