Character Sketchbook I - Aurora
This character has been with me a long time as one of the earliest tabletop characters I ever played in Shadowrun way back in high school (the early 2000s). Aurora Adonai was a Street Samurai with a violent temper and a tragic history of psychosis triggered by childhood trauma.
She started out as a Yakuza ganger with cyberware installed to make her look like her inner demons. I channeled a lot of my high school interests at the time, especially David Mack's Kabuki and an interest in a goth punk aesthetic.
She's due for a major redesign/retelling so I thought I'd compile her old art to make way for the new! I hope to retell her story with my own cyberpunk magic fusion in comic form. I've codenamed this project JADE TEARS.
The very 1st sketch of Aurora from the early 2000s! She had an inhuman skintone at first. This look was eventually dropped, with the bright eye color and tatts being the only holdover. The tatts were inspired by spread butterfly wings.
Aury's signature pose is the hiding a katana behind her back and smiling. One of her earliest concept sheets from 2000.
From the early 2000s.
At some point, I started using Angelina Jolie as a starting reference for her features. This wasn't the case from the start, however. I was really into her acting at the time and I always thought she could play an amazing Aurora in a movie!
Sketches from 2005.
Sketches from 2012 for comparison.
A ninja look for Aury inspired by a ninja she was dating at the time.
Exploring Aury's cyber horns, fangs, and claws. She started modifying her cybernetics over time to reflect her 'inner demons'.
A look at Aury's inner demon form, which she would often see in hallucinations. This design was prob way too inspired by Devil Jin's form in Tekken, which I was also big into at the time. Villains from this game actually showed up in our Shadowrun game.
Sketch of a cover design that never made it past sketch form. Words taken from an Elvish song in the Poison Elves comic. I thought they'd make a great anthem for Elvish gangs in Shadowrun. Aury sports a Tir shirt, showing her gang affiliation.
There was a period here where I drew very out of character flowy Art Nouveau pieces for this foul-mouthed angry character.
Aaah back to angry. That's more like it!
Created for a tshirt design on DeviantART. Still one of my fave renditions of Aury!
Copic markers with digital bg.
Color pencil on marker. Pretty sure this was another one photo referenced from Angelina Jolie.
And older version of "Dreaming Butterfly" from 2002. Color pencil on marker.
Versus the newer version of "Dreaming Butterfly" from 2012. The 1st fully digital piece of Aury.
The latest sketch of Aury from 2014 with a calavera theme. I need to draw more of her sometime!