Oh my, after several months stuck in a lot of ideas (and most of them were really weird and nonsense), I could came up with this design. Finally…
(Note: Something came into my head with his collar, so I decided to test and see which of them is cooler and better.)
This is the concept for one of the 1st jobs change for my Elsword FC named Cross Shievaro. The name of the job is Prime Marauder. The basic design for his original non-job was done last year, but it had some problems with the stance and lineart (the only thing I was satisfied was its CG), so I made another one with waist-up pose. However, I had another mistake when adding so many details and the way I drew was actually used for 2nd jobs design. That’s why I failed again. I wanted to redesign him but I was so lazy and busy, so let’s see if I have a chance later.
Btw, I had idea for his 1st job design and backstory, so I did it as soon as I could see the image in my head. It took me a while though because of some reasons. First I was very confused because I had seen the art of Grand Chase Lass, and its details were neat. I was obsessed by it because my Cross is also a Marauder which is quite similar to an assassin (actually his 2nd job in this Prime path is an Assassin already^^;), and it’s become my problem. However, because Cross is FC for Elsword so I had to use another style. Moreover, I don’t want to be a copycat and always want my characters to have their own styles and features suitable for their characteristics, so I stopped that idea (it’s quite hard though). Then I had his image in my head, but still hadn’t figured out how his outfit looked like. I later thought of Marchen of Sound Horizon and Assassin’s Creed, and Cross’s image was clearer to me, so I started my work with the first step was organizing the details of him. While doing it, I deleted some details to make the design more simple. It’s not easy. What I stuck at that time was the harmonization of his pose and details. I didn’t want his design to be so simple because it will ruin my previous Aerial Assassin concept (I created his 2nd job before doing this), nor make it complicated because that’s not for the 1st job traditional design. That’s always my problem when designing 1st job Q_Q
At last I did it, but I didn’t have time to make the full body concept (and it’s harder too). Another reason is with this angle it’s really hard to show the full body with perfect proportion (it’s an angle that I rarely draw and when I tried to sketch the full body, it became weird), so instead of drawing the full proportion, I saved it for another canvas of him that I made earlier but just finished a part of his head (I’m still practicing how to draw his eyes look the same way as other Elsword official characters Lol), and focused on his outfit details.
And when I had made his visual design, I had the idea for his job’s background. It’s the continuation of his backstory that I made when I finished his non-job and posted it on my gallery. Actually if you play Elsword, you will know that there are 2 (but now is 3 Lol) paths for a character’s job. I made Cross follow that rule too. His 1st jobs are Prime Marauder (this design), Harsh Marauder and Trickster Marauder. The other two I will make later because now I don’t have so many ideas (I got the basic but… the same problem as Prime Marauder concept). Ok, stop talking about this. This is the background story for Prime Marauder. I like this story because it may be the deepest one between three backgrounds. I tried everything to make it unique and not sound-like Raven’s story, and I think I did it.
So, the Backstory of Prime Marauder:
To become a slaver of devil, that’s the thing which Cross had never wanted.
Every time he thought about his past, every night he submerged in the nightmares, he was haunted by what he had done.
The crimes he had committed was a truth that he couldn’t deny or run away, so he accepted to face it, even if it meant the punishment and the pain he suffered was more terrible than a torture.
But Cross was not a person who just knew how to regret yet did nothing. He always remembered his duty as a Guardian of El Stone and he would do every thing he could to restore the peace and the order in Elios as well as redeemed for this sins.
However, the evil that lurked into him constantly tried to take over his soul again when it had a chance, and Cross feared that. He did everything to resist it, but the wound in the past that Fantome had caused to his soul was too serious and it might never be healed. Moreover, Cross’s power now was not enough for him to destroy Fantome, nor even protected himself from being engulfed in darkness, and he could lose himself again, forever.
He didn’t want the tragedy to be replay, nor became the enemy of the world. He didn’t want anybody to sacrifice…
Fortunately, at the moment he struggled with his another ego and almost lost, the alchemists in Elios saved his life by inventing a potion that could keep his mind stable, so he could maintain his true self. However, he acknowledged that this wouldn’t last long because Fantome was not a normal devil and its pwer was incredible that could easily defeat him anytime. Despite of that, the Elios people helped him a lot to buy time for him and he didn’t want to waste it. While training hard to keep his spirit strong at the same time as fighting against the devil, Cross was searching for a way to restore his power because he knew that was the only way he could win this battle.
Cross’s combat skills and knowledge had been expert for a long time he was in battlefield, and now with his hard training, his special abilities and potential in melee combat was awaken again. Combining with the demon’s power that he channeled it into his advantage, his strength now was even beyond the best marauders and assassins in Elios. And with his title “Prime Marauder”, Cross became a rival that his enemies should beware and scared. Watch out for the daggers danced their deadly melody of lament!
It sounds good, doesn’t it? Because Prime Marauder is the closest job to Cross’s story, I put hard on it and tried not to make him a typical pure hero like Elsword or Blade Master Raven. Yeah, he’s still in the way of a dark hero. I think it’s cooler to make the story like this, so it will match with his Aerial Assassin’s backstory later. And this is more little hint about it. This job’s backstory focuses on the part of his characteristic of maturity, coldness, complexity and mystery (the other characteristics still appear but not so clear as these), while in the opposite Harsh Marauder, we can see a heartless, evil, rebellious and warlike Cross. The last one Trickster Marauder I haven’t figured it out but it may follow the path of his teasing, energetic and wicked side. However, at this time I want to focus on the Prime first, so I can make him better.
eternalhorizon 