Strive: The Empress
Featured from “SYNDICATE XVI” 2025 Illustration MFA Visual Thesis Exhibition, FIT
The Empress was the first character I doodled for this game 8-9 years ago and I knew I wanted to keep her in the current version as a tether from old to new. She is the leader of one of four playable factions, the Sovereigns; a Monarchy acting on behalf of their deity who communes with the Empress. She was featured in the “SYNDICATE XVI” 2025 Illustration MFA Visual Thesis Exhibition.
Medium: Digital, Photoshop.
Process: the sketch below was one of the first ideas in Strive’s early infancy. It was important to carry this design into the modern version, but I went through multiple concepts to flesh out the background I had written for her. Her red war paint signifies her accomplishments in war which made her the leader. However, it didn’t show the tribulations she went through, so I added gilded scars and cracks inspired by the Japanese technique “Kintsugi” to represent both sides.
The final digital piece came together from a digital sketch into a loose render in grayscale which gets multiple layers of gradient maps and overlays to get a sense of mood and color. Everything gets merged into one layer before focusing on the final render pass.
Sketch (2017)
Card