Character Art — Iwo Kmiecik

AvitIum Characters | 2025

In-progress character models for the upcoming game Avitium

Io | 2024

Io is a character I designed as a sprite animation practice. My main goal with this design was to make something approachable, soft, and colorful.

My main inspirations came from space and astronomy, something I’ve been interested in since childhood. The visual inspirations came from animated shows such as The Owl House and Steven Universe.

Io is a guardian of stars and light in space, protecting the world from darkness while fighting off their own need to take a nap.

SUN DEITY | 2023

Created for an ongoing game project using Procreate and ZBrush.

The design is based primarly off the concept of biblically accurate angels, and is an antagonist in the story setting.

The creature is meant to be both beautiful and unsettling. The color palette references daylight and the sky throughout itself, with yellow blue and gold being the choice hues. The shapes also take inspiration from the sharpness of daylight, as well as softness of clouds.

My primary concern with this project was making sure that the creature looks threatening, but not entirely terrifying, to create a potential character arc involving it.

Currently I am planning to revisit the model in Autodesk Maya and remake it for a cleaner mesh and lower polygon count, and later on texture it using Procreate and Adobe Substance Painter.

LESHY | 2023

Created for the games Leshy’s Curse and Dieback, using Autodesk Maya, ZBrush, Procreate, and Adobe Substance Painter.

Leshy is a character inspired by Pagan mythology of Eastern Europe, Poland in particular. He is based on a deity of the same name, which in lore protects forests and is responsible for people getting lost.

His clothing and overall color palette is inspired by traditional Polish garments, which often include blue, red, and yellow ribbons.

The character scale is implied by the deer skull he wears, which is also a remnant of his fallen animal companion that he uses for ritual spells.

His walk is slightly crooked, which prompts him to use a tree branch as a mobility aid.