A Story in Design: "Demon" Idir

This character was "born" in the concept art courses. At first glance, the task sounded as simple as it could go: to make a concept of a pirate character. Easy, isn't it? This image is familiar even to small children - a wooden leg, an eye patch, a monkey or a parrot, a triangular hat or a bandana, a big beard, a hook instead of a hand... Choose in any combination (even all at once 😁 ). But that is the problem. This image of the character is simplified. Even caricatured. Of course, you can try really hard and make something interesting out of it (say hello to the "Pirates of the Caribbean"). But then another question arises: what will make my character stand out from the crowd? Mainstream and uniqueness are two incompatible things. And I wouldn't be me if I didn't try to dig deeper and find an unusual angle of view on the topic 🤔

Space pirates and magical flying ships were tossed aside immediately. I wanted to find something fresh, not engage in the reconstruction of familiar images. So, to begin with, I opened Google and…  realized that I have no idea what to look for 😅 When searching for “pirates in history”, it was showing only a few articles and videos about famous captains, the biggest bounties, and brief historical information about periods of the rise and fall of piracy. Nothing that would help me. However, this was not a problem as I always have the "call a friend" option. In other words, I went to torment my boyfriend, who has been interested in this topic since he was seven years old 😁 (it's good when there's someone around who you can ask for a friendly advice 🥰). So, after listening to my "I want to draw something cool, but don't know what exactly", he advised me to look at the marooners. I have never heard of such a thing and my first search on the Internet brought up an article called "Marooners: the most dangerous pirates of the 17th Century". The beginning was promising.

In short, marooners were slaves, peasants, criminals, and military deserters who chose the path of piracy. Most of them had nothing to lose, and years of slavery and terrible treatment made them skilled and brutal fighters. That is why marooners are quite deservingly considered the most desperate type of pirates in history.

How do you like this look at the character? I think it`s just what the doctor ordered! The idea of a pirate, formerly a slave, who embarks on a path of robbery and murder for revenge and a better life... A ship is often associated with freedom, after all.

And then, after the main idea is born, we are limited only by our own imagination (and the historical context, of course 🙂). A runaway slave? Let him be African. Most likely with a brand (scar or another marking). How to guess his origin? From the elements of clothing, of course. Weapon? A ship axe and a whip that he took from his own guard (what he did with this guard we will leave out of the conversation 😈). A tattoo that conveys character... I just adore this process 🤩 Creating something from nothing is the real magic.

And so, after thinking, iterating, and going through all the stages of the pipeline, I present to you my interpretation of the well-known and "mainstream" character "Pirate".

Name – Idir (translated from Igbo – alive).

Origin - the son of the chief of one of the warrior tribes of Africa (amulet on the neck as a symbol of high origin).

When Idir came of age, he became one of the best warriors of the tribe. Together with other warriors, he attacked enemy tribes, captured their men and women, and sold them into slavery to white sailors (it turns out that this was a very common phenomenon then 🤯). But, one day, the Spaniards to whom they tried to sell slaves, did not show a desire to trade. They took away not only the "goods", but also all the sellers (probably karma, who knows 😏). Thus, Idir himself turned into a slave and ended up on the plantations. Twice the man ran away but was brought back. After the second attempt, Idir was branded a runaway slave and sent on a ship to remote islands to silver mines (in other words - condemned to death). But luck is as fickle as the sea, and this time it turned its face to Idir. Marooners attacked the ship he was on. They killed all the Spaniards and allowed Idir to join their crew. Excellent mastery of weapons and excessive cruelty earned him the nickname "Demon". And the tattoo that the man wears on his forearm reads "Liberty in Death"... And he also has striped pants, because I love striped pants 😂 This is the philosophy of deep meanings for you 🙂

I hope you found it interesting. Let's continue the exciting journey through the chaotic consciousness of the concept artist some other time 😉