Hello again!
We’re back with another blog post covering the third and final Celtic Goddess featured in our upcoming 4X Strategy title. If you’ve missed our previous posts regarding the other two Goddesses you can check them out here (Fand - Goddess of Mist) and here (Morrigan - Goddess of War & Fate). The article covering Fand also explains the role that these characters will play in our upcoming title.
Today we’re showcasing the art we have for the Goddess that governs Commerce, Áine:
As with all of our Goddesses, we initially commissioned a black & white concept piece for each to get the design right. The art brief that we provided for Áine is provided below:
Aine, Midsummer’s Light (Commerce)
Goddess of Wealth, Love and Fertility
Should give off an alluring ethereal feel.
Red, slightly curly hair gently blowing the wind. Wearing a wreath/crown made of heather. Facing the viewer.
Wearing a long dress with a wrapped bodice around her waist. One leg showing and bare feet.
In her hands, holding Scottish wild flowers, a Scottish thistle. The stem could have fabric wrapped around it to make it seem more luxurious.
With the domains of Exploration and Conflict covered by Fand and The Morrigan respectively, we looked to Celtic goddesses associated with prosperity and growth for our final domain, Commerce. Áine was the obvious choice, an Irish goddess associated with the summer sun, wealth and prosperity.
Áine is also associated with Midsummer, a celebration stemming from pagan traditions in many places throughout Europe, held around the Summer Solstice.
This time we were happy with the original colouring that we received for Áine and moved straight onto commissioning the background colouring for her. The brief for that was as follows:
Scene: Standing in a meadow filled with heather in midday/bright lighting.
Colouring: Brighter, summery colours.
We kept our request short and sweet, requesting Áine be stood in a verdant meadow featuring heather, a common and iconic plant in the highlands of Scotland.
Happy with how the initial background turned out, we decided to press forward and get the piece finalised. We felt this was a perfect final piece to complete our trio of goddesses, and the Celtic glyphs and patterns added in the background of each of the three really tied them together.
With our trio of goddesses standing ready, we’re excited to continue showing you more of what we’ve been working on! Please keep your eyes peeled for more content as we continue our wee adventure in making a Celtic strategy game!
