Desgin Review

 Leticia Reinaldo Gillett

A Character Artist for Blizzard Entertainment

Leticia Reinaldo Gillett is a 3D character artist for Bilzzard Entertainment. She cretaed skins for characters from the game Overwatch. Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer shooter developed by Blizzard Entertainment and has become very popular around the world. Overwatch has been one of Blizzard's most successful franchises raking in ovver US$1 Billion in revenue.



Common themes in Gillett's work include cultural and ethnic clothing that relates to the character she is designing for. Her work shows that she possesses a strong moral compass and story based content based on where the character is from. I think her values are really powerful, and can be seen in some her work shown below.



What I find interesting about these designs is the amount of reseacrh and care that has gone into evry single detail of this character's outfit.



One of the big principles of design that she uses to display her ideas and research behind that character is the use of symbolism. The character shown below depicts her design using many of the same symbols and arrangements to bring the character's ethnic background to the forefront.



The piece I show above is called Doomfist Spirit, an in-game skin for the character Doomfist. What stood out to me in this particular design is how Gillett incorperated Doomfist's Nigerian background into the skin's design. It casually informs players about how the amount of depth put into every character the game has to offer. After analysing the image carefully, I conclude that many different elements of design were used in the creation of this design, such as the use of contrasting blue lightning on his arm and back and how she used a totem-pole aesthetic to give his design a more tribal identity. I think that the meaning of this design is  to show all of the players that there is more to a character than how good they play in-game. Many people work on giving the characters a good backstory to show through designs done by people like Gillett, and I think this is the perfect way to get this appeal to a specific audience such as myself and many others.

In the end, this is a great designer who clearly cares thoroughly in her work in all of her designs. I can't wait see more .from this artist and what she can show through a video game character. I believe he way she incorporates the principles of design in her work makes this a great way to appeal to a young audience. More important to me, is that this is a wonderful way to show that there's more to a character, or a design, than just the game itself.