BlindGuardian117

Winter Schnee

Conceptualized in 2013 following the idea of the Maidens, Winter was meant to differ from Weiss not only visually but also characteristically. I was given a lot of Aion references, primarily the Abyss armors. Lightning Farron and Erza Scarlet were also prominent influences.

With the premise that she would be defiant of her father's expectations and reject her responsibilities as a Maiden, I designed her opposite of her sister:

Where Weiss wears an asymmetrical hair style but symmetrical clothing, Winter would have symmetrical hair styles and asymmetrical wardrobes. I insisted on giving her pants to lend to her authoritative role. I inverted the direction of the Schnee insignia to represent her conviction to take down her family's empire using their very technology against them. It was requested that her main outfit feature a crystallized crow's skull.

Qrow Branwen

I did a preliminary sketch for Qrow knowing how important this character was to Monty. The one desire he had was for there to be, "a lot of feathers," while also referencing Guilty Gear Xrd. What a request.

I unfortunately couldn't bring myself to revisit this design.

Venus Adele

A member of team RAVN. Her two-handed Chain-Whip Katana was designed, modeled and textured before being passed off to Shane for rigging. Inspired by FF Type 0's Seven.

Episodic Designs

Following the Volume 2 wrap, I was tasked by Monty with designing alternative outfits for classical trope episodes such as Beach and Parade/Concert. They only had to be good enough to meet Monty's standards and detailed enough for me to reference when modeling.

Things did not go according to plan, but I still enjoyed the process and opportunity to explore the characters' personalities. Monty told me Neptune needed floaties because he doesn't know how to swim.

Penny got to go to the beach, too. Just not in the water.

Young Cinder

Exploring her journey from starting out as, "ashes," that would later catch flame to become a, "cinder." Her leggings were meant to resemble those on her catsuit design.

Cameos

This request was the most annoying because I could not for the life of me figure out a way to make these characters/team names follow the naming/design convention of the world. Monty had always been vocal about wanting to include his friends in some way and I tried my best, but I'm not very fond of it personally.

I continued working on things up until June of 2015 when it was made more than apparent that my presence and involvement was neither welcomed nor appreciated over a phone call:

"Trying to find a place for you on RWBY is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole."

I packed my things and left.

It has taken me a decade to start believing in myself again, and looking back at everything that Monty trusted me with restores some of the confidence I once had. I should be proud of what I accomplished regardless of how things played out.