Art IV - Portfolio Piece 01

Art IV - Portfolio Piece 01
2D Concept Art for a new TF2 Character

For my first portfolio piece in the Art IV class I want to get back to doing 2D artwork. It's something I haven't done in a while and I really miss sketching and coming up with concept for characters.

I've been looking at the characters from Team Fortress 2 and I love what the artists have done there. Fun and simple but well defined characters, with identifiable profiles, personalities, favorite weapons (3 per character) and a very distinctive style.

In the game, every character has a specific role based on their profession and they have provided a wide array of stereotypical classes such as the soldier, the sniper, the spy or the medic.
I'd like to create a new class that could potentially be part of the game and would fit within the world of TF2. I've come with a list of possible characters I can develop:

1- The Black Ops
2- The Blade Master (or the Knife Expert)
3- The Navajo (Tomahawks/ Bow and arrow)
4- The Ninja
5- The Sailor
6- The S.W.A.T.
7- The Cowboy (2 guns)
8- The Cook (a la Steven Segal)
9- The Navy SEAL
10- The Martial Arts Expert (Kung-fu Master, Monk)
11- The Pilot (Considering other branches of the military)

I think this could turn out to be a fun exercise and if time permits I'd also like to come with concept drawings of the 3 weapons the character would use (big attack, small attack and melee)

Schedule:

Week 1 - This week is gone, uh-oh... but the idea of what I want to do is already in my head
Week 2 - It'd be all about thumbnails, quick sketches to decide the shapes, profile, pose, etc. By the end of the week I should have a base character to work on, although there will be very little detail.
Week 3 - Giving better definition to the base character and adding all the good stuff like details, colors and weapons. By the end of this week I expect to have something very close to the finished product although there will still be lots of room for improvement.
Week 4 - Make adjustments based on the week 3 critique and make the final piece look awesome and professional