Character concept
Kade, the Last Ember
Painted character design · digital
A fire-wielder built from thumbnail sketches up — silhouette first, then a limited black-and-ember palette so the flame is always the brightest thing in frame.
Character Design & Illustration
ANKIT MANDLI
Sketches. Characters. Vector art. Built one line at a time, lit one scroll at a time.
01 — Ignition study
One flame,
two characters.
A hand-lit flame becomes a lighter-arm's ember — the same fire, carried by two people who couldn't be less alike. Scroll to watch it travel.
02 — Selected work
The cast so far.
Character concept
Ash, No Sun Just Lighter
Painted character design · digital
A rooftop merc whose whole kit is a joke and a weapon at once — the lighter-arm started as a doodle in a sketchbook margin and became the piece's centrepiece.
03 — How a piece gets made
From graphite to glow.
01
Sketch
Thumbnails first — a page of small, fast gestures until one silhouette reads instantly, then a cleaned-up pencil pass at full size.
02
Line & Vector
The keeper sketch gets rebuilt as clean vector line work — every fold and buckle deliberate, ready to hold flat colour or paint.
03
Light & Colour
One light source, one accent colour doing most of the talking — usually fire, because fire is honest about where it's coming from.
04 — About
Ankit Mandli.
I design characters the way you'd build a person — a silhouette, a habit, a light they stand in. Most of what you see here started as a two-minute gesture sketch that wouldn't leave me alone.
I work across pencil, digital painting and vector line art, usually landing somewhere between the three: sketchy enough to feel drawn, clean enough to animate or print.
Skills
Character DesignDigital SketchingVector IllustrationConcept ArtColour & Lighting
05 — Get in touch
Let's light
something up.
Open for character design commissions, game and book projects, and the occasional impossible request.
[email protected]