Mortal Engines Character Concept Art by Brooke
This Mortal Engines character concept art by Brooke, posted through Crown of Crows, is a strong student-design take on three key figures from Philip Reeve’s novel.
The assignment was built around three characters with different body types. The line-up presents Chudleigh Pomeroy, Anna Fang, and Hester Shaw, which is a smart spread: one historian, one aviator-revolutionary, and one scarred survivor driven by revenge.
Three Characters, Three Design Problems
The piece works because each character asks for a different kind of visual thinking.
Chudleigh Pomeroy needs to feel like a museum man from London’s old-world-obsessed culture. His design should carry bookishness, class, and the slightly absurd dignity of someone who treats history as both scholarship and social costume.
Anna Fang needs movement. She is an aviator, Anti-Tractionist, fighter, and mythic presence in the wider Mortal Engines world. A good Anna design should feel practical, alert, and capable of stepping straight into an airship cockpit.
Hester Shaw is the hardest of the three. Her scar cannot be a decorative mark. It is part of how the world reads her and how she reads herself. Brooke’s note about attempting to recreate Hester’s scar gets to the core of the challenge: Hester’s design has to show damage without reducing her to damage.
Design note: Hester should not look polished. Anna should not look ornamental. Pomeroy should not look generic. Each character needs a silhouette that suggests their place in the Traction Era.
Anna Fang, More Regal
Brooke also created a more regal Anna Fang design, which pushes the character toward icon rather than field-ready aviator.
That approach makes sense. Anna Fang is not only a person in Mortal Engines. She is also a legend moving through the story. By the time readers meet her, she already carries reputation, politics, danger, and glamour.
This version of Anna is less about flight gear and more about presence. It captures the way Anna can function almost like a banner for resistance: composed, dangerous, and larger than the room she stands in.
