Tuesday 13 November 2012

Greave Brigandine - Some practice with new knowledge

Ok well I've been pretty quiet for a while, that's mostly because I've been participating in my 'Character design with Stephen Silver' course on Schoolism.com. I'll be making some updates pertaining more closely to that soon, but I wanted to stick up some quick character work I did today.

The character is Greave Brigandine. He's a creature made from magical energies to be a knight. Originally he was a full on lion man but i've been playing around with making him a human with a kinda liony feel.




I was trying to apply the myriad of thing I've been taught so far on the course, mostly I am trying to vary my character shapes a lot more as getting bogged into similar designs is one of my weaknesses. Obviously it's not all going to come at once but I think some of the stuff here is pretty decent.



Friday 12 October 2012

Vermillion Splash - Progress



So I've been working on this a bit, I spent a good 4 hours trying to figure out how to render the laser trail. I'm not totally happy with it but I think it'll do.

Obviously its not done yet, I've been wrestling with the metal of her boots and wrenches and am yet to settle on a method and look for them. My course starts on Monday so I'm probably going to take a short break from heavy art just so I can be refreshed and not burnt out for when it begins.

Sunday 30 September 2012

Vermillion Splash Art WiP Again.



So I've done a bit more on this, and I think i've completed the face.

Most of it's still just groundwork and obviously there will always be some touch ups to be done at the end but i'm pretty pleased with how this is going.

Saturday 29 September 2012

Vermillion Splash Art - WiP



So yeah a couple more work in progress pieces for the splash art for Vermillion.

I'm trying a method of painting I saw on one of the League of Legends art spotlight videos, hopefully it'll work out, though im finding some of it a little difficult to do I think it's mostly just a case of keeping at it.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Blaise - The Zealous Exterminator




So these are some initial concept doodles for a new character Blaise. she's a pest control officer in a very polluted city famous for it's chemical experiments.
Her lore is below to give a bit more context. In gameplay she's based on using different canisters of chemicals as a firing mechanism for her gun. Gaining passive effects depending on which canisters she's plugged into the gun.


Zaun is a dangerous place, few would dispute that, but there are many more perils in the city than might immediately spring to mind. The pollution, the machinery, the street gangs and the scientists looking for subjects to experiment on. All of these pale in comparison to some of the creatures that crawl from the undercity and prowl the alleys. Twitch's inclusion into the league and his fight for his people made it very clear the kinds of things that the slurry of chemicals floating around in Zaun's pipes and sewers could produce. Sentient rats however are just about one of the least threatening things Zaun's hidden melting pots of chemicals have produced. The creatures the city has produced are the strongest argument for those that deny the existence of the void, passing creatures such as Cho'Gath and Kha'zix off as things created by the chemical soup under Zaun.

With all these monstrosities walking around the city it stands to reason there are people tasked with dealing with them. Blaise is one of these people, a member of the Zaun Pest Control squad. In fact Blaise is the ZPC's founder and only member, and as such spends her days hunting and trapping and killing the many threats the native creatures of Zaun represent. After years of doing this Blaise has become more than a little fanatical about her profession, loudly revelling in the sport of the job. She has gained a reputation around the bars of Zaun for vocally objecting to certain champions participating in league matches. This was all considered part and parcel of her job to make the streets safe until one day a match was broadcast that proved to be the last straw. Eye witnesses say that in the middle of a skirmish between two of the League's newest members, Rengar and Kha'zix, Blaise smashed her glass on the bar and without saying a word got up and left the bar. The next time she was seen was when she arrived at the Institute of War.

"You know, after all these years cleaning up the vermin in Zaun... I'm beginning to feel like its not the only place that needs a good old fashioned purge." - Blaise, The Zealous Exterminator.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Vermillion, Splash art

So I decided to do a full splash art for Vermillion, it's not done, not even close. But I wanted to post up a couple of WiP images.



These are kinda 3 stages but there's been a lot of back and forth between these images, and will probably continue to be such.


Fluh'skz - The Light of the Void

So I entered a little contest. Basically the point was to design a Champion for League Of Legends based on the theme 'Light' within 90 minutes.

I did some quick doodles of ideas for her look so I thought i'd stick em here.


And her lore:

Fluh'skz remembers little of how she ended up in the void, something about a ritual in a town, and a vague memory of her father. She does remember the cold, the dark and the noises, the scuttling, the chittering and the occasional roar. But mostly she remembers the light. As she sat there alone, afraid, she was approached by a creature. It looked like a woman, a woman who was bursting at the seams with light. The thing had touched her gently and she had filled with light.

With the light came knowledge. She knew what she must do, she was the light of the void, the contrast, the juxtaposition, she had to exist and she had to shine. That is what she did inside the void. Until one day, she came across a young, alone, scared girl, and then she knew what must be done. She touched the girl, and left the void through the rift the girl had opened. she returned to the world from whence she came, to find her father. Time does not work in the void as it does in Runeterra, and now Fluh'skz had ensured that both the Void and the world beyond it had a light. For better or for worse.

"They say the void is a dark place with many shadows and no light. But there can be no shadows without light." - Kassadin, The Void Walker


Monday 10 September 2012

Vermillion - Final (pending) design.


So this is the pending final design for Vermillion. I'm pretty pleased with this, think it draws on all the references I want it to. Her Piltovian heritage (League of Legends Nation) The fact she is a street youth of sorts, but while simultaneously keeping the inspiration from Jet Set Radio Future.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Cinder quick design


This is a quickly doodled design for a character im designing for a contest on the League of Legends forums. She's designed to be a warrior studying to be an embodiment of the fire element from the chinese Wu Xing system. 

Clause 22 draft posters




So these are some draft versions of promotional posters/flyers for the comic me and my friend are working on.

These feature beta designs for the characters but I'm quite enjoying them.

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Vermillion - The Supersonic Prodigy. More designs


So a few more design ideas for Vermillion. These were done quite quickly, to just get ideas down, hence the lack of shading. More than likely I will take elements from some of these and mix and match them and the overall designs are a little.. odd.


More than anything this design is just a bit bland, I might try working some further details or points of interest into the clothing at a later point though.


Since she comes from the Steampunk styled city in League of Legends lore I thought I should try a sort of full victorian vibe. I like it but the clothing does clash a little with the skates and wrenches I feel.


This was a fairly punky modern take, I think there's some promise here if I were to take it and work it to be a little more fantasy based perhaps.


I wanted to just put up an image of her tag too as I'm quite pleased with it. I think the thing I like the most is the paint splatters on the eyes to make it look like a feminine smiley by resembling eyelashes.


Monday 27 August 2012

Vermillion - the Supersonic Prodigy


So I finished this design. Took a little longer than I would have liked but that was mostly due to researching steam train wheels for the boots and trying to figure out how the wrenches and boots should look.

That and coming up with the tag/logo for her. 

Pretty pleased but I want to experiment with some more punky clothes. Looking into Jet Set Radio Future and some cyber punk. especially since JSRF is one of the main influences behind the basic idea for Vermillion.

Friday 24 August 2012

Vermillion - The Supersonic Prodigy, a WiP


So I'm back from gamescom and I've been working on Vermillion a little more. This is a half done image but I wanted to get something up.

I have a few sketches, mostly faces, that I did while away but my scanner is being temperamental, so I'll likely have a wrastle with it tomorrow.

Like most of my stuff this is just a concept, just an idea on paper, no idea how much like this she's gonna end up. Pretty pleased with the wrench idea, where they open up into laser cutters.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Vermillion - Silhouettes and sketches




So just a few more ideas I was getting down for Vermillion. Mostly without details here. I need to do some hard thinking about how the skates will work and about some of the details of the clothing and stuff but that'll come a bit later.

Monday 6 August 2012

Vermillion - a couple of new sketches


So this is actually a scan cos my Inkling went full out wacko on me and I think I need to do some investigation in what not to do when using it.

Again just some quick ideas on paper, nothing too fancy.

Saturday 4 August 2012

Vehicle doodles - Sleigh Mark IX



So something a little different today. This is a first doodled concept of the 'Sleigh Mark IX' from the comic me and my friend are writing Clause 22.
It's pretty quickly done and was mostly just me trying to get it on paper. It's an idea I've had lodged in my mind for ages and I'm struggling to think of any other designs, so I intend to go back to scratch with the Sleigh design but wanted to get this one down before I did.

Obviously it's somewhat inspired by the Pod Racers from Star Wars but a big influence for the way I see it moving is the chain of 'flaptters' at the end of the studio Ghibli movie Laputa. And yes that's a jaguar e-type for the centre piece.

Friday 3 August 2012

Niat - Ability doodles



So I've been doing a bit of work on figuring out what one of his abilities would look like, the other abilities are fairly basic, but I thought this one was complicated enough to warrant some further explanation.

And again mostly thanks to my friend James Niat's finished (mostly) abilities:

Passive - Courage: Niat's HP regeneration is increased by 10% for 4 seconds when he is in combat, refreshing each time Niat or a nearby ally takes damage. Courage is increased by an additional 4% for each ally in 500 range.

Q - Vitality: Niat rushes forwards in a line for a spirit-charged punch, dealing 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to any target hit, and stunning them for 0.5 seconds. This ability can be cast again within this time to create a burst of soul energy which deals 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+0.5 per ability power) magic damage and knocks the target back a short distance.

W - Fervour: Niat puts his trust in an allied champion for 4 seconds, granting them 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 AD and Life Steal equivalent to Niat's Courage. If used again before Fervour expires, Niat can jump to the allied champion from up to 1000 range. The Life Steal bonus is halved if Niat casts Fervour on himself.

E - Spirit: Niat tosses a ball of Soul Energy, dealing damage to anything it passes through. If triggered again, or if Spirit collides with terrain, the ball with explode, dealing 85 / 135 / 185 / 235 / 285 (+0.55 per ability power) magic damage. If the explosion occurs when an enemy champion is facing away from the blast, they will be knocked away from it.

R - Last Straw: Niat lets out a burst of soul energy, knocking up all enemy champions and dealing 150/250/350 (+0.7 per ability power) magic damage. Similarly, all allied champions caught in the blast - including Niat himself -  will gain Fervour.


Wednesday 1 August 2012

Niat Lornhart - The Guiding Soul




So I think I'm getting the feel for the character down on the page now. Mostly it's about fretting over the details and with a hypothetical design like this I'm fairly happy to leave it at this stage for the most part. There are a few more things I would like to do with him though, figuring out what his abilities look like, and the way he'd move for example, as well as some colour tests.

Also courtesy of my friend James Williamson (Volcano Style) here is his final lore:

The Noxian Invasion of Ionia still has repercussions to this very day. Varus stalks the Fields of Justice, praying to find himself against a representative of those who stole everything for him. Jericho Swain still finds himself having to silence naysayers (permanently, some say) about his all too convenient absence from the final conflict which won intervention from the League of Legends in Ionia's favour. Yet, not all stories told are unfortunate tales of loss and despair. Sometimes there are tales of hope to lift people's spirits. A tale a young man returning home with a gem for his loved one, only to find the forces of desolation approaching; of that same young man, standing defiantly at the gates, still clutching that very gem - and of the man vanishing in the chaos, only for the same gift he entrusted his soul into, to find itself on his lover's doorstep the next morning.

Niat Lornheart was a prominent candidate for Summoner before his disappearance, but stories continued to be told of him. Presumed dead, yet no body ever found. His love continued her search, refusing to believe that he could be gone. After all, he had delivered her birthday present, as he had promised her - that very gem seeming to entrust her with the promise that one day, he would return. The more she looked, the more stories she would hear - of a young man clutching a lantern, appearing when things seemed their most grim. To guide those lost within the Howling Marsh to safety. To emerge from the sandstorms of the Shurima Desert and quench the thirsts of those parched. Each time, vanishing as quickly as he arrived. The stories told of Niat Lornheart, the boy who could sense a troubled spirit and appear to offer a glimpse of hope and sanctuary.

They were not stories.

The appearance of a cheerful young former Summoner appearing at the Institute of War may have been a source of great relief and joy to one Ionian girl - but others suspect it is an omen of a great calamity yet to come, that one Guiding Soul cannot overcome alone.

"A body can be trained. A mind can be sharpened. Yet the spirit remains unfathomable."

- Old Ionian Proverb.



Niat Lornhart - The Guiding Soul




So a few more advanced concepts for Niat. None of these are supposed to be finals, just trying to get down elements and ideas that could picked and chosen from if the question of a final design ever comes up. I was trying out the idea of doing turnarounds without having the flat front, back and side poses.


Saturday 28 July 2012

LoL character concept - Niat







So some early doodles and sketches for a new character called Niat. Again he's designed to fit into the League of Legends world. The general concept is that of a traveller.

Sidney Thibault's Z-brush Eld.


So this magnificent thing is Sidney Thibault's ( sidartz3d@gmail.com ) Z-brush model of Eld Nylund, the Ally.
As I'm sure you can tell he changed some stuff (man the boots are so cool I'm totally stealing them for something) and took some artistic license with the design, mostly because my turnarounds weren't perfect, but also because he wanted to present a more realistic depiction of the character than I had.
Having him model this was a fantastic learning curve for me, both communication wise and in figuring how to present my work for modelers.
He is a seriously great modeler and I worked with him on the Lego Inception project, he is a most excellent team mate too!

Friday 27 July 2012

Character sneak peek - Vermillion

So this is essentially a glance at an initial concept of a new character that I intend to start working on soon. This is just an early idea so she might end up looking completely different, but we'll see once I start playing around with the design a bit more.


Risto - Yordle jewel thief


Just a few sketches I did for another League of Legends character idea. He's a yordle (a race of small cat/rodent/gnome-like creatures from the game) who uses drills. This one's heavily influenced by the game mechanics we've come up with. 
Main problem is we haven't got a lore for him yet so these preliminary sketches are all i've done since as a character he's very up in the air.

Sterling - The Thaumetal Artisan - Hiatus

So here's some more stuff for Sterling and the last for a while. These were all done by sketching over a hastily done template sketch as a quick way to get some side-by-side comparisons.


The inkling gave me a bit of jip wit these two, but I'm still learning how to use it and where on the page to stick the sensor and such.


I accidentally drew the arm before I turned the inkling on with the one on the right.. whoops.


I'm fairly pleased with these two, but i'll return to Sterling after a bit of a break since:


This guy came along. That's Jayce the 100th Champion to be released in League of Legends. 
While I'm not sure he's the best pick for the monumental 100th release I love him, he's fun to play and he looks excellent.
Main problem being he's stolen pretty much all of the design cues and visual style I was running with for Sterling. The whole Aviator look especially, but he also used the one huge armoured arm thing too!
So I need to go back to the think-tank with Sterling and I want to give myself a bit of time for that, so I'm gonna work on some other characters for a while first.

Sterling - The Thaumetal Artisan


More sketches for Sterling, these are pretty unstructured and just trying to get some ideas down really.