Polaroid's Workshop

polaroid29

HI ALL!

So, I'm finally taking the plunge. I've been working as a digital sculptor for toys/film/fine art for awhile now, but a growing love of playing Dota 2 has sparked an interest in game work!

My 2d work is (extremely) lacking, and I am not very confident in concept painting or anything 2d really, so I'm taking this opportunity to run through the whole workshop process myself, from concept art to low poly model, to hopefully better myself.

Exile of the Feudal Lord - A Phantom Assassin Set

In ancient Japan, Samurai were warriors held to the highest of standards, expected to represent the way of the Bushido, and fight with honor and with respect towards their leader. This set was drawing inspiration from that, and also from PA's original lore of choosing to break away from her pack, revealing her name Mortred, when the others remained anonymous. The idea is Mortred, a Lord in Feudal Japan, being exiled for killing for her own benefit.

I've done a basic grayscale of my idea for the front, and also a cape. All pretty WIP, but I just want to learn the process a little better. Hope you guys like it! Any comments or critiques would be much appreciated.

hamstocks

hey man, I really like the concept! The only thing that stands out to me as something that needs changed is maybe the branches on the head... they just seem a little big, like I feel like they would look a little strange in-game. other than that it's great! can't wait to see more of your work

ShorkGamer

Signes are not allowed anymore I think?
Also - this eye! Besides that I adore the set.

kite212

as a whole this does not feel like PA at all, and seems to really bulk her up way too much. The biggest issue is the head piece. It completely destroys the characters silhouette, and I do not think that it will read well from the game perspective. Not to mention that it just reminds me of "the knights who say Ni", and that is not a good thing here. Using real symbols from different languages seems to be frowned upon as well now, seeing as Valve specifically asked that no chinese characters be used in New Bloom. I take that as an avoid any real language character to better your chances for item acceptance.

Markovnikov

The headset makes her resemble Nature's Prophet more than PA, and the armour screams Juggernaut.

In addition, you're extremely lucky that the characters for "god" are the same in Chinese and Japanese, otherwise you could easily have run the risk of putting something offensive there by accident.

If you really want this set to be made, try changing it to fit Legion Commander instead. She seems far more likely to wear a bulky suit of armour like this.

cosmicsugar

I agree with kite and markovnikov. I think you can salvage the idea by changing the hero though!
Design wise - I think you need to continue the flower or fur theme throughout the armour, for consistency and to tie the look together. Shrinking down the branches would also be a good move, since it is very nature's prophety.

polaroid29

Hi guys! Got some free time to practice Dota stuff some more. The awesome Ivn and I have started to work on creating some sets together, and I'll be posting our progress and finished stuff here. He's handling concepting, I'm doing 3d stuff. His idea for this particular set was exploring something more historically accurate.

First set up, Dragon Knight. I think we might have to work on some small changes to make it fit the in-game look, but this is where we're at.

Concept:



And here's my progress so far. Really rough and sloppy, focusing on form, design and silhouette right now:

polaroid29

Finally had the time to work on a Dota set, and I hear there's currently no way to submit items into the new reborn client my luck! Oh well. Here's some more progress. Other than random bolts and straps and other doo-dads and a final round of critiques, this is getting close to being done design-wise and ready to polish I think. Let me know what ya'll think.

polaroid29

Small update..