Kassadin_reimagined
Hi there! new user on the forum, this competition drew me here 
Been working on a Kassadin project while waiting for my forum registration to get confirmed.
Kassadin is just one of those old champions in dire need of an updated mesh, but with a nice concept/lore behind him so I felt that it would be a really fun project.
Some sketches of how it all started of, might not be the prettiest in the world but sometimes it's fun to see the first scribbles of ideas coming to life.
When I bounce ideas around I generally fill page after page with these very quick scribbles just to get lots of ideas down on paper. I didn't just want to make an higher poly version of the current Kassadin mesh, but rather an updated version of how I think Kassadin could look.
Inspiration was collected from sources such as the Borg (perhaps the queen in particular), Geigers art, plague doctors mask, Dart Vader, classic Kassadin and newer void champions released by Riot.
There where some key design elements that I wanted to keep from the classic Kassadin. First his 3 layered skirt feels very much part of who he is visually by now, but I decided to open it up so that it's not all enclosing anymore (similar to how Karthus got an open robe in the remake of his mesh).
Second the gas mask and tubing where I drew inspiration from the classic plague doctors beaked mask (and Geiger). The plague mask feels pretty fitting since Kassadin is battling an infection from the void and plague doctors where often infected with the very disease they set out to cure.
I decided to do away with much of the spikes and the horns, the shape of the horns recur in the form of his back piece instead and the spikes are there in the form of the layered plating many of the newer void characters have (on the arms in my Kassadins case).
A rough first mock-up of the general direction the sculpt is going.
Key design elements has been to make him look powerful but with an alien/infected body no longer as fit for Runetera as he might like in his battle against the void. So I want him to look more or less hocked into a life support system (and slightly cyborg-ish). Hence why Dart Vader is such a great inspiration, really powerful, but can't live outside of his armour.
Thanks for looking, now of to work I go again, lots to do
Been working on a Kassadin project while waiting for my forum registration to get confirmed.
Kassadin is just one of those old champions in dire need of an updated mesh, but with a nice concept/lore behind him so I felt that it would be a really fun project.
Some sketches of how it all started of, might not be the prettiest in the world but sometimes it's fun to see the first scribbles of ideas coming to life.
When I bounce ideas around I generally fill page after page with these very quick scribbles just to get lots of ideas down on paper. I didn't just want to make an higher poly version of the current Kassadin mesh, but rather an updated version of how I think Kassadin could look.
Inspiration was collected from sources such as the Borg (perhaps the queen in particular), Geigers art, plague doctors mask, Dart Vader, classic Kassadin and newer void champions released by Riot.
There where some key design elements that I wanted to keep from the classic Kassadin. First his 3 layered skirt feels very much part of who he is visually by now, but I decided to open it up so that it's not all enclosing anymore (similar to how Karthus got an open robe in the remake of his mesh).
Second the gas mask and tubing where I drew inspiration from the classic plague doctors beaked mask (and Geiger). The plague mask feels pretty fitting since Kassadin is battling an infection from the void and plague doctors where often infected with the very disease they set out to cure.
I decided to do away with much of the spikes and the horns, the shape of the horns recur in the form of his back piece instead and the spikes are there in the form of the layered plating many of the newer void characters have (on the arms in my Kassadins case).
A rough first mock-up of the general direction the sculpt is going.
Key design elements has been to make him look powerful but with an alien/infected body no longer as fit for Runetera as he might like in his battle against the void. So I want him to look more or less hocked into a life support system (and slightly cyborg-ish). Hence why Dart Vader is such a great inspiration, really powerful, but can't live outside of his armour.
Thanks for looking, now of to work I go again, lots to do
Replies
Some design choices has been made along the way as well, mostly based on fitting better into the Riot art style and to get a nicer silhouette against the map. Some ispiration was taken from the armour plating of Baron Nasher to make the back piece that was earlier quite smooth a bit more interesting.
Current uv map, some minor details will be added in one of the gaps. Face is there since I want the gas mask to be toggle able, similar to the hood on Night hunter Rengar (hence the shape of the torso armour, it's built to fit the gas mask).
Time to project some details to the new mesh and bake that ao and get some textures going
It was I fun project and I'm glad I at least got my idea out of my head/sketch book and into a sculpt even if I felt the lack of time on the project.
Hope you like him, even though he is pretty far from how Kassadin currently looks. I think I still kept the essence of him with his layered "skirt", gas mask/ breathing apparatus and arm sword, hornlike features of the back piece and gloomy skin. But perhaps it should be called Void Kassadin or something similar since it definitely gives Kassadin a stronger feel of connection to the void.
The sword was actually something I jumped back and forth on before I went with this design. The original Kassadin has a force sword, but I wanted a sword that was more integrated with his body (hence how parts of his hand has morphed into part of the blade), the force feel of the sword can be added with some particles around it.