[RIOT CREATIVE CONTEST 2017] Character Art - Illaoi

gillmeister74

Hey Gang! Throwing my hat in the ring for this one. I'm planning on doing Illaoi the kraken priestess for my champion. I'll have some mood boards and roughs up soon.

gillmeister74

My first idea is to change Illaoi's golden kraken idol into a magical kraken djinni lamp. Taking some cues from different depictions of Arabian Nights stories and what not. Should have some more polished concepts up soon. 
I haven't necessarily committed to this idea yet. If I get any other ideas, I'll post them here. Crits and critiques welcome! Thanks! And good luck to you all!

GravityBwlast

Hi!
This is a very nice idea, your first sketches are interesting. I like the colors. I feel like the Disney Aladdin movies could be a nice reference to see how they stylized things.
Following!

gillmeister74

Thanks Gravity! I'll definitely give Aladdin another watch while working on this . Added two new paint overs while touching up the prior two that I liked. Trying to settle on what works and what doesn't. I know that I'm going to have to scale up and simplify any details and patterns to improve readability, so that's on my list of to do's.
I'll try to get more stuff up soon. Let me know what you guys think 

Cheers!

gillmeister74

honing in on a final concept after blending previous iterations together. I think I've already chosen the one on the left because I put the most time into detailing her. I'll have my mind made up soon. Feedback always welcome!

gillmeister74

Going with this concept moving forward. Made some changes to armor, hairstyle, and misc. stuff to give it a better feel.

Started blocking things out. Trying to get a good base going. Get the anatomy figured out and all that.

Things'll be getting exciting from here! I'll post progress as I make it.

gillmeister74

Some closer renders of the head. Trying to find some good shapes. Really poopy block out of the hair but it's something....

pvn

I would have chosen that concept too! Looks promising so far! Really liking the facial features from the front and 3/4s. From the side I think it looks a little off still. Maybe the chin comes out too far forward, and the jaw looks out of place being so sharp compared to everything else. 

gillmeister74

Thanks pvn! I'll definitely take a look at the jaw and chin and make sure the profile doesn't look stiff/off.

progresso soup on Illaoi Djinni Priestess. Blocking out clothing, armor, accessories, and hair that's slightly less poop. Also fine tuning anatomy and forms to look better and align with Illaoi's in game model and concept art.

gillmeister74

Made some edits to Illaoi's skirt. Trying to make it a bit more interesting while also working in some spirals/tentacle motifs. Starting to sharpen, polish and simplify some things.


I'm also starting to get a feel for what this character will look like i the proper view. Adjustments will be made to best suit the pov.

yararstss

I'm loving the shapes, and the hair is awesome also. I completaly love the model process when it becomes clean like this. Congrats and go for it my friend.

GravityBwlast

Hey, it's starting to get there! The face though is still in my opinion very masculine. I think it's because of the chin being too angular, the edges below the eyes being too sharp, and the eybrows arch too big. The neck can be narrower, and the lips with a more feminine shape.
The anatomy is cool but maybe a bit too exaggerated, I would personally smooth it out a bit, especially the 6pack and triceps areas.
The armor parts and clothing looks great, your theme is really well translated into 3D!
The hair is pretty cool too but a bit hard to read. I'd totally see a bith of cloth falling along the hair and bringing a soft spiral into them to break the shape.

I did a quick PO to illustrate what I meant about the face, I hope you don't mind:

Just my two cents ofc.

I am really digging the idea, looking forward to see some colors.

gillmeister74

GravityBwlast said:

Hey, it's starting to get there! The face though is still in my opinion very masculine. I think it's because of the chin being too angular, the edges below the eyes being too sharp, and the eybrows arch too big. The neck can be narrower, and the lips with a more feminine shape.
The anatomy is cool but maybe a bit too exaggerated, I would personally smooth it out a bit, especially the 6pack and triceps areas.
The armor parts and clothing looks great, your theme is really well translated into 3D!
The hair is pretty cool too but a bit hard to read. I'd totally see a bith of cloth falling along the hair and bringing a soft spiral into them to break the shape.

I did a quick PO to illustrate what I meant about the face, I hope you don't mind:

Just my two cents ofc.

I am really digging the idea, looking forward to see some colors.

Hey GravityBWlast! Thanks for the awesome crits! I totally agree with you about the arms and the abs.They are a bit too defined and will be getting smoothed out. 

I also see where you're coming from in regards to the hair. I will definitely make the forms more readable through cleaner forms and maybe some accessories.


Your PO definitely harkens back to Illaoi's original concept (and I've certainly taken pointers from that version of her) but I also think her champion art and in game model reflect a more fanatic looking, square jawed, linebacker-esque lady. 

Either way, I made some adjustments to the structure of her face and I've added her earrings which hide a bit of her thick neck. I'm still a long way from finalizing things, but I hope to have the high poly done this week so I can start work on the low polys and her accessories (lamp, djinni tentacle, etc)

updates to come soon!

GravityBwlast

The face already looks smoother and more feminine! I think the chin can still be pointier though. But yeah overall Illaoi's head seems to be a pretty hard challenge. Idk how I would handle it myself, easier spotting the flaws than doing it eheh.
The earrings are also a good point!
Cheers

gillmeister74

Been too long since the last update. Aside from a holiday trip to see the family I've been working on illaoi's high poly. I think I'm comfortable with where she's at now and will start retopo soon. Her golden idol lamp and djinni tentacle are well underway and will be posted here soon too.



more to come in a bit.

gillmeister74

I slowed down quite a bit on this progress wise, but I want to be absolutely sure it comes out not terrible 

Zerahtai

I love the aesthetic of it!  What are the Idol  / Tentacles made out of ? Did you choose one?

gillmeister74

Illaoi's golden djinni lamp

which is based off Illaoi's weapon, which is a golden idol of her deity.

After I get the lamp in a good spot I will probably move forward with retopo and texturing. The tentacle would be nice to have, but is more of a vfx gameplay thing. That and I want to make sure I finish this character on time.

gillmeister74

Update! Finished retopo and unwrap. Did some test bakes with some cleaning to get an idea of what textures are going to look like.

Illaoi's currently sitting at 11096 tris and the resolution for the diffuse in the render is 1024x1024. Going to make sure everything is as clean and proper as can be before I really start painting.

gillmeister74

update. I'm painting textures. Playing with colors. etc.

GravityBwlast

Nice progress!
The color scheme is already looking nice.
Hope you'll finish on time, keep it up!
Cheers

gillmeister74

did the best I could. In the end this is what I got. This was fun and a good learning experience. Best of luck to everyone who submitted!