[Riot Creative Contest 2017] - Adam Momsen

Arramil

Hi everyone!

Just creating the thread for now; I'll be picking a rig and getting to work soon.  Super excited to take a crack at this!

Arramil

So of course as soon as I make a thread, life and work got in my way.  We're a bit late to the party but should have nothing but time to plug away at this from now til the finish.



Introducing the character I'm going to be working with: Kalgarr Ironspeaker.  He's a rig I made for a previous project, but I think he'd fit in well enough in Runeterra!

He's an Orc-flavored caster with an affinity for metal magic.  I imagine in-game that he'd attack with his big club-like wizard's staff, and channel his magic abilities through a special dagger.

He's a little bit fancier dressed than most Orc stereotypes, and a little overweight - a result of days spent poring over magic tomes (and indulging in fine food and wine).  As such I want his run cycle to be a bit heavier, as if he's out-of-shape but has been reluctantly dragged into the conflict.  He's also very fond of his hat, so as some flavor to the movement cycle I'm planning on having him adjust it as he goes.

I'm still debating between a Recall-type animation and an ultimate attack for the character, so I'll be doing the movement cycle first.

Looking forward to (hopefully) posting some WIP shots!

Arramil

Here we have an initial stab at his run cycle.  Goal is to make him look a bit uncomfortable with the exertion - he'd rather be reading!

Realizing that his hat is obscuring a lot in the 3/4 view... I want it to blow off his head a bit, but might need to reconsider some of this to make sure he isn't just all hat.

Feedback welcome!

Arramil

Took another look at this.  Was feeling like the initial run was feeling very static, and I didn't like how big the arm swing was.  I tried to rework the animation so the run has a little more visual pop and to smooth out some of the rough edges.  Once I'm happy with this I want to add in some variation in the cycle for more flavor.

Let me know what you think!

Arramil

New version! wanted to add in a little bit of character to the run.  Kalgarr's pretty attached to his wizard's hat, and would hate to see it blown away and trampled in the dirt.  Also added a little bit of variation to some of the cycles so each step isn't exactly the same.

Feedback welcome!  Plan is to add in some overlap and polish this up once I've slept on it, then move on to my Recall animation!

Arramil

Bit of a delayed update but still plugging along on this!

I did a bit of polish and overlap on the run cycle to smooth out some of the rough edges:



I also decided to go ahead with a Recall animation.  Kalgarr's a bit lazy and enjoys his comforts, so he's figured out a way to summon his favorite easy chair and personal library into Summoner's Rift.  This is mostly still in the timing/posing phase, though I hope to move into spline very soon.



Feedback welcome!

Arramil

Had a bit of a marathon to get this submitted by the deadline, but managed to pull it off!  Here's my final submission:



There's still plenty of things I'd like to polish in it, but all things considered I think it turned out OK!  Comments welcome!

AnthonyAnimation

Thanks for sharing Arramil. I think the recall pretty good! There are some areas where you could make it a bit more exaggerated, like when he falls on the chair. I was expecting him to jump back and land in a relaxed pose.

When the staff takes him away could also be exaggerated. As soon as he grabs it he could be off the screen in 2-3 frames. Then you can have a nice smear frame.

There's also a few things to watch out for like IK pops. If you can, try and record reference of you doing the action. Even if you don't have a camera there is a lot of reference online and you can act it out yourself and put attention to how your body moves.

Arramil

Thanks for the feedback @AnthonyAnimation

I kinda burned myself out on this trying to get it in by the deadline, but I'm going back in to make some adjustments and polish.  I think you're right about the smear frame - I had tried to build in a bit of that but it was a bit relaxed.  The part where he falls in the chair also needs an overhaul so I'll definitely be taking a look at that.

Dunno if it makes a ton of sense since the contest is over, but I might throw the revised version on here for the sake of completion.