[Riot 2017 Art Contest] Death Blossom Vel'koz

Fickleflame

Hi! I've only just discovered this contest but wish to participate. It's been a growing ambition of mine to work at Riot and I've been creating - on-the-side - a body of work to show of dem mad skills

There is no possibility of a loss in my case. If I don't win, I just get another illustration for my portfolio. A piece I would have created in my spare time anyway.

But, like with everything in life, winning feels great so I don't plan on holding back!

                                                                                                                                  

So, without further ado and inspired by the recent "Champ Popularity" post. I decided to give my favourite champion (and support) Vel'koz - a champion that is the very proof that alien life is a theoretical possibility - a complete makeover. This is an attempt, my attempt, to make him more appealing.
Because, according to Riot, monsters are less coveted by the the mostly-human player-base.

For shame!

Here and now, lets change this! This is my prettier - and altogether more feminine - (unfinished) version of our misunderstood sociopathic tentacular friend.

Enjoy!

                                                                                                                                  



                                                                                                                     

Fickleflame

Update!

• Removed the small bottom petal
• Split the bottom petal
• Changed the tree texture
• Added/refined Ivern in the background
• Decided upon a petal texture, I want the tentacles to appear as pure white in-game
• Removed the eye, I'm going to try and make the "fangs" (more petals?) make an eye appear

                                                                                                                    

To-do list:

• Move Ivern downwards (messed up perspective)
• Remove useless noise from the tentacles
• Spread the wanted tentacle texture to the entirety of the tentacles
• Add, refine and/or remove the fin-like petal on the tentacles
• Add spikes to the tentacles
• Try and make Vel's fang-like petals form his signature eye
• Decide upon a structure/texture for the inside of the Vel-flower
• Add small Vel-like creatures illustrating some of his abilities
• Add particle effects

                                                                                                                    


                                                                                                                    

Fickleflame

Here are a few turd-like work-in-progress pics of the other illustrations I'm pretty far from completing.

I started off with a dark and moody Cassiopeia concept. I thought it had potential but was  too sombre for in-game use. I liked frill around the neck concept and the tail of roots so I kept them when I reworked the image.



You know that beautiful girl you have a crush on? You know how you freeze when she looks at you? That's what I think needs to be achieved with a successful Cassiopeia skin. With that in mind, I refined her features a bit.

As a significant part of Cassiopeia's kit, her ult needs a sharp visual marker in-game. My idea is to change the green area of the screen that is cassiopeia into a momentary burst of on-screen purple-ish red.

I'm working away from the elements I want to keep so things like her general pose and anatomy are not, you know... set in stone.



                                                                                                                    

Here's a rough submarine-Vel'koz concept. I thought it would be funny to have a squid like champion wearing a diving suit. His ult being like projected ray of light emanating from a submarine exploring the deep ocean.

You want to see alien life? Look into the depths of our oceans. Or play league, whatever.



                                                                                                                    

Yeah, so hum. Doesn't anyone want to commemorate the Ardent-meta? No? Oh well, I'll just leave this here then.

Fickleflame

Update!

• Removed the small bottom petal
• Split the bottom petal
• Changed the tree texture
• Added/refined Ivern in the background
• Decided upon a petal texture, I want the tentacles to appear as pure white in-game
• Removed the eye, i'm going to try and make the "fangs" (more petals?) make an eye appear visually

                                                                                                                    

To-do list:

• Move Ivern downwards (messed up perspective)
• Remove useless noise from the tentacles
• Spread the wanted tentacle texture to the entirety of the tentacles
• Add, refine and/or remove the fin-like petal on the tentacles
• Add spikes to the tentacles
• Try and make Vel's fang-like petals form his signature Eye-of-the-Void
• Decide upon a structure/texture for the inside of the Vel-flower
• Add small Vel-like creatures illustrating some of his abilities
• Add particle effects

                                                                                                                    


                                                                                                                    

HazukiFairy

I like it, looks like a walking flower mantis, but think is better with the eye
bc if u remove the eye then is not velkoz owo

Fickleflame

HazukiFairy said:

I like it, looks like a walking flower mantis, but think is better with the eye
bc if u remove the eye then is not velkoz owo

I've got a few ideas for the eye and a few more of ways to make people think of eyes when looking at him. The inside of the flower, the petals and the potential tentacle fins are still awaiting some kind of content for example. So, before I implement one or more of my ideas, I'd like to finish all the elements I've decided upon first then move on from there.

I removed the eye because I didn't want to blindly accept it as a given. If I can find a more visually compelling alternative that fits with the them and still looks like Vel'koz, I will take it. And if I can't? Like you say, it wasn't broken to begin with and is a core part of his identity.

One of the advantages of working for so long time on a single piece is that you get a lot of time to reflect upon which concepts would work best (well, if you can imagine them implemented, that is).

Anyway, anything could still happen at this point, especially seeing how many types of flowers I can use as reference.

Speaking of reference, I'm pretty relieved that you caught on to the mantis one. It's a delicate balance toeing the line between the innocent beauty of a flower and the sociopathic killing machine that is The Vel'koz.



An early piece of inspiration I used was the Death-Blossom Kha'zix skin by Jean Go. I'd recommend you to check her stuff out but you already do every time you log into League.

                                                                                                                    

Fickleflame

Behold the Eye of the Void! The fang idea didn't work so I went for a sun-flower like ball of fury.

It's hard because the eye needs to be appealing yet menacing and look like an eye without being creepy. Suicide mission incoming!

I think playing around with the petal structure will allow to detract some of that innate creepiness that comes from misplacing eye-balls.



                                                                                                                    

Fickleflame

Small Sunday update!

All the tough choices have been made now so, from here-on out, I'll just be mindlessly painting until I get to the SFX phase.




                                                                                                                    

Fickleflame

Ok! It's been a while but I'm back, and I'm in it for the win. There's a lot of cool art floating about so I need to up my game!

Here's the latest iteration of my Vel'koz submission and the most recent version of the cassiopeia illustration. There's still a ton to work on!

Fickleflame

Here's a 5 min overpaint for the fun of it. Once you have the basic drawing down, the colours are just a matter of personal preference ^^

Silvarspark

Have you thought about replacing his tentacles with vines or roots ? It's rather hard to tell what they are right now.

TheIceWolves

I would suggest you to change the theme to death blossom, is a great idea for this type skin 

Fickleflame

TheIceWolves said:

I would suggest you to change the theme to death blossom, is a great idea for this type skin 

That's the idea really. Do all Death Blossom skins have to be called Death Blossom though?

Anyway, going to work on finishing this tomorrow!

TheIceWolves

@Fickleflame Not really, but try changing the colors to the death blossom color palette, lavender blue tones

Fickleflame

Application submitted, I'm quite nervous about all this competition though. HOW DARE YOU GUYS COMPETE!

Ok, well, guess that's it!

Best of luck and see you in game.
All the best,
Fickleflame (EUW)