Phantom Nami
polycounter lvl 3
Hey Guys!
A bit late to the party maybe, but I'm joining with a dark skin idea for Nami!
As a support main, Nami is one of the champions I have actually played a few times. I like her original skin a lot, but felt it was a bit of a shame she has no dark or evil themed skins other than Deep Sea Nami, which unfortunately is a skin I'm not too fond of. I'm not here to crack down on existing skins though, so I'll not get into the whys here ^-^
Either way, the idea of an actually 'evil' appearing Nami really appealed to me. And I could think of no better idea than to make her appear as if she's from the infamous Shadow Isles. A spirited mermaid, with a ghostly, hardened appearance haunting the sea that holds the Isles.
Here's my mood board and refs I've gathered as main inspiration:
I decided I would like to take my inspiration mostly from Thresh and Kalista, as well as a bit of Soul Stealer Vayne, while trying to keep the shadow isles' theme in mind as best I could. Nami's original design needs to shine through as well, as this should still obviously be our mermaid support.
So, here's the concepts I've come up with so far, playing around as much as possible to get good variations;
I progressed from 1 to 6. As you can tell, number 1 is really close to Nami's original design, but with a ghostly twist. I liked it a lot at first, but realized I might be too conservative in my approach, as is the case with many of nami's skins. It definitely still has an elegant alure to it though.
In number 2 the white cloth made her seem too friendly, the staff still didn't work for me and the waist armor design was a nono.
I fixed all those in number 3, however she had become too 'reaper' like. On one hand this is fine, we have Reaper Soraka and it also goes well with Soul Stealer Vladimir, but it wasn't what I wanted to go for. I wanted shadow isles, not another halloween special reaper.
I tried to bring back the elegant dark of number 1 in number 4, but the headpiece looked too diablo and the skulls didn't appeal without the hood.
Then come my favorite two, number 5 and 6. I tried to bring back Nami's original headdress in 5, but with a more evil appearing twist. Also in line with Riot's usual armoring habits I added rims to the armor plates.
I really like this design, but the hood grew on me so I made version 6.... without the skulls it's a little less reaper like, and looks about as ominous as the headdress of 5, perhaps with a little more personality.
I'm divided though, I'm really not sure whether I should go with number 5 or 6. Your opinion with a bit of feedback in regards to why you like which one best would be appreciated ^-^
A bit late to the party maybe, but I'm joining with a dark skin idea for Nami!
As a support main, Nami is one of the champions I have actually played a few times. I like her original skin a lot, but felt it was a bit of a shame she has no dark or evil themed skins other than Deep Sea Nami, which unfortunately is a skin I'm not too fond of. I'm not here to crack down on existing skins though, so I'll not get into the whys here ^-^
Either way, the idea of an actually 'evil' appearing Nami really appealed to me. And I could think of no better idea than to make her appear as if she's from the infamous Shadow Isles. A spirited mermaid, with a ghostly, hardened appearance haunting the sea that holds the Isles.
Here's my mood board and refs I've gathered as main inspiration:
I decided I would like to take my inspiration mostly from Thresh and Kalista, as well as a bit of Soul Stealer Vayne, while trying to keep the shadow isles' theme in mind as best I could. Nami's original design needs to shine through as well, as this should still obviously be our mermaid support.
So, here's the concepts I've come up with so far, playing around as much as possible to get good variations;
I progressed from 1 to 6. As you can tell, number 1 is really close to Nami's original design, but with a ghostly twist. I liked it a lot at first, but realized I might be too conservative in my approach, as is the case with many of nami's skins. It definitely still has an elegant alure to it though.
In number 2 the white cloth made her seem too friendly, the staff still didn't work for me and the waist armor design was a nono.
I fixed all those in number 3, however she had become too 'reaper' like. On one hand this is fine, we have Reaper Soraka and it also goes well with Soul Stealer Vladimir, but it wasn't what I wanted to go for. I wanted shadow isles, not another halloween special reaper.
I tried to bring back the elegant dark of number 1 in number 4, but the headpiece looked too diablo and the skulls didn't appeal without the hood.
Then come my favorite two, number 5 and 6. I tried to bring back Nami's original headdress in 5, but with a more evil appearing twist. Also in line with Riot's usual armoring habits I added rims to the armor plates.
I really like this design, but the hood grew on me so I made version 6.... without the skulls it's a little less reaper like, and looks about as ominous as the headdress of 5, perhaps with a little more personality.
I'm divided though, I'm really not sure whether I should go with number 5 or 6. Your opinion with a bit of feedback in regards to why you like which one best would be appreciated ^-^
Replies
Far right is the final one I went with:
Number 1 got a lot of attention too, but it just didn't have enough to set it apart from what skins she already has. Onto the splash arts!
Here's what I cooked up so far:
Very Sassy, nice profile. Is that a graveyard?
I like it, but maybe it's not distinguishable enough as Nami. Her tail is not in the image after all. Even though I did keep a resemblance of her original design, only an attentive Nami main would tell its her I think. Theres a couple tings to fix about this version, but as a first draft it'll do.
This one is Definitely a whole lot more Nami Like. Tidal Wave of Lost Souls, Let's go!!
The only issue I have with this one, is that it looks a bit similar to her original art (unintentionally!), even though she's holding her staff with only 1 hand, and her body is angled differently.. The Tidal Wave definitely Helped set it apart, but I'm afraid not everyone can immediately tell.
I'm scared it might cause issues due to the similarities.. but on the other hand, it does help with identifying Nami, and getting across that this is an Evil skin for her.
So. I'm a little divided, once again. I like both, and I think the Tidal wave is my favorite, but I'm sill doubting if I should or not.
Maybe I'll try 1 or 2 more compositions and poses.
Let me know what your favorite is, and which I should (or definitely shouldn't) go for. A bit of opinion and feedback could be very helpful ^_^
I decided to go for a different comp altogether, because I didn't want to risk it being too close to the original artworks of Nami ^^ Still keeping the ghostly Tidal Wave idea of #2 though!
More tail, more Nami ^-^ Will still change some things along the way, probably. The angle of her head for example feels too 'head on' for example for the low angle I'm trying to go for. But those are just small things, and unimportant for conveying the comp at this point in this particular case.
Hopefully I can finish this in time. I was a tad busy right after new years, and then got struck with a bad bad cold which took me out for a little more than a week!
Struggled a little with getting back into the flow and things of everyday life.
I'll bring back the motion in the BG as I get further along in the image
While i'm pretty much satisfied with this sketch, if you see any major flaws or things that just don't work well but can easily be fixed, feedback is welcome ^^
Played around with the comp a little. Zoomed in and changed the weapon to make it feel more intense as you see Nami more up-close.
I hope that worked as I intended! Will need to fix the hand holding the staff though but worry not, t will happen as I render ^_^
First color and simple lighting pass!
Also added more of a BG, hinting at some shadow isles type environment, with a quickly blocked in soul tidal wave placeholder. Creating a quick background really helps to set the mood of the image, as I was starting to dislike the image after the first pass, but adding this BG added a ton of depth that I felt was missing.
I'd really love to stream this image btw, but I'm honestly not sure if my pc can handle it at this point. I recently had to quick fix it, and the setup is far from optimal atm. I'm worried it'll stress and overheat my processor too much
Regardless this is my channel, and hopefully I'll be able to get a stream or two in if I butcher the quality a bit (sorry!) https://www.twitch.tv/anna_verhoog
Mostly focused on pushing the lighting and shading, as well as started to clean up a bunch of stuff and creating proper edges. All groundwork for a whole bunch of nice detailing to go on top soon!
@Supradip Thanks! it's so mind boggling at times, so it's nice to hear people like it so far!
Here's another update:
Spent most the day working on her headdress, trying to make it more coherent and fitting to the rest of her design. It feels a bit like Karthus now imo, but I'm okay with that ^^ Glowy eyes effect will return at a later point!
Added a whole bunch of other details and refinement, particularly on the armored parts.
Part of me regrets giving her all that metal trimming, it's breaking my brain! But so worth tho.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Moar details, fixed the anatomy of her arm holding the scythe/staff, fixed scythe/staff angle and proportions (made a little prop out of a wooden spoon xD worked like a charm!)
Trying to lay out the background and make it all a little darker and moodier, for that extra impact. The spirit Tidal wave is currently on 'hold' while I work out some environmental elements. Hopefully I can find a good way to paint them back in later ^_^ I kinda like it like this too actually.
Anyways updates:
Make dem colours pop! With a buncha detailing all around.
Not sure about the state of the tail yet, might revert back to a more solid form if it doesn't work with the soon to be tidal wave spirits
Still a lot to do on this one
I better kick ass tomorrow! Had about.. 2 bad days I think
Oh well!
Here is how it turned out in the end:
Thanks for stopping by
Welp, that's it I guess xD time to get back to work haha.
Here's my artstation for anyone wanting to follow me btw: https://www.artstation.com/annaverhoog
Figured it wouldn't hurt to leave it here!
Had a good time doing this ^_^ it was a lot of fun. Thanks again guys!
Looks great.
So true, that was one of the main struggles I had with the piece. I didn't want it to seem bland either, but I struggled finding the right balance.
In the end I didn't have enough time to experiment much or leave it for a few days to come back with fresh eyes. I started too late to have those luxuries. There's plenty I wanna change now xD
- That's probably why I haven't really come back here since, because I feel it's lacking in ways I wish I could've avoided.
Oh well!