Champion Concept: Mort

Concept Lore

Bilgewater is a busy place.  Between trade, thievery, bounty-hunting, and other shenanigans -- occasionally a story is told about Mort, the great Water Sage.  The stories vary from traveler to drunkard; How Mort uses the ocean itself to crush pirates, or calms the currents to provide safe passage for ships.  Everything said about Mort has been just a story.  Few believed Mort even existed.  Until the old sage himself rowed into Bilgewater from the ocean.

When he appeared -- the only thing Mort would say is "must warn the two of the danger," and then proceeded to hobble toward the League.

Concept Game-Play

Mort is a Bilgewater Mage and Support that specializes in titanic ocean spells that shield, slow, and crush.  Some of his abilities are meant to be terrain altering or terrain creating.  He's meant to be a little more tanky than typical Mages and Supports too.

Art Direction

This is my first approach at painting the champion without being reliant on outlines and sketches (looking for feedback about that).  Mort is super old to provide a change of pace from the typical hyper-athletic champions we already have.  He also fills the old hermit/sage archetype.  He houses this really colorful shell on his back, which is about as big as he is.  I wanted players to think "what's under that thing?".  One of Mort's eyes are missing and he has a crab claw for an arm -- which suggests that Mort may not be human at all.  He's also missing a leg, which is why he has a staff -- it's for walking and magic!

Champion Concept: Millia

Concept Lore

In Bilgewater, thieves are commonplace.  But no thief has a reputation as Millia does. As a master thief; Millia is one of the most wanted criminals in all of the world -- not because of her crimes, but because she is a thief for hire.  Looking for more of a challenge Millia has sought to test her abilities against the champions of the League... and perhaps make a little coin doing so.

Concept Game-Play

Millia is a Bilgewater support that scales off of Attack Damage and Critical Chance.  She manipulates gold gain both to the advantage of her allies and to the detriment of her opponents. She is quick and agile with abilities that reflect her cunning.  She is supposed to fit a role focused on speed and gold manipulation that is currently absent from support archetypes.

Art Direction

Millia has been one of the most difficult champions I've had to design -- mostly in part because I didn't quite know in which direction to go in for a Bilgewater champion.  Eventually I decided to make another thief type champion, and I started putting a pirate take on rogue tropes.  I put her in leathers for armor as it was more appropriate considering her thematics, and added a lot of yellows and golds to represent her obsessions as a thief. She came out a little too bland, so I had to pop her with a violet tint in her leather and a magenta tattoo on her arm.  Afterwards, I added just a little bit of silver to contrast the leather more so.

Champion Concept: Nadine

Concept Lore

Nadine remembers her king, who accepted her into his family when she lost her own. She remembers her training -- bending the fabrics of magic with swordsmanship. She remembers becoming a paladin and taking up her charge to uphold the law of the Isles -- and to protect her king.

What Nadine doesn't remember, is when she died. Attracted by the dimly pulsing magics of her former king, Nadine has stumbled upon the League -- where her training will serve her well.

Concept Game-Play

Nadine is a Shadow Isles fighter meant for top lane. She is a spell sword champion that specializes in mana absorbing, mana scaling, and skills shots. She is the fighter version of Ezreal. She is supposed to be a high risk high reward AP based champion.

Art Direction

So Nadine's design was founded on the idea that not everything that comes out of the Shadow Isles is evil. So I came up with this idea of this order of paladins, who upheld the law, that existed on the Isles. From there, I used typical white and blues to cover her palette. I wanted her to be distinct though, and instead of solid white -- I made her this marble color with organic protrusions. I also wanted to avoid the overly "sexy" approach, so I covered Nadine with armor and gave her a helm that covered her eyes -- which is still impractical; Covering the eyes I think adds to the idea of her being an apparition and well versed in magic, it is also intimidating. She sports a partial cloak that is solid -- to differentiate her from Fiora.

Champion Concept: Ardok

Concept Lore

A juggernaut of magma and flesh, bone and steel, Ardok is a punishing foe. In their arrogance, Noxian spell weavers once sought to control the forces of Earth and Fire by creating an abomination; a dual Elemental. The ceremony went horribly wrong and Ardok came into the world -- slaying the sorcerers with his explosive birth. Ardok possessed key attributes of the elements Earth and Fire, but was not the dual elemental his creators had hoped for. Ardok would not be calmed and Earth and Fire gave rise to his strength and recklessness. It took Noxian's best magicians and fighters to eventually subdue Ardok after weeks of effort. Impressed by their ability to hinder him, Ardok joined his Noxian creators in pursuit of more strength. His new path of has led him to the League.

Concept Game-Play

Ardok is a tank that excels at absorbing and redirecting damage. His kit would revolve around dual abilities, both for defense and for offense. Defensive attributes would scale off of Armor, Health, and Attack Damage; Offensive attributes would scale off Magic Resist, Health, and Ability Power.

I toyed with the idea of Ardok being able to shield himself while exploding at the same time, causing AoE knockbacks and damage. Absorbing magic attacks to regurgitate magma covered weapons. Deflecting physical attacks while increasing his strength. Everything he does is a quake and torrent of fire and rock.

Art Direction

I wanted to avoid traditional cyclops -- and make Ardok a bit of a wrecking ball. I borrowed from some God of War elements, and started meshing in my own interpretation of the creature. I covered more of his hide and made it a bite more gravel and scale -- instead of rough skin. I also enjoyed the idea of Ardok being this juggernaut sort of creature that couldn't be stopped; So I thought it would be interesting to have him carrying these wounds from weapons that could not stop him. Because Ardok is supposed to be this failed attempt at Earth and Fire combined, his colors are reds, browns, and tans; also adding to the idea that he is a sort of tank.

Adding a bit of mystery to his lore though, Ardok also has this huge scar across his belly -- a wound he suffered at the hands of another champion. A champion I'll be exploring soon.

Champion Concept: Loz

Concept Lore

Every now and again, you will hear a story -- in Ionia. Noxus. Zaun. Or anywhere, really -- about Goblins causing mayhem.  Goblins pop up from time to time in tales and are considered to be manifestations of misfortune and malice.  Very recently, to everyone's horror, Goblins have stepped into the light and out of the darkness of myth and story.  A Goblin nation -- consisting of numerous specialized casts -- has emerged.  Though their nation is by no means large by any standard, the thought of organized Goblins is reason enough for panic.

To solidify their reputation on the world stage, the Goblins have sent forth their first representative into the League of Legends.  Loz comes from the Insect Cast of Goblins who specialize in breeding and controlling insects for pets and food.  Loz has shaped his breeds of insects to cause dismay, illness, and injury to enemies of the Goblins.

Concept Game-Play

Loz is a support champion with a focus on brush control, area control, and debuffs.  There isn't a champion yet that really has a focus on helping deny brush use, so Loz has a great void to fill.  His insects do various things to enemies but I wanted there to be more focus on what Loz can do with the insect.  Loz can make hives -- hives produce insects which hinder enemy champions in a large area.  The hives can be destroyed.  Hives, when placed in brush, not only cover their area of effect, but additionally infect the entire brush with the effect of the insects.  Additionally, Loz can create hives that only trigger and infect enemy champions when they come too close to the hive.

As a way to make Loz a little more fun of a concept, game-play wise, I've made 12 insects.  I don't know what these insects do -- I think it would be fun if the community were able to make up their own uses for the insects' abilities.  I created 12 of them so that anyone wanting to theory craft Loz's insect uses have a wide selection in which to choose from.  Here are the names; 1. Obsidian Beetle, 2. Snot Grub, 3. Mana Leech, 4. Vertigo Moth, 5. Corpse Worm, 6. Blood Ant, 7. Smog Roach, 8. Volatile Mosquito, 9. Plague Wasp, 10. Pus Slug, 11. Blinding Butterfly, 12. Spinal Centipede

Art Direction

So Loz is my first jab at a Goblin trope and I wanted him to be small and sneaky. And not green.  His main focus as a character is to sneak around the battlefield and construct hives and traps -- utilizing a lot of brush.  So he needed to be a little stealthy.  I put him in a cloak weighed heavy with the appeal of common thief archetypes.  To display his origins, Loz has his Cast's emblem on his back.  This is also to set apart his silhouette from other smaller champions.  He also needed these glass jars with him, for insects of course.

Champion Concept: Shiori

Concept Lore

Ionia suffered greatly during the Noxian invasion. After Ionia wrought back their lands and became part of the League -- an order was made in secret. It was clear that the path of balance would not defend them from such a hostile invasion, and the League can only settle so many matters. The secret order began taking youths and training them to be weapons -- assassins of the greatest skill.

Katsumi is often recognized as the most gifted of these assassins. But her sister, Shiori follows close behind her. Always being in the shadow of Katsumi has made Shiori a permanent rival, and through that rivalry -- Shiori has become overly excessive in her violence. Where Katsumi chose the katana, Shiori chose dance. Channeling her energy, Shiori produces violent wakes of eviscerating magics through quick, graceful dances on the battlefield. The only thing more feared than Shiori's dances, is her temper. She has been sent to the League with her sister to test her ability to battle, and execute, legends.

Concept Game-Play

Shiori is a AD/AP hybrid stance-dance (lol) fighter who functions like Udyr. Shiori has a high focus on heavy AoE damage, high movement speed, and quick attacks. I picture her as using her arm ribbons much like Kratos (God of War) uses his blades. She would also be in constant motion as a dancer, the effect being amplified by her stance-dance abilities.

Art Direction

Shiori is the response to the community need for a Dancer-class champion, of which it has been agreed Orianna does not fit. With a viewpoint found in League, I knew that the most dynamic movements for a Dancer would be spins. Working off of that, I wanted Shiori to have a means other than her body to cause damage. So I took influence from ribbon dancers and combined it into Shiori's sleeves as her primary weapon (also fulfilling the use of cloth as a primary weapon). I chose pink tones for Shiori's appearance to convey elegance as a dancer, and to reinforce the archetype of dancers being girls/girly. At the same time, I motioned to make Shiori's sleeves much darker and aglow with energy to denote the violence in her -- the sleeves are her weapon, that's what players need to fear. Dancers are often linked to a sense of sexuality -- so I used this as an opportunity to actually make a female concept more in line of 'sexy female'.

Champion Concept: Bile

Concept Lore

Zaun has unleashed many horrors upon the world, but their only regret is Barton Shaw -- or better known now as Bile.  Barton was a madman bent on emulating his idol, Shaco.  His spree of murders were responded with a team consisting of specialty soldiers from Ionia, Noxus, Demacia, and Zaun assembled to work together to track and eliminate Barton.  They instead succeeded in making an already notorious murderer into some sort of nightmarish monster.  During their encounter, Barton fell into a vat of chemicals -- as he was presumed to be dead, he emerged as some sort of elemental of acid and poison.  The specialty team was later found partially liquidated.  Since then, Barton has taken up the name Bile -- and written in the liquidated remains of his most recent victims, he has promised to surpass his idol.

Concept Game-Play

Bile is a response to some community need for a blob-like/liquid-esque champion.  Bile plays as an AP jungler/assassin/mage that focuses on poisons, area control, and quiet approaches.  He attacks at range and his body is always "flowing" and "spilling" into movements and weapons.  Spitting, puking, shooting, and becoming poison and acid would be staples of his skill palette.  His dance would most certainly have to be modeled after wacky waving inflatable arm flailng tube man.

Art Direction

Bile, as a community response, was relatively easy to pull inspiration for.  I've wanted to make this character for some time, but it hasn't been until recently that I thought I had the artistic know-how to pull him off.  The biggest inspiration for Bile, to begin, is Spider-Man's villain, Carnage.  Moving from that influence, I knew how Bile would move and look.  The main differences between the two though would be that Bile plays and looks more like liquid and is as such, despite being able to form solid objects -- he doesn't wear a suit.  Bile is also purely poisons and acids.  Playing upon his toxic themes, I chose Bile's colors as purple and yellow-green to push the read as poisonous.  Included in his design are various forms his arms can make -- creating weapons for his deadly purpose.  This is much like his influences, but it plays nicely into the character.

Champion Concept: Alice

Concept Lore

Contrary to popular belief, the use of magic is actually detrimental to the health of a mortal caster.  In rare and extreme cases a magic castor may succumb to Magicite Necrosis -- a severe illness where the mage's tissue slowly dies and becomes crystals that are potent in magical energies.  The end result of this illness is always death -- except in the case of Alice.  Alice first appeared in the League upon it's forming -- a fan favorite, she soon disappeared from the spotlight and it was learned that she was the unfortunate victim of Magicite Necrosis.

Alice did not die from the disease though -- determined to survive, she weaved layers upon layers of spells and enchantments to delay, destroy, or reverse the illness. The use of magic made her symptoms worse -- but the spells she cast spurred an unusual effect in tandem with the nature of the disease.  Now Alice is caught in a form between life and death, crystal and flesh.

Concept Game-Play

Because of the sheer amount of enchantments Alice uses to stay alive, she is no longer a magic caster, but an AP combo-based fighter.  She can grow crystals from her body at accelerated rates to produce weapons, projectiles, or defenses.  She's meant to be very forward and able to spike damage.  When making her, I thought that she would fight something akin to Marrow (X-Men) or Kimimaro (Naruto).  She's supposed to be extremely fast and brutal.

Art Direction

League pushes crystal themes very heavily -- but aside from Taric, there are not actually a lot of crystal based fighters.  Starting from there -- I took a lot of influences from how I wanted the character to look and develop.  To be absolutely forward, Alice is influenced by: Marrow (X-Men), Kimimaro (Naruto), Queen of Blades (Starcraft II), and most importantly -- and this is important -- Space Godzilla (Godzille VS Space Godzilla 1994).  Yeah, I know, Godzilla is awesome.  Alice's skin shimmers with blue and orange but her crystals vary in color glowing with white and yellow light.

Champion Concept: Aiden

Concept Lore

Aiden is a being sharing the homeworld of Kayle and Morgana.  When Aiden was born, his proficiency with magic was limited and weak -- combined with his abnormal physical features, Aiden was looked down upon as some sort of worthless mutation.  But Aiden would not be dismissed, so easily.  Eventually Aiden became a warlord -- infamous for ripping the wings off his captives.  His influence spread so far over the world that drastic measures were taken to remove Aiden from power.  The mission almost ended in failure, but Kayle and Morgana were the ones who succeeded in subduing the warlord -- though many lost their lives in the process.

Thousands of years later -- Aiden has broken free.  And he's hunted his jailors all the way to Runeterra.

Concept Game-Play

Unlike Kayle and Morgana, Aiden is AD bruiser in nature.  He uses his tremendous wings to close-in on, capture, and crush his enemies.  His very limited magic capabilities are bound to being buffs that effect only himself, raising his speed and attack.

Art Direction

I wanted to fulfill a "devil" or "demon" character concept -- but I wanted to avoid an overly evil archetype for appearances.  I thought it would be neat to see the trope as a mirror to Kayle because Morgana only fulfills the need half-way.  Going off of being something of an opposite, I also believed it would be important for Aiden to be more physically powerful as opposed to being magically inclined.  So his wings are more bulky and muscled in comparison to Kayle's.

Champion Concept: Pakwa

Concept Lore

Pakwa belongs to a group of Yordles long lost to myth.  They are Yordles that live deep in the Kumungu Jungles, worship a Toad deity, and ride giant Drake Toads.  What the outside world didn't know though, is that Pakwa's clan face's difficult times.  The Drake Toad eggs stopped hatching -- and can stay unhatched for hundreds of years.  The clan fears this is because their Toad god has lost faith in the clan's ability as warriors.  But when Pakwa took hold of an egg, it hatched for him -- the first Toad rider in decades.  The decision was unanimous; Pakwa would represent the clan in the League, and prove to their god that the clan was still worthy.

Concept Game-Play

Pakwa is a Yordle Jungler and Bruiser.  His Drake Toad, Skorn, takes Pakwa into battle with heavy leaps and bulky rushes.  I wanted Pakwa to be a single-target jungler that had methods of closing in on opponents while still be able to absorb a hefty amount of damage.

Art Direction

Yordles are typically highly magical or highly technological in League -- so I wanted to separate Pakwa from those two areas.  As a jungler, I thought he should have a native look about him.  I also thought it would be fun to make Pakwa a mounted character on something ridiculous and fitting for a Yordle.  So he ended up on a giant toad -- which added to the jungler nature of his character.  I chose a lot from an orange palette to represent the exotic background of the character -- and get across that he's made to jungle and jump.

Champion Concept: Rebekah

Concept Lore
Rebekah was born and raised in Demacia all her life. Instilled with patriotism for country she enlisted into the Demacian military as soon as she was able. Unfortunately, the nature of conflict changed, and the League began to take care of Demacia's defense and conquest. Refusing to sit idle and watch as her heroes of story and legend take all the glory for their country -- Rebekah continued her disciplined training. After being gone for years, Rebekah has returned as a champion in the League -- ready to prove that she too was a legend fit to stand shoulder to shoulder with her idols.

Concept Game-Play
Rebekah is an odd AD Carry who can also be an AP based Support. She'd be ammo based with high impact shot skills and abilities that allow her to heal and scout. Rebekah should have at least 2 build paths. An AD one that should make her fitting as a carry, and an AP path that enhances her utility as a Support while sacrificing her damage. This is meant to make Rebekah a solid bottom lane pick.

Art Direction
I wanted Rebekah to be something of the everyday person who wanted to join the League. Someone who grew up listening to stories of these Legendary heroes doing heroic stuff. I thought it'd be fun to toy with the idea of her being added to the military in order to support these heroes -- but then the League made it so that soldiers were no longer needed, only champions. This backstory made me focus on making her a little "of the people", like a militia. When I thought militia, I thought minutemen -- hence the colonial attire slightly stylized. I decided that uniformed soldiers would probably be more of a Demacian thing as opposed to Noxus, and that's how she got her colors.

Champion Concept: Warin

Concept Lore
Warin's people come from deep within the Great Barrier. Their bones and plating are hardened and enhanced the longer they live. With summoner activity at an all time high, more and more magic has seeped into the home of Warin and his race. The intrusion of rich magics changed Warin, specifically. His plating became organic metal, and he developed a much higher resistance to magic than his brethren. To find the source of his change, Warin ventured out of the deep mountains -- and to the League. His goal is to enrich the life of all his people, by making their shells an even more durable aegis.

Concept Game-Play
Warin is a full blown slow tank. Meant for shielding, reducing, and absorbing as much damage as possible. Being an armored tortoise/ankylosaurus -- I thought he'd have some really interesting abilities that focused on heavy, high cool-down abilities that helped him survive burst encounters, and long team fights.

Art Direction
This time around, I decided to go with Warin to practice different types of materials. Not a fan of scales and metals now. Anyways. As a tank, Warin just had to be large and bulky -- but to show that Warin meant business, he's modeled after medieval maces. He's basically a cross between a tortoise and an ankylosaurus (my favorite dinosaur). There was some things I learned making Warin and Itzel that make me not want to pursue a 100% realisim. The next champ will be more stylistic art-wise.

Champion Concept: Itzel

Concept Lore
There is a tribe of people deep within the Kumungu Jungles. In this tribe, the only monarchy is ruled by and passed down by females. Itzel is the youngest in this royal line. To be considered for rule though, Itzel must excel in tasks of survival, leadership, and strength. To test her abilities, her family has armed her with heirlooms of power and have sent her to the League -- in that she may prove to be the most capable leader of her people.

Concept Game-Play
I really like concepts like Viktor and Rengar -- champions that have a specific item that helps alter how they play, or boosting their already impressive stats. For Itzel, I wanted the focus to be her Head-dress. As an item, there would be 3 types -- that would alter her abilities to fulfill a different role. The roles I had in mind were Bruiser, Jungler, and Support. They would have to act like Viktor's augments -- but the effect would be on all of her abilities -- altering the way she plays entirely. Currently, there is no champion that harbors the ability to change roles completely based on altercations to an entire kit. She'd act as a nice counter-pick character.

Art Direction
WOW. Was this character fun to make. When my skills get even better, I will totally revisit her. Basically I wanted a character who fought with a weapon that behaved like a Bo-Staff, but I wanted her to be agile and deadly. So there are two blades attached to the ends of the weapon. Forgive me, I know this weapon actually has a name, but it eludes me as of now. Will revisit. I knew I wanted her to be another royal player in the League and I noticed that League lacks a great deal of tribal and native influences. So going off of tribal themes and Central American themes, I gave Itzel a unique look. I have a bias for agile and slick characters, so Itzel has a little more black in her design -- and tattoos made up of mostly vertical lines. Her head-dress also acts as her prominent area of her silhouette -- in that she may be recognizable on the field. I toned back her armor/jewelry to bronze from gold so that she may be a little less gaudy in appearance -- the tropical feathers were enough. Her faceplate is made of bone... because it looks cool? And because I've been reading too much Lizardmen lore from Warhammer.

Champion Concept: Elle

Concept Lore
Elle is the last of her kind. She arrived on the shores of Valoran from a distant continent, half dead and missing an arm. When Elle was healthy and able to communicate -- she told stories about how an unstoppable evil burnt and leveled her forest home, and people, to ash. Now she participates in the League to hone her skills, and prepare for the time that evil finds it's path to Valoran's shores as well.

Concept Game-Play
Elle is an AD assassin that focuses on quick bursts of damage and Eve-like stealth mechanics. Additionally -- Elle abilities have an after effect of healing allies who happen to be in the path of her bursts. Assassin's usually have one role in games, and as their namesake states -- it's to assassinate single targets, or targets with low health. While Elle may not (and should not) be able to do this as easily as other assassins, I thought that she would be a character who brings more to team-fights than traditional assassins, by healing allies who get caught in her abilities' paths.

Art Direction
Elle's art direction comes from a myriad of archetypes and tropes. There's a dual reasoning behind this. The first was to combine aspects of my favorite characters from other games, shows, and movies. The second was to make an attempt at new techniques I've been studying (which are hopefully improving myself as an artist). Elle's major influences come from traditional woodland elves, and League has no traditional Elven race.

So let's talk the details of the art direction here. I'm sure many viewing this can spot some really obvious aspects and traits of some of my favorite things in this character...

1. I've been reading a lot of books by Andrew Loomis in an attempt to push my work further into the next level. So to start, I played at making the character proportionate. So after a quick sketch, I made the character seven heads tall. So yes -- she is proportionate. I knew this character was going to be an elf assassin, so she's not bearing any heavy armor, and she's thin. She also uses a long handled blade, (the actual name of this weapon eludes me at the moment) it's purposes is for quick, ranged slashing (not stabbing, parrying, or deflecting). She has a scarf to designate speed and agility. Originally, Elle did not have a missing arm. But during the sketch, I made her right arm thinner and thought; if Elle had a mechanical arm, her right side would seem like a frightening fast extension of her already quick blade. So I gave her a hextech arm in place of a real one. I also enjoy characters who are slightly "damaged" because their faults have visual history; "how did that happen?".

2. After the initial sketch, I started in on my line work. This phase of the line work is tighter than the sketch, but still fairly loose. It's is merely an attempt to pull out the details from the scribbles of #1. It was here I decided that Elle would have a body suit, as opposed to a thin suit of intertwining plates or scales.

3. #3 is a line work stage that defines the details and the character as a whole. It's the final tight stage before more intricate work begins.

4. In this stage, I started thinking of what influences were coming to the table, and where Elle would end up. I dropped a base light source on her -- nothing final, just something to get an idea of light.

5. I knew, as an Elf -- I wanted to dictate Elle's color scheme as "woodland". So I went with a strong green for her character base, bronze for her shadows, and yellow-green for her highlights.

6. After I had all the color bases down, Elle started to take shape. And now I'll explain her influences by addressing her own traits. Her scarf is to designate agility and speed. This was something I always loved from Hotsuma of PS2's "Shinobi". I decided that the scarf would be the visual silhouette that set Elle apart from other champions on screen. So as her "banner", it would of course have to be green to represent her woodland nature and former home.

Her body suit is a bronze, saturated khaki color. The reason I chose the body suit for Elle is because it is another easy way to designate agility and speed. But additionally, I wanted to make Elle something of a "survivor". Her entire life has changed, and battle has become her new life. This character is the last of her race -- she has a tragic origin. So I took influence of making the body suit a little more military in looks, as the BB Corps wear body suits in "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots". Now Elle is designated as still agile, still fast, but in preparation for a coming war.

Lastly, Elle's overall look (and what I envision as her fighting looks like) comes from the character Lightning of "Final Fantasy XIII". Elle bears a heavier design on one side and a sleeker bearing on the other, akin to Lightning. Elle is no longer a warmhearted elf -- her homeland has been razed and her people murdered -- she herself has become cold, and closed to others.

7. This is where I took what I learned and started moving forward with Elle's design -- keeping in mind all that I wanted to accomplish with her character (while still pulling from so many influences). I added a realism base to eradicate sketch lines and outlines.

8. Finally, I detailed Elle in realist style painting, making sure to pronounce her attributes as militaristic and agile. To further the effect, I chose to tone back the green in her scarf, and up the green in her body suit. While this did ultimately make Elle appealing in a military aimed fashion -- I feel it derailed her too much. Additionally, Elle received a leaf pendent inlaid with emeralds to provide further evidence of her previous life, and what she is about. Feeling that Elle still needing something, I added a pack strapped to her hip. This was added to balance out the offset weight, caused by the difference in her arms, and the negative space provided by her body suit.

9. The final version had it's colors reverted, and additional care was placed on Elle's design. I thoroughly enjoyed working on Elle, and I feel that the concepts came together quite nicely. This was much needed practice with new techniques -- so while I am happy with the result, it is still a ways off of what I aim to accomplish with my concepts. I hope you enjoyed Elle's design, and kudos to you if you made it this far in the text.

Champion Concept: Setesh

Concept Lore
Setesh was a practitioner of wind based magics. Though he was never any good at it, he continued to practice. On a journey to Demacia, Setesh fell into a cavern whilst traveling through the Shumira Desert. While trying to find a way out, Setesh found a shrine within the cavern, and a voice luring him to enter. Setesh was then confronted inside the shrine by a apparition of Sand and Air. The Sand Avater said to Setesh "You are worthy of my legacy. You will defend us in our time of need". And with that, the Avatar disappeared, and Setesh transformed into a being of magic and escaped the cavern. With a newfound control over the sands, Setesh changed his destination to the League.

Concept Game-Play
Setesh plays as an AP support in is default form -- and his abilities are gale-type sand spells; such as dervishes. He plays with blinds, shields, and movement speed effects. Setesh's ultimate is Manticore Form. Like Nidalee, this changes Setesh's other abilities, and he is able to stay in this form. Manticore's abilities have additional AD ratios attached to them, and are more violent and powerful spells.

Art Direction
Setesh's concept started in his Manticore form. Though initially he was not a manticore, just a berserker Yordle. After adding horns, I realized he'd be cooler as a manticore, and the changes spring from there. With the manticore concept in place, I decided that Setesh would indeed be the Sand Mage that the community has beckoned for. To punch this up, I played on colors that insisted on desert archetypes. The glowing runes are to signify his mage play-style, and their engulfing of his Manticore form represents the amount of magic being loosed.

Champion Concept: Waitomo

Concept Lore
Waitomo is an ancient being lost to myth -- a creature of lore known for it's rarity and viciousness. Akin to the cave newts of the Kumungu Jungle, Waitomo lived in the darkness -- isolated from the world. Using his luminous tails, Waitomo would lure in prey that had gotten lost within his tunnels. Thinking the light was they way out, Waitomo's prey would stumble right into his grasp. But something above his tunnels and caverns changed -- and the air and earth became saturated with an energy Waitomo knew nothing of. Until he stood upright and openly looked upon day's light -- and he simply understood. No longer bound by the darkness,Waitomo ventured forth with sentience and hunger.

Concept Game-Play
I thought of Waitomo as a stealthy and quick jungler with intense health regeneration. He's a creature of magic now, and I thought that the regenerative capabilities of him would be on a whole new level that not even the league has seen before, something the enemy would keep saying "why won't this thing just die?!". Like the newts he's based on, I thought that he would also be fast -- skittering around the battlefield to catch prey with his luminous tails. The difference between Waitomo and Mundo would be more along the lines of less damage, and a more mobile and utility kit -- with taunts or grabs via the tails and of course bursts of brief stealth. You can think of him as a combination of Mundo, Kha'Zix, and Twitch.

Art Direction
I wanted more creatures for the league -- and it's rare in any fantasy based universe that I see a creature based on luminous cave creatures. So taking cave newts as a base, I worked Waitomo up from there. Creatures like Waitomo scare me a bit -- they put me at an unease. This is something that sees you in the dark, when you can't see anything. Waitomo is something that can skitter around in your peripheral vision and make you jump. And I realized that Waitomo is actually Gollum. They're not the same character, but they share the same roots in concept. So naturally I added the Ring of Power as an homage to the similarities -- otherwise, Waitomo is straight creature. He has a large skull and mouth for catching prey, three tails (two vestigial and one articulated) that can extend and retract, and he is luminous. I picture him as something that runs on all fours -- but he's shown upright in the art to get a better look at him. He has two color variations posted -- his default, and how he would look in typical Gollum/Mountain Troll fashion.

Champion Concept: Rhodes

Concept Lore
In the jungles of Kumungu, life is made easier in numbers. Rhodes belonged to a terramancer clan that shaped out their home from the earth. But as is life, there is no lack of surprises -- and nothing in Kumungu is safe. Rhodes' clan was attacked in the night by one of their own. The entire clan was engulfed in an earthy prison... but Rhodes managed to elude the betrayer. Now, working as a mercenary, Rhodes seeks his clan's betrayer -- and to bring upon them the earth's judgement.

Concept Game-Play
Some of my favorite abilities are those that alter the terrain for a short period of time (Jarvan ult, Anivia wall). But we don't have a champion that specializes in such abilities. Abilities I was thinking about while making Rhodes were things like; pillar prisons, earthquakes, crushing walls, landslides, shields of rock and earth, and defensive steroids. I thought it would be fun to have a champion who specialized in changing the terrain so that you could trap or pin enemies, or assist allies with more strategic play.

Art Direction
I wanted Rhodes to be tanky, but I didn't want to stick with the forested mountain motif that surround such characters. Since his abilities are earthen in nature though, I wanted to keep earth-tones in his palette. So I dropped a lot of green to favor browns, oranges, and khaki. I used a lot of rounded and thick shapes to emphasize his ability to take damage. I gave him a large hammer in which to alter the environment -- my thought process was that Rhodes is a Blacksmith... of the Earth. An Earthsmith. Since he is a soldier of fortune though, I wanted his armor to be both stone and traveler's wear at the same time. This is why he still has cloth clothing, boots, and belts. The heavier pieces of his armor though are styled after stone.

Champion Concept: Katsumi

Concept Lore
Ionia suffered greatly during the Noxian invasion. After Ionia wrought back their lands and became part of the League -- an order was made in secret. It was clear that the path of balance would not defend them from such a hostile invasion, and the League can only settle so many matters. The secret order began taking youths and training them to be weapons -- assassins of the greatest skill. Among these assassins, Katsumi stood out as simply the best. Her prowess with sword technique was matched only by her incredible speed. After years of harsh training, Katsumi was given an enchanted katana and sent to the League to test her ability to battle, and execute, legends.

Concept Game-Play
Each ability is like Riven's Q (it can hit 3 times. You hit Q/W/E/R three times. They move her forward slightly). Her ultimate is an ability (you level it up like Udyr's Phoenix Stance). Each ability is a "Sword Stance". They are all linked with cooldowns. A combo = 3 abilities. (QWE, QRR, QEE, etc etc). When 3 abilities are used, all abilities go on cooldown for a time. Combining 2 or more of the same ability creates a new effect. Mixed combos (like QWR, QWE, ERW) do nothing but their original effects. (see more about her concept game-play on page.64)

The reason I made Katsumi to play this way, is because I've read a lot of posts asking for the Invoker. I never played any DOTAs, but from what I understand is that the Invoker is a high skillcap mage with a lot of different ability outcomes. This was my answer to that need. The great thing about this version though, is that the character is simple to use (you can just QQQ if you want), but if you can really make use of her combos in the right situations, she becomes very rewarding. It's not overly complex when you understand that there are only 8 effects outside of what the abilities originally do, and 4 of the effects share abilities from the other 4. So QQ inflicts grievous wound. But so does QQQ. QQQ just adds AoE damage ontop. She was made to fit a play-style that rewarded aggressive attacks, but punished ill-timing. She rewards players who take the time to master her combos, as she herself had to master the sword. Her skills are also FAST. She's a blur. QQQ -- or whatever combo you want, is almost as fast as you can hit the keys. I really pushed a concept kit this time around because I wanted people to think that this was a character they could rush in with, and combo in the blink of an eye, and be rewarded for combo'ing correctly given the situation. The "quick combo slash" comes from Samurai battle tropes. One movement, 3 slashes, 1/2 a second -- that's the mentality of Katsumi.

Art Direction
As for her art style, I wanted to giver her a "traveled" look. She's a wandering assassin. The original concept (adding to the idea of stances in her kit) originally had clues to those stances, like a turtle shell shoulder pad, or a foxtail belt. But I thought that way made her too "Female Udyr" so I went a little more rogue in her design, to show that she's bursty, but frail. And the hood is orange because I never see orange hoods, and red was waaaaay too cliche. Other colors also put forth other archetypes. Black was too dominant and cliche again, purple and blue came off too royal, yellow was out of place, and green read as ranger. Katsumi also was made to fill the role of "bad ass chick with a katana". Hopefully she's far enough removed art-wise to be a newer take on that trope. I also wanted to push her away from stealthy -- which I think is something that has a negative cliche attached to it. So instead, she's more like Twilight Sazuka from Outlaw Star, if you've ever seen that Anime. Basically, she's an obvious assassin with enough skill to not have to be stealthy.

Champion Concept: Claire

Concept Lore
Across all of Valoran. There is no criminal more hated than Claire. She's stolen from every major government, nation, city-state, town, and settlement at least once. What's worse is her mocking, signed, and illustrated cards that she leaves behind at every crime scene. What makes her hated though -- is that none of the items she steals are worth any historical, magical, or financial value. Just needed items. (Where did your cane go, Swain?!)

Concept Game-Play
Claire is an AP champion that heavily focuses on tricking her foes using illusions, teleporting, and stealth. I saw this character as being a really frustrating champion to chase. She'd have a lot of blink, teleport, and stealth mechanics -- being an escape artist trope we don't yet have. At the same time, I wanted this type of game-play to also be her means of damage. Maybe she blinks to a location, and causes her previous location to wake with a magic burst. Her position utility would make her a bit of an assassin, but not quite as bursty so much as she would be periodical damage.

Art Direction
Art-wise, Claire plays on rogue tropes. Her cloak, boots, and hood help highlight this. At the same time, to push her elusiveness, I made her a fairy complete with wings. I specifically wanted to avoid the really natural fairies and the Amy Brown style fairies. To combat these cliches, I pushed Claire's appearance into how I envisioned punk-rock might have influence over the fairy fantasy. What I came up with was a lot of color, but not overly rainbow in execution; just hair dye and magic tattoos.

Champion Concept: Scheele

Concept Lore
Scheele is a alchemist of Zaun who has taken it upon himself to study the Shadow Isles.

Concept Game-Play
A support champion that focuses on harassment via CC's and Debuffs. He provides a lot of utility in this sense, but offers little in the way of damage. I like to think of Scheele's game-play as throwing potions to have sickly and odd effects that are Crowd Control and Debuffs in their utility. Acids, Nerve Gas, Explosions, Slows, Fears, Poisons -- the character is just meant to punish players who get too close to the ADC that he guards. His game is chemical warfare, and I think there's a lot to be explored in what exactly he does with all the potions he brings to battle. He would be extremely squishy to make up for his offensive utility.

Art Direction
Scheele was difficult to plot out because of Singed. However, I really wanted to push another poison champ, but that originated from Zaun; which is described as a place where technology meets magic, thats not exactly too keen on morals. He's sickly because of his obsession with alchemy and the Shadow Isles. Yellow is iconic of sickness and disease almost as much as green is -- but it also gets across an idea of uncomfortableness. The vials around him suggest he's a chemist of sorts and works with disease/poison/potions.

Revision 1
He's cloaked now, giving him more of a "mage" feel, so there would be no confusion -- this is not a tank character. Other visual cues are the black/grey saturated cloak being more icon of the grim reaper (while still removing himself from Karthus). Add a color-friendly gas mask, and the character's whole begins to shape. I don't like to think of Scheele as being complete just yet, and I'm going to give him another round of revision treatment.