Viktor/Background

Lore
Early in life, Viktor discovered his passion for science and invention, particularly in the field of mechanical automation. He attended Zaun's prestigious College of Techmaturgy and led the team that constructed, a scientific breakthrough that he expected to vault him to the top of his profession. Unfortunately his triumph was usurped by Professor Stanwick, who stole credit for developing Blitzcrank's sentience and later used Viktor's research to revive. Viktor's appeals for justice fell on deaf ears, and he sank into a deep depression. He withdrew from the College and barricaded himself in his private laboratory, cutting all human ties. There, in secret, he conceived a project for which nobody else could claim credit. Desiring both to revolutionize his field and to eliminate the jealous human emotions which festered inside him, he engineered parts to replace and improve his own body.

When Viktor re-emerged, almost no trace of the original man remained. Not only had he supplanted the majority of his anatomy, but his personality had changed. His previous hope to better society was replaced by an obsession with what he called "the glorious evolution." He saw himself as the patron and pioneer of Valoran's future, a future in which man would renounce his flesh in favor of superior hextech augmentations. Though Viktor's initial appeals were met with heavy skepticism, scientists were confounded by the sophistication of his machinery. By integrating his mind with techmaturgical devices, he had been able to drastically accelerate the progress of his research. His transformation had stripped him of what he perceived as his emotional weaknesses, but there was some lingering residue of resentment against the Professor. Viktor joined the League of Legends to pit his inventions against the greatest opponents Valoran could offer, and to correct any weaknesses or inefficiencies that remained.

""In one's hand, techmaturgy is a tool. As one's hand, it is liberation.""

- Viktor

Quotes

 * Upon selection


 * Attacking


 * Movement


 * Taunt

Viktor begins to speak out loud, but is distracted by his third arm.
 * Joke


 * Laugh


 * Upon using

Development

 * Viktor was designed by Ziegler.

Discovery in Patch Files
Viktor was discovered ahead of his announcement by examination of data in the V1.0.0.131 (Ahri) patch. This discovery included full stats, models, and backstory.

Champion Sneak Peek
Announcement made in the Sneak Peek by Average Gatsby:



If you’ve ever perused a book on ethics, you know that it’s important to give credit where credit is due. This happens to be especially important when mad scientists are involved. Hypothetically, if you were to construct a Great Steam Golem only to find that some other scientific type had claimed your creation as his own, it might cause you to come a bit more unhinged.

Meet Viktor, the Machine Herald. Not only is he the scientist who invented Blitzcrank, but he also had his creation usurped by his fiendish professor. Now, people cope with grief in different ways. Some people cry, some people binge, and some people start replacing their body parts with robotic limbs. I guess we’ll leave it up to you to decide how you think Viktor deals with his problems.

Viktor Fullmachine!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012

( The Artwork can be seen in the gallery) Viktor Fullmachine This is about a character design for League of Legends. 

I've decided to post some of the development work for both his concept and the illustration, to give people an idea of different options to show.

THE CONCEPT:

Viktor is a villain type character. This is a version of him (called a reskin, which is not a new texture but a whole new mesh based on the same rig). Fullmachine is the "evolved" version of Viktor, in which he has finally replaced his entire body with machinery.

Here is some text from the brief:

After years of perfecting his augmentations, Viktor has succeeded in fusing his soul with an efficient magical humanoid machine. He is made entirely of various metals, and no organic materials. Magic is bursting from within him, and his design is a lot more refined, while retaining the fantasy grungy feel. Armour:  Refined, yet grungy. All metal. Keep it fantasy. Body: Made entirely of metal, with magic emanating from holes, gaps and generators (No Jacket). Cape: Segmented metal armour, like roman scale mail. Colour: All dark and desaturated, except for bright green magic.

So the challenge is to make it a scifi-theme, but with more of a fantasy aesthetic. So... steampunk! :D

Here are some of the first color studies for him. It was supposed to be dark and desaturated with green magic coming from within, but the client decided that wasn't the direction they wanted. Instead they wanted brighter colors and to get rid of the internal glow.

Here are the next batch: brighter options, no glow. They picked C.

Here's color option C as the final concept!

Here he is in 3D! (Please note that I did not model/texture/rig him. This was done at Brilliant Colors.)  Anyway, the colors ended up being changed later on.

Finally, here's an HD video someone made of the character! It's a hoot to see him animated after staring at a static drawing for hours.



THE ILLUSTRATION:

So, the next order of business was the splash. Splash art is used to promote new characters and their skin variations on Riot's website. It's also a big part of their store. They're important because the game makes its money on these microtransactions. The left side has to be low contrast and somewhat negative space since that's where the character's info box goes.

Anyway, here's the client's brief: This skin shows the future of Victor, where he has replaced all of his humanity with machinery. He is "complete". He should be portrayed standing grand and majestically, Lord of the machines! In the background is something almost like a throne room made of hextechnological machinery. The technology in the background should follow a similar style to what you see in his costume design, kinda chunky and heavy and not too sleek or hightech. So again, the challenge is to create a setting that is both science fiction and fantasy at the same time.

Here's the first round of thumbnails sent to the client. We don't send 6 anymore, just 2 good ones. I tried to make him look proud, or like "Bring it on!" type of attitude. And, since he's villainous, we gotta go with the evil laugh (like in C). They chose Thumb B.

Here are a couple studies after I got the rough approved (it basically looked like a black and white version of the top one). I was learning towards A, but Randis Albion (our art director) suggested B. That ended up being what Riot picked. So I ran with rendering up B.

Here's my result, and what I submitted to them.

After they got my layered PSD, they ended up changing the colors to match the newly-changed colors on the model. I like the vibrancy and better contrast of lights and darks on their version, but wish I would've known about the new colors in advance. I think the colors ended up clashing with the piece as a whole (kind of every color of the rainbow in there).

So anyway, there you have it.

Bonus

Bonus: Here's a rough of Viktor Prototype, another skin variation. He's a whooole different story! (The first stage of Viktor's mechanical evolution). But I won't post since I didn't finish off that one. But at least this gives an idea of what a black and white rough looks like (the step after the thumb and before the color variations).

Join the evolution! Creator Viktor available now!
BY RIOTWENCESLAUS

Creator Viktor's obsessive pursuit of perfection never rests. Even whilst developing  the superior hextech required for his growing Battlecast army, he's somehow found some time to turn his dark heraldic vision on himself and make some dramatic advances in his own augmentation. His Death Ray has evolved into a sleek techmaturgical device that traces a deep red beam of death in any direction he pleases, glowing even brighter once augmented. Next, he further tamed the singularity that is Chaos Storm, encapsulating pure chaotic energy in a drone that moves to his whim, seeking the weakness of flesh. Ever the perfectionist, he even takes a moment to review his latest Battlecast designs on the way back to base. And as a final surprise, Creator Viktor has engineered his own dramatic entrance to Summoner's Rift…

Creator Viktor leads the march of machines with no intention of being left behind. For the next four days, you can join the evolution for the special price of  975 RP. After the sale, he'll return to his unaugmented price of  1350 RP.

Patch History
Viktor/Příběh Viktor/Background Viktor/Historique Viktor/historia Viktor/Background Viktor/Background