Well the concept is now finished. I reworked the helm three times, the back twice, and let's not even begin on the shoulder faces! I am confident that this is a great concept and will work well on Morph. Time for base meshes!

I had originally wanted to do the Morphling set in more of an Aztec theme.  I could tell the set was getting more of a Greek theme to it so I thought I'd give the Aztec a shot before I started any major concept work.  I think the Aztec theme is way more interesting and lends itself more to the damaged theme I'm going with.

I've been toying with the base mesh in Maya and in Dota 2 to problem solve my design.  The shoulders have to be re-imagined because he really doesn't have shoulders in the traditional sense.  Just a large cobra hood that moves independently of the arms.  I've been holding off on drawing so I don't focus too much on things that might not even function but I couldn't help drawing a design for the arm guards.  I'll probably throw out the Aztec pattern in favor of cracked stone though.

Next up I've decided to create a set for the Morphling.  It will be a blend of Aztec, Mayan, and some Atlantian.  Water worn stone carvings with moss here and there will give the idea that his "armor" has been underwater for a while.  The specifics are far from there but this was an inspired start.

Well since starting a new job in November and the holidays and such it has been hard to find time to work on this skin but I'm nearly done.  It's hard to show updates during the texturing phase because it's a long process where you can't see how it is going to come together until the end.  The set is now complete.  I just have to do the marketing images and then I can submit the set to the workshop.

Progress has really slowed now that I've started a new job but at this point it's just texturing with the base I've already created.  The bow went very smoothly after all I had learned on the other objects.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I probably wont post until I have the textures completed but hopefully that wont be too long.  Now that I don't have to job for a while I should be able to focus more of my non-job time on this.

The shoulders are now baked and in game.  The process was very smooth but job hunting and interviews took precedence in the last few weeks.  The shoulders look really great in game and I managed to really make the UV space work for me.  I also fixed the texture issues with the horns in game as well.  I reduced the white in the hammered metal, increased the black where the metal plates meet, and desaturated all of it a bit to help with the display in the portrait view.

I thought I would throw in some sketches I've done for this set of items.  Some of them were really early drawings I did when I was trying to figure out my initial ideas.  Others are to clarify details that weren't included or had to change from the color concept.

Finished up the helm.  Looking at it in game I'll have to go back and remove some of the noise from the horns.  I'll also need to bring the tips of the horns down a bit so they look better in the portrait view.  I'm not happy with the resolution of the horns in the portrait so I'll need to look into that as well.  A reduction in that noise should help with the resolution.

Work on the gloves went much faster than the quiver.  The hands held me up some because the concept I had in mind didn't work out with my base geometry I'd already tested in Dota.  I have a few concerns about the amount of detail I've put in because Valve doesn't want much of it.  It should be easier to read once I put the actual coloring to it.  Next up is the helm.