Frog Gravedigger Character Concept + Art (no name yet)

[jazeetc]

I've been doing this character on my free time and since i started to like him i decided to create this post even though the art is still in the early stages
let me know if you have any feedbacks, suggestions, ideas etc.

I also posted a similar thread on the discord fan-art channel for a more casual chat, I am @jazeetc there


General lore ideas I had:

-Gravedigger frog that can communicate with spirits and help them move on to other planes,
I haven't done much research on possible cultural/historical parallels to further improve the story, but i thought about Charon from Greek mythology, who's a ferryman that escorts spirits from earth to the afterlife
And i thought about the possibility of (not in game, mostly lore-wise) this frog also being a ferryman like Charon, unfolding his shovel to use as an boat oar

+this gave me the idea of another variation for this character where he is closer to a ferryman, design and visually-wise
so let me know if any of this gives you any interesting ideas, i also am not too sure on the weapon, I just have a really sketched out double barrel shotgun, that would be his main weapon ingame, but I'm also up for other possibilities
(i still plan on doing other drawings making iterations of his designs)

Broad Ideas i had for the skills:

1 - quick AoE that trows ''spirit infused dirt''

2 - Swim under the ground and comes out dealing damage while realeasing many spirits from the ground (although mo and krill has a similar skill)

3 - A Bonk-like skill where he unfolds his shovel and deals a big hit with it, can be charged for an AoE while briefly stunning the enemy hero directly in front(i imagine this having a fun animation like, if he were to charge this skill he would do a flip in the air and then come down with the shovel idk i'm just having fun imagining these things)

4 - Goes underground and in an area ensnares the enemies by sending the spirits up from the ground so they would hold the enemies legs in place while dealing some damage / Or instead of snaring, just slowing while preventing the enemies from dashing

+ idk if it would be possible within the game, but I imagine his melee attack being different than just a punch,
where for a quick melee, he would quickly grab the shovel from his waist and hit with it while folded
and unfold it for a charged melee

Once I am finished with the character design I plan on drawing quick sketches for each skill

And here goes the concept art I've been doing for him



Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions regarding lore, name, skills, design, weapon etc

 

[arcsymus]

Someone else recently suggested a frog character. I think there's a real desire for it. I would go in the direction of Japanese mythology, which I've been researching for a writing project. There isn't explicitly a frog yokai that I know of, but frog people show up in media, and maybe on old scrolls, pretty frequently (see Spirited Away). I like the idea of them being a ferryman for the dead and having grave-based abilities. If I were to develop a concept, I would definitely go in that direction, although I think that people would also like to see something more Battle Toads, and might appreciate a frog Yakuza character that whips a chain and smokes.

 

[qwertypoiuyguy]

I really like the character concept and I want to come up with some more refined skills for him.

The shotgun is cool, but I think something more thematic would be appropriate, especially given the abundance of shotgun characters already in the game. So I thought about giving him a grenade launcher. Being a frog, I feel like his weapon should be some kind of high arc shot, as if firing the weapon is similar to hopping around, maybe even with the grenades being able to bounce if they don’t hit a target.

Some other ability ideas based on your’s:

1: How about a tongue grab, not one that pulls or anything, but something that quickly hits the enemy, maybe hitting them with your tongue sends them to the ground if you hit a target that’s in midair.

2: I like the idea of him being a swimmer of the underworld, but a frog should also be a mobile air fighter. This movement skill should be a hop into the air first, kind of like a mini Lash jump, but when he lands he dives into the ground and then starts swimming around underground. This would be more of a reverse Mo&Krill burrow, allowing for a burst at the start, then an escape, with no set attack at the end other than whatever attack you choose to use when you emerge.

3: I really like your shovel bonk idea here, and I even think that would be the perfect way to pop out of the underground from ability 2. You could even have a charge animation can happen while underground, then emerge from the ground for the surprise shovel smash.

4: I’m not really sure what you were going for with your ultimate, so I’ve come up with my own. I love the concepts of a ferryman here and so I need to see him sailing on a cursed spirit ship of the dead. So for his ultimate, he should summon a ship for him to captain for a few seconds, kind of like Kunkka from Dota, but he rides aboard it towards the enemies. The boat shouldn’t disable or do much other than be a huge target and distraction, so his team can come in behind him and under cover. Maybe the ship could send out waves of lost souls that damage the enemies beneath it.

Thanks for the really cool concepts and artwork that inspired me! The idea of a frog mixed with a gravekeeper seems so completely original, yet somehow makes total sense, so it’s a really easy character to imagine.

 

[gigablias]

Since he's a frog, maybe a built in Majestic Leap where he can jump super high deal aoe damage from his jumping/landing point. Could be like a duration buff so he can use it to farm creeps. Then a skill where he can row forward in-air dash to showcase the shovel=rower. This could be combo'd together where he jumps, and row to extend his range.

Also since he's a gravedigger, maybe a skill ala Gray Talon where he can dig hidden spots and people would be rooted? Then he can mole whack them. If we're talking about special melee, his normal melee could be a tongue whip where it can reach further but lower damage. In exchange his shovel charged melee would deal higher damage.

 

[ramiroRa]

I like it. But since he's a gravedigger, wouldn't fit more he has a shovel that can be used as a shotgun or rifle?

 

[jazeetc]

Hey I'm back,
I'm taking notes of the feedbacks you guys been sending

It took some time but here goes frog guy patch notes

• leaning torwards his name being Ben
• updated design, specially face
• props on the side
• cigarrette branding, since i wanted to play a bit with graphic designs, inspired by the ads/posters in the game. Still plan on doing more, My line of thought was like: ''ok there is a bunch of weird people in Deadlock, to the point that we have ads for horn wax, soo, how would these weird people smoke''
• new drawings I plan on painting this week to better show off skills and a bit of the character acting

The scope of the project got a bit bigger than I intended at the start but I started liking him more and more so here it is
I also plan on starting to develop a better presentation to the project soon, to better fit, design-wise with deadlock and to look more professional

I plan on doing another complementary drawing like those 2 where I show Ben rowing with his shovel, and spirits beside him in his raft/tiny boat
I also imagine that if he did that, he could be a fairly well know person, maybe that's why he's the face of the cigarette branding, or maybe just this one model I made, perfectly suited for frogs mouths

SO, yeah i'm having fun thinking about these worldbuilding ideas here goes the images