Warframe: Weapon Skin Contest Winners: Dual Zoren

Over a month ago we opened up a great opportunity for anyone interested with a bit of talent in artistic design. The Warframe Weapon Skin Contest displayed three weapons for our community to reskin, challenging everyone to create a new twist on some classic Tenno tools of war. After pooling submissions for each weapon we then let members of our Design Council vote on their two favorite skins per weapon; with the winner getting the opportunity to see their creation implemented into Warframe’s Marketplace while also earning a small percentage of its Platinum sales as well.

For the Dual Zoren, it means that Ming1345’s Combustion and ZeroJackdaw’s Ghastly Kuberus skins will eventually find their way into the hands of Tenno all over the world. Naturally we wanted to talk to both our winners about their design process and inspiration, and fortunately for everyone they were kind enough to let us axe them a few questions!

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

ZeroJackdaw: Well I'm just a small town girl. Living in a lonely wor---*cough* campus on the tip of Tennessee where I study Game Design. Let me tell you, it's probably the most uncommon college major in the area. The most common being Bluegrass. As much as I like Bluegrass music, I wish I was kidding. When I'm not busy with school I enjoy making things in either 2D or 3D either traditionally or with a computer.

Ming1345: I am 21 years old and I am from Shanghai. I work at a studio that makes FPS online games.

How long have you been playing Warframe for?

ZeroJackdaw: Since last Valentine's Day I think... It's quite funny really. I was introduced to Warframe from walking through a super-market that was advertising PS4 releases. I saw what I thought to be Excal's beady little emissive eyes and bitty turtle mouth and was sold ever since. Still disappointed that they weren't eyes, but that mouth is still up for debate.

So, I'm not quite a veteran, but I'm not a newbie either... I'm still stuck in that weird adolescent player phase.

Ming1345: I have played Warframe for more than 6 months since last December.

What made you choose the Dual Zoren?

ZeroJackdaw: It certainly wasn't because I have a chronic "coptering" addiction that I can't talk about. Heavens no, but I can say I do like melee over guns usually. Also the Zorens were quite an old weapon to work with. It felt justified to give them some love.

Ming1345: Actually, I have made designs for all the 3 weapons in this contest. However, only my design for the Dual Zoren got chosen. I am very surprised and excited about it!

What inspired the design of your weapon skin?

ZeroJackdaw: I knew I wanted to play off of the Asian aesthetic that serves as the nice under-layer to Warframe's art. The Kuberus or rather the Kubrow Cerberus came about from coming up with several different oni-like designs that eventually evolved into a Kubrow. The Ghastly bit came from the original test colors which just my favorite colors, teal and orange. After the colors worked so well, I pulled the ethereal idea back into the design and made all the edge work less crisp and more organic.

Ming1345: Just as the name of this skin, combustion - when you fight with the enemies with the Dual Zoren, sparks fly. Other than that, the Stalker inspired me with the skin design.

Were there any particular challenges to reskinning Warframe’s axes?

ZeroJackdaw: Ahh, well there's always a challenge in getting your edges to line up seamlessly or at least disguising the UV seams in a way that works. Because I went with something that didn't follow the original skin and had a lot of organic parts. In retrospect it probably would've been better to just work with Zbrush P-tex then work in Photoshop. But hey I like a challenge.

Ming1345: At first, I want to make a fancy skin for the Dual Zoren, but later on I found it doesn’t fit Warframe. Finally, I decided to use the flame that is inspired by the Stalker as my final design after several attempts.

Do you have a favorite weapon?

ZeroJackdaw: Dual Zor-- No I kid. Actually, it's the Phage. Perhaps one of the weirdest guns in the game and is hardly a shotgun type. Not only is the gun almost more distracting than Mirage's ultimate, it fires in a beautiful tentacle-like sine wave that's perfect for grossing out your teammates. Also, the reload animation makes you question what your Tenno is actually holding when it squelches in excitement when tickled.

Ming1345: There are a lot of weapons that I like. Among them, my favourite one is Dragon Nikana. This katana-type sword has a nice looking and a cool animation in action. It deals very high damage. Blind Justice is better than its previous stance. It also has a great improvement on speed.

Any tips for future weapon skin designers?

ZeroJackdaw: Make the entire emissive channel white and crank up the bloom in the post-processing. Either you're now permanently blind, or you have the ultimate Prime weaponry.

Alright, in all seriousness, design and design again. Your first idea is never the best or rather it is never original. I think my first sketch of this design was just a dragon along the side. Hardly feels creative right? Think of what will actually show up on a weapon, especially one that's very small. There's no point in adding detail where it won't be seen. Finally, let the shape of the weapon inspire the skin, otherwise you get an odd contrast that really shatters the design.

Ming1345: Believe in yourself and improve your skills gradually and progressively day by day.

Another round of congratulations goes out to our Dual Zoren skin design winners, and thank you to everyone who participated in our Weapon Design Contest. Be sure to keep an eye out for interviews with our other weapon skin winners, and we’ll let you know the moment each of these skins become available for purchase at the in-game Marketplace!