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[ENDED] Doors of Fate Q&A - Skins Team Concept Artists

RiotRiot Baconhawk·6/23/2014, 8:13:50 PM·16 votes·54,004 views

Anivia Q&A is closed! Thanks for participating and we hope you got the answers you sought!

It's a cloudy, foggy day here in California.

tips hat

It's a good day for a Q&A.

http://i.imgur.com/mJrurLF.jpg blue card cuts the mists, they swirl in protest

a splash of mana, a bit of magic, and several mystical figures emerge

  • The Bravo Ray, Senior Concept Artist
  • RiotPenguin, Evil Concept Artist
  • RiotZeronis, Concept Artist
  • RoadkillsRevenge, Concept Artist
  • Paulewog, Concept Artist
  • Other skins team minions such as RiotMindbullets, Dev Manager; Riot Baconhawk, QA Analyst; Riot Whist, Animator

they stand side-by-side, armed with Cintiq styluses, watching silently, waiting

Suddenly the Announcer calls out loudly over the Rift:

"CONCEPT ARTISTS HAVE SPAWNED"

It's time for Q&A!

Rules:

  1. Universal Board Rules in effect. (Read 'em here).

  2. Wheaton's law. (Don't be...rude.)

  3. Understand these guys are concept artists on Skins team. Try to keep your questions centered around that topic!

  4. Please understand Concept Art is at the beginning of our production pipeline, so there will be some questions we either cannot answer or prefer not to. Be kind to the artists. (But still feel free to ask).

sizzles expectantly

Ask away!

Edit: Here we are, beating The Bravo Ray with the official mascots of the Skins Team, the dolphin and baconshark. Gotta keep his love for Swain in check~

http://i.imgur.com/nhNFoPM.jpg

236 Comments

Lord Graves III6/23/2014, 8:25:47 PM24 votes

Why do characters who have many skins get more skins and champs who have few (if any past release skins) get passed over?

Skarner is a prime example here. He has a great model that I can't really understand being in line for an update, so there isn't that excuse.

I don't even like skarner, but the reasons given in the past don't really feel like they hold up after years of playing league of legends.

If it is literally just "He aint popular enough to warrent it" then I can understand that.

Ugly but true answer beats a PR fueled white lies every day. ;) Though I can understand not wanting to anger people.

Solash6/24/2014, 12:46:46 AM13 votes

Have you ever had a feeling of "We HAVE to make this" by looking at skin ideas from fanart/suggestions such as:

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/040/e/0/skin_sketches_by_vegacolors-d6j1m9f.jpg

and

http://img2.leaguecraft.com/fan-art/asset/fanart_760px_2343.jpg ?

SlumlordThanatos6/23/2014, 10:39:15 PM12 votes

Bleh. I still hate posting here, but I saw something on the forums that I thought was interesting.

The attached Headhunter Caitlyn concept. It was my understanding that this concept was done by an in-house Riot artist, and frankly, this art is WAY COOLER than what is on the PBE right now.

Why wasn't this chosen as the final product? Is there any way we could get something closer to this?

Because I don't think I'm alone in thinking that I would gladly wait if it meant we could get something this awesome.

RiotRiot Baconhawk6/23/2014, 8:15:46 PM11 votes

**IMPORTANT! **Upvote the posts you'd like to see answered! Artists don't like scrolling!

Also, it looks like it's time for an MS Paint skin idea thread! (Keep it PG)

I'll start with Baconivia!!

http://i.imgur.com/gqPePqN.png

cawws

NOTE: THESE ARE NOT OFFICIAL SKIN IDEERS YO

OnlyJohnHere6/23/2014, 9:13:53 PM11 votes

Karma. Please just give me something!! Lol I personally don't really count the Jade Empress skin as really getting a new skin, since it's her default, so can you give us anything on whether she has something in the works? I feel a lot of Karma fans (no pun intended) were disappointed when the Bladestorm Karma was scrapped and again when Lunar Karma was scrapped and given to Diana

ModCaptainMårvelous6/23/2014, 8:38:29 PM11 votes

Hey fellas, glad to see you come out to an answer some questions

With that in mind, here are some things I'd like to pick your brains on:

  • Has there ever been an amazing concept or idea that you put aside because of a champion VU or said champion having too many skins?

  • How deep does your concept art go? Do you make a skin and be done with it or go further with example particles and the like? For an example, let's say you were working on a new Heimer skin. Would you draw the skin and only the skin or the turrets, rockets, etc?

  • What's the most challenging skin you guys have worked on?

  • Say I have a skin concept but I'm not artist. Do you guys only look at concepts if they're drawn up or do you read everything in the realm of skin ideas? (Griddlesticks, Fiddle but he throws burgers instead of crows and his scythe is a spatula and he's basically working minimum wage)

  • Why the lack of finished skin teams? We got hodgepodge groups of 2-3 and the occasional solo skin but man it's been ages since we had a finished skin line.

Der Kampfhobbit6/23/2014, 8:12:27 PM10 votes

How do you decide which champion gets a new skin?

Burberry Brown6/23/2014, 9:31:19 PM10 votes

When will we start to get some hint about the next upcoming ultimate skin, my money is ready and waiting!

Tumby in the Yum6/23/2014, 9:08:29 PM8 votes

Since it's getting towards the time of the year that Spirit Guard Udyr and Pulsefire Ezreal were announced/released back in 2013 and 2012 (respectively), are there any tidbits of information that you guys are able to give us regarding the possible status of a new Ultimate skin?

Felvyne6/23/2014, 8:29:40 PM8 votes

Do you take community's fanmade skins as a base sometimes or only when they are really popular?

faresXx6/23/2014, 10:17:05 PM7 votes

describe the new ultimate skin with 2 words ? :)

HavinAGiggle6/23/2014, 8:24:35 PM7 votes

Have any of you guys ever made a skin out of pure humour/interest with no intention on releasing it? If so, what are some of those ideas?

Proxi6/23/2014, 11:24:32 PM7 votes

I love the new Zyra SKT skin, however what I didn't like about it were the plants. In all of her other skins, you changed the skins of the plants too, is this something you guys would be willing to go back to look into?

I hate jungling6/23/2014, 8:15:03 PM6 votes

What are some of the hardest champs to give skins for?

Azaroi6/23/2014, 8:35:15 PM5 votes

Have you planned to do a new "collection" like the Pentakill and Dragonslayer one ?

KaidenTL6/23/2014, 8:25:00 PM4 votes

Are you guys currently working on the next ultimate skin

Taffer6/23/2014, 10:03:15 PM4 votes

Is there any concepts for champions that have not had skins for ages? For example: Malzahar

Linna Excel6/23/2014, 11:14:09 PM4 votes

Why is it that a few champs get a ton of skins? What makes someone like Yi, Ashe, Teemo, or Ryze so easy to make a skin for?

Zaphypoo6/23/2014, 8:14:52 PM4 votes

Cursor skin or skins. Have you guys thought of this yet? If so is it posibur?!?!

RiotRiotMindbullets6/24/2014, 2:52:55 AM4 votes

Quick Thank You to Baconhawk for setting this up and for everyone for all their great questions and participation. I haven't been able to do anything like this for quite some time and it really made my Monday awesome! Thanks everyone!

Linna Excel6/23/2014, 10:59:31 PM3 votes

  1. When in the process of making a new skin does the skins team get involved in drawing concepts? Does it always start with you guys or does someone tell you that you have to make this idea?

  2. On average how many concepts do you go through to get a skin completed?

  3. How many concepts do you do for skins that are cancelled at some point? What percentage of concepts never make it to the game?

  4. Do concepts for one champion ever get switched over to someone else in the process? You might start with an idea for Diana but it'd look so much better for Riven or whatever?

  5. Do concepts ever get pulled aside because that idea might be a good one for a new champion?

  6. How does doing ideas for skins differ from the process for a new champion or doing a VU? Of the three teams, who has the easiest and hardest jobs?

  7. How many skins concepts (like Popstar Ahri) would you say come from fan suggestions, even if it doesn't make it to final how many suggestions do you guys try out?

  8. When making skins do you all do a few ideas and then the best one is the next skin to be done?

  9. What are the odds you'll ever do Sakura Soraka?

  10. When are we getting Pool Party Ahri or Pool Party Divine Soraka?

Dragowynd6/23/2014, 8:33:50 PM3 votes

Hey, first of all thanks for doing this Q&A!

My questions would be:

  • What is the general process from the idea to the finished skin?

  • And what is the average time you need to create the VFX for a skin?

DazedBees6/24/2014, 1:34:45 AM1 votes

@Riot Penguin, as the Evil Concept Artist, do you design strictly evil skins, or are you just evil? and riot is afraid of the repercussions of firing you?

If it's the former what is your favorite skin? and what skin for what champ are you currently working on/in concept for?