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Between Two Turrets - Come chat with Riot Keyserito! [COMPLETE]

RiotA Small Man·10/21/2015, 7:49:02 PM·18 votes·83,462 views


Welcome to the latest installment of Between Two Turrets, a Q&A series through which we connect you with various Rioters to chat about League, life, and anything in between. You can expect an installment every two weeks or so, with Rioters from all over jumping in to spend some time with you on the Boards.

This week, we've got Skins Team VFX Artist Jason “Riot Keyserito” Keyser!

Oh hey, guys! I'm Jason Keyser. I make stuff explode on the skins team. My job description is making shiny sparkly things: fireballs, water splashes, dust poofs, electric beams, magic blasts, and all the other elements. Since I started last year, I've worked on all kinds of different skins. Most recently, I was on PROJECT: Leona, then Spirit Fire Brand. You can see my work here:

Youtube channel (includes a bunch of quick tutorials for you aspiring artists)
Website
Twitter

My favorite champion is Lulu, so making all the bubbles for her Pool Party skin was pretty much the best ever. For better or worse, I'm drawn to all things adorable, sparkly, and epic. This has led to many evenings watching kids' shows with my wife, including Gummy Bears, Phineas and Ferb, Powerpuff Girls, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Adventure Time, Avatar (Airbender and Korra), Slugterra, Ben 10, Transformers Prime, and many others, including MLP:FIM. Cutie Mark Crusaders OP!

The game I've been most obsessed with recently (aside from League) is Terraria. I'm still recovering from getting wrecked by the awesomeness of Patch 1.3.

Outside of shows and games, I'm into food, which is nice, because LA has some fantastic places to eat, which is bad, because I've been getting fat since moving here from Utah. Any questions you've got, feel free to fire away!

380 Comments

RiotKindlejack10/21/2015, 8:08:33 PM11 votes

How do you maintain your cool yet charming demeanor while being approachable and great to work with?

Which characters did you reference for Arcade Blitzcrank?

PixTron10/21/2015, 9:59:07 PM11 votes

Are you gonna make Dodgeball Syndra anytime soon? :D

And if you are, could you make it a Legendary Skin like Dunkmaster Darius?

And the main question relating to the two: Do you also work on ideas for the skins as well as making the awesome particle effects for them?

(and another thing:) Did you also have anything to do with the PROJECT skins' effects?

Thanks!

-PixTron

Soliris10/21/2015, 7:59:46 PM9 votes

How do you generally go about starting concepts for a new skin & where do you draw your inspiration from? Furthermore how long does it take for a concept to be seen tested in game? Lastly, are you working on any skins at the moment that you are excited about? Thank you for your time!

Ignis010/21/2015, 7:55:28 PM5 votes

What is one skin that you really want create but haven't yet for various reasons?

yonggon10/21/2015, 9:50:06 PM5 votes

Why isn't there a Ready to Rumble! Rumble Skin as a wrestling announcer with a taunt saying "Lets Get Ready to Rumble!."

Rorønoa10/21/2015, 10:12:22 PM4 votes

Hi Jason,

I hope to work for Riot Games one day so I try to ask every Rioter I encounter the same question, "How can you differentiate yourself from the rest of the pool when applying for a job at Riot?"

I've actually applied not too long ago but it was a no go because I seem to be lacking in experience. I will definitely apply again when I get another year of experience under my belt but in the mean time, I would love to know what I can do to be get a step closer to my dream of working at Riot Games.

Thanks!

VersaceLemonade10/21/2015, 8:35:47 PM4 votes

You mentioned Lulu being your favorite champion but what about a champ that you relate to the most? Also if you were hosting a dinner party which champions would you invite? (you can only pick 5)

Thanks for all your hard work in making some stunning champion skins! Yasuo

Aphanopanop10/21/2015, 8:09:24 PM4 votes

Hey Riot Keyserito, what type of schooling did you go through to get to where you are at?

PapaGreg2110/21/2015, 8:01:58 PM3 votes

Any thought into making Shyvana's flame breath/burnout more than just color changes with every new skin? I know Ice Drake did some neat stuff and it seems like there is room for creativity with her particles.

wizardhunter10/21/2015, 9:02:18 PM3 votes

Do you know any programming languages and where should someone start if they want to learn graphic arts or animation?

Ape2getherStrong10/21/2015, 9:51:55 PM3 votes

What are the odds that a Bard Ultimate skin would be available in the future? Has this been brought up at all by anyone in the skins department, his abilities have many effects associated with them and an ultimate skin, involving his lore or just anything in general would be really interesting to see on him. If not that is there any chance you could share insight on Ultimate Skins you would like to see personally or would you be willing to share anything of that nature with us?

BeardedMonk10/21/2015, 8:03:53 PM3 votes

Hi! i got a couple of questions for ya

  1. Why is Spirit Fire Brand's back bigger than his skins/default model? That intrigues me.
  2. Could you add jiggle bones to his tribal earrings? i think that would add a lot to the skin.

P.S. i own Project: Leona, Star Guardian Lux, Pool Party Lulu, and as you can see DJ Sona, which you maybe didn't do much on but those waves are still super cool! all the skins/effects are incredible and i cant wait till spirit fire brand is out.

Please write** back **if possible. Brand Brand Brand

Freezman10/21/2015, 8:05:18 PM3 votes

How did you get into art?

How did you end up at Riot?

What's your favorite skin that you didn't work on, why?

What is your favorite game of all time? (aside from League if it is League)

Who is your favorite artist?

From recent memory, your favorite instance of VFX in a game other than League?

Thanks a lot! Cheers.

Zielmann10/21/2015, 7:59:13 PM3 votes

What was the first thing you worked on when you started at Riot?

GwingMaster10/21/2015, 7:57:12 PM2 votes

Hi There! Thanks for doing this!! Two questions and a pair of compliments:

  1. PROJECT: Leona is to date the ONLY skin i've ever bought. Leona is my favorite champ but I generally have a rule that I don't buy skins. I couldn't resist for Project simply because I was so desperate to have a Leona skin with cool particles. Awesome job, i love it.

2.) How do you guys go about updating VFX? Are there meetings that go on that discuss how the VFX should reflect their thematic or is it largely left up to the artists themselves to decide how things should look?

  1. Branching from that - can you comment at all on the VFX changes for Morde? i know this is a scary topic so I"m not trying to trap you or anything, I"m just curious what the thinking was behind changing them and why the update includes so much less metal in favor of whispy swirls, etc. Personally I don't particularly like the new ones but I"m not trying to criticize, more just curious how these decisions are made.

4.) I played with Brand on OFA for the first time since his VFX were updated and OMG they're beautiful. I"m gonna buy him just for those. If you had anything to do with that or you know who did, please extend my compliments. They're awesome.

Merxamers10/21/2015, 7:55:34 PM2 votes

Hey! I'm really excited for Spirit Fire Brand! To talk about the fire effects; way back when i started playing, Brand's fire, especially his ult, looked mostly like orange blobs. What are the challenges in improving fire effects in this game to look a bit better? (like they were for Shyvana, Rumble, etc.)

Also, What were the considerations in differentiating the fire effects in Spirit Fire Brand vs. his other skins? (except for zombie-brand, all the fire effects pretty much look the same)

Decrit10/21/2015, 10:40:46 PM1 votes

Many times Rioters that are discussing skins when they talk about VFX are all lik "we have few people/they are different from models/they require this or that".

This makes me thing that while there are loads of artist of various genres VFX are the most lacking one? Do you require human sacrifices sometime?

JacNotResponding10/21/2015, 8:04:54 PM1 votes

Is Pool party yasuo, or ekko possible in the future?

Mansana10/21/2015, 8:16:52 PM1 votes

Which champ do you think requires the most degree of work for vfx? Xerath, Syndra, other champs with a lot of particle fx?

Erminefield10/21/2015, 8:18:43 PM1 votes

I've been playing league for about 3 years now and this is my absolute favorite game on the planet. The skins that you guys work on are so cool, the visual effects are stunning and unique and the movements of champions are so lifelike it's mind-blowing. I think it's awesome how much work you put into this game. I was wondering if you, a current Riot employee, could give me some advice on the best way to build up my experience to eventually become an employee myself. I'm very interested in the animation side of game design and have gained experience using programs like 3D Studio Max and Blender. I know their isn't a guaranteed way to get any job, I would just like a bit of guidance so I could work for a company I admire.

Thanks for your time

butterbean46910/21/2015, 8:19:30 PM1 votes

hey Keyserito, how ya doing? I was wondering your views on teemo lol. I was actually wondering if there might be a new teemo skin coming up here soon. A lot of my friends and I have been talking bout how awesome it would be for a satan teemo skin since he is often referred as such. Also since you are in LA if you go to Irvine, CA there is some fantastic japanese style curry at a restaurant called cocos ichibanya. I used to eat it all the time when i was a marine stationed in okinawa japan, and the one in Irvine is almost exactly spot on to the japanese ones. My suggestion would be to also get the garlic cheese naan bread that they also have. it is amazing with the curry. They also make it so you can have it spicy or mild. Well hope to see a reply from you and I hope you get to try that curry. it really is good!

OrangeDonutz10/21/2015, 8:22:43 PM1 votes

Project Leona is my favorite skin ever! Good work on that one. Are there any skins that you're working on that you're particularly excited about? Keep up the good work!

Z3roChanc310/21/2015, 10:34:34 PM1 votes

Hello! I really love programming and was wondering if that had any role in what you do. And if so, how do you use it/ further it in college? (Sorry if any of this was already asked)

Thanks!

SLU Dent10/21/2015, 8:18:02 PM

How come when a champ gets reworked their skin splashes (which look entirely different to them ) remains the same? Reference : Whistler Village Twitch ... i mean look at that splash haha