A Civilized Complaint on a Few Recent Splashes.
If you look at Ahri's original splash art, you can tell that her face is actually both taller and broader than the new one. The new splash, while it aims for a cuter and smaller look, ultimately doesn't make it look like the same person. Janna's splash art also suffers this but to a greater degree (she has a different body and facial structure in which she's too vertical and skinny : like a twig). Not to mention, I don't really know why Riot is trying to take an approach at making Ahri look less oriental. There's nothing wrong with trying to include every ethnicity in the game, but trying to change facial features for a different look on an existing champions simply makes a champion feel alienating to a player base. For example, if you look at any of Ahri's other skins then compare it to her new classic, it doesn't feel like the same champion. It would be the equivalent of trying to make a champion like xin zhao or Lucian have extremely "generic" facial features so that you could more or less not tell what specific ethnicity that individual is (for example, more beige skin, a generic eye structure, etc). I think most of the playerbase would understand this change of facial structures if this were a skin noncanon to the champion, but I think the defaults should do the original champion justice. Oh yeah, I think Ahri's splash might also look a tad better if you tried to make her lip color the same "beige" look as in her original splash art (but that's just my 2 cents).
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/255/b/7/ahri_splash_art_by_aveldine-d5ej1ds.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SVAAVXUMURo/VDwpN4GPLvI/AAAAAAAAbJw/zq1fLshfmrU/s1600/Ahri_Splash_0.jpg
And going back to Janna, the summation of my 2 cents is just that she look incredibly frail - like a stick. She's very tall, but also very skinny (both her body and her face). I also feel like the tattoos she originally had and her shorter, stockier look in her original looks better (Even Janna's noncanon skin, forecast Janna, displays Janna's physical features extremely well). I also don't get why she doesn't have pupils anymore.
http://img2.leaguecraft.com/lol-splash-art/asset/wallpaper_760px_1522.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hoMBVHCKloY/maxresdefault.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kAVW8jWV44E/VDwpOHJdPFI/AAAAAAAAbKE/xCjp3PlRVmE/s1600/Janna_Splash_0.jpg And going on to Lee Sin, both I and much of the community agree that while the skin is very well done, Lee Sin's, um, head and facial features doesn't look as good as it could be. Taking from another's post, this individual changed Lee Sin's current splash into one that looks, to many opinion's, better:
http://i57.tinypic.com/sc45so.png
Those facial features that are a result of ethnic quirks and details in a champion are really what define the familiarity in identifying with said champion. For instance, when Vladimir came put with his new splash art a year and a half ago, it was extremely well done because of the same feel it held to the original. It ultimately did it justice and even glorified what Vladimir "felt" like and was welcomed by the vast majority of the community with open arms. While I feel like the newest array of splashes have done extremely well in doing so (such as Akali's newest splash art) I feel like some of the champions have lost a sense of familiarity to them with their new defaults such as Lee Sin, Ahri, And Janna.
http://www.leaguesplash.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Vladimir-Classic-Original.jpg
http://st.elohell.net/public/chill/a49160828f039486cc81df08a6479c0d.jpg
For example, in this fan art of Ahri and Janna (done by Artgerm [Stanley Lau] who did Leblanc's splash art and the Yasuo sneak preview arts), I feel like he really captures the champions really well not just in terms of their themes, but most impressively the facial struture of different champions that suit the individual very well:
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2013/253/5/3/foxy_ahri_by_artgerm-d6lqxo3.jpg
http://artgerm.deviantart.com/art/Janna-Poster-Art-407610100
Don't get me wrong. From an aesthetic point of view, the artists at Riot have done a phenomenal job (as with every splash art they release); however, I do feel like I'm not alone when I say that with the newest set of the splashes, I'm not the only individual who feels like some of the neweset splashes don't capture the "feel" of a familiar champion (because if they did, I don't think there would be so many people adusting the newest splashes on Lee Sin, Ahri, Etc.)
Here are my splash edits so far. I'll try to do other ones later:
