Shyvana and Demacian Armor Design

Since Riot’s talented artists unified Demacia’s armor and weapon designs I think it is worth discussing how it might be executed on Shyvana. If you are unfamiliar with what Demacian armor looks like take a look here.

Ron Broyde on twitter posted a Shyvana update concept. This ended up showing up on r/shyvanamains and seemed to be well received. I really like the direction this is going. The floating gauntlets seem out-of-place on the character, but the color scheme is perfect for the new Demacia. I think Shyvana’s design should beef up a bit and be covered in more armor, especially her abdomen. I think showing glimpses of her scales on her arms and legs, like in Ron’s concept is good. I would take A’s top and have it extend over the purple padding with overlapping and sliding plates (so she can bend over). Those plates are an opportunity to make them resemble scales to rhyme with the half-dragon idea. I have always liked the idea that Shyvana’s horns were real in dragon form. The model and splash art seem to leave this ambiguous, but I think claws hands and horns are important to make sure she doesn’t just look like a purple human.

People should be able to look at Shyvana and immediately understand that she is part dragon. Her current splash art makes it very clear with her red hot claws with the palm towards the viewer and her wide wings in the background (either leaving a transformation or entering one). Shyvana is still a willful and fiery person and red evokes that. I would miss the red and gold. Ron’s great compromise of having it turn redder as her fury builds is a great idea. As her fury grows she taps more and more into her draconic strength she also taps more into her viciousness and the color red is a good way to show that. It ties together especially well because she is still connected to Demacia because they both include gold in the color scheme. It also makes for a helpful visual reminder of how close Shyvana is to her transformation, (much like Gnar starts glowing red before he transforms).

What else do you think Riot could do evoke both Shyvana’s draconic and Demacian connections in her character design?