Why is Riot always making shared splash arts?

YumaS2Astral·Jun 8, 2015·14 votes·3,159 views

Some splash arts need to be "shared", such as the one from SSW skins, SKT T1, etc.

However, I don't understand why Riot makes shared splash arts when there are multiple skins with the same theme on the same patch, such as Pre-Historic, card games, Guardian of the Sands, etc.

Is there any reason for that? Lack of time, or money, or peharps lack of staff to make separate splash arts for each skin?

I think that the last time Riot made separate splash arts, despite making multiple skins with the same theme, was when they made the Pool Party skins, and that was back in 2013.

I miss the separate splash arts, I would like if Riot stopped making shared splash arts.

13 Comments

TrídentJun 8, 20159 votes

Cheaper and faster to just do one, more profits for Rito! ;p

FowusJun 8, 20151 votes

Hey trident

TrídentJun 8, 20151 votes

wat

Duke AnaxJun 10, 20152 votes

Not necessarily cheaper nor faster. Drawing the character itself is the most work intensive part and drawing three characters together takes pretty much the same time as drawing them appart. In fact it can actually be more difficult to fit them together properly.

If it's a rather simple background there is barely any difference.

Only with some of the more elaborate splashes, like PoolParty showing the whole Party does it save time.

SukishooJun 17, 20151 votes

No... it's very much a time saver when they are trying to get a patch out every two weeks and the skins all fall into the same theme.

When they do splashes, they usually have a team of about 8 people that do each (1 for a splash) and it can take them a month or more per splash. If they are focusing their efforts into one splash instead of say 5 for a group of characters (i.e. Pool party 2015) then they have much less to work on and can collaborate and get the job done a lot faster. The art itself is usually done by one person yes but they all still take feedback and such from each other so that it gets done in the way that Riot will want it.

Sir ArmaMalumJun 8, 20158 votes

Obviously I'm no red, but from what I understand the biggest time sink in making splash arts is the approval stage. Where a full, high quality splash art is made and then something inevitably needs to be adjusted and results in effectively a 100% do-over. Iirc this among a few smaller things was the main reason the nidalee splash arts took for freaking ever, but I could be wrong. My point being though is that whether a mistake is or is not there and a re-do is needed a shared splash art guarantees all the themed champion skins come out at the same time.

Not to mention fan art of equivalent or even better quality can pop up and is almost always on an individual champion and/or scene.

Puri Puri TaricJun 8, 20151 votes

ye ask terik he looks like trash

FasmodeyJun 10, 20153 votes

Because they're lazy and I hate that.

GreenLoreJun 8, 20151 votes

They are cheaper&faster to make and they provide the ability to make the skins feel more connected.

MyrzaJun 8, 20151 votes

{quoted}

They are cheaper&faster to make and they provide the ability to make the skins feel more connected.

Yep, I agree with Green! I believe they changed TF's Jack of Hearts Splash because they made all the other card skins. They made it seem more as a single theme rather than just the same background, pictorially and historically. I do think they need to have fewer shared skins, and more individualized, personal skins

KiyoReiryuJun 10, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=DarkfireAhri ,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=jpPTH27X,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2015-06-08T15:18:01.276+0000)

Yep, I agree with Green! I believe they changed TF's Jack of Hearts Splash because they made all the other card skins. They made it seem more as a single theme rather than just the same background, pictorially and historically. I do think they need to have fewer shared skins, and more individualized, personal skins

i agree here. If they are doing a themed skin, then having them grouped makes sense. AS IT FOLLOWS THE THEME

this is not to say that riot will always have grouped skins. (i.e. if they do a Pulsfrost Ahri, it would be a standalone) Where as if they think of a witty theme that involves multiple champs, having them connected makes more sense.

CMON.. would you really have appreciated the April Fools skin with Amumu Amumu crying at the window IF all the skins were seperate?

unifying tells a story.

Stop crying.. enjoy the art.

SwollwonderJun 8, 20151 votes

Cheaper and theme based. If you look at the demacia champions default skins they almost always have a castle behind theirs. They share a theme just not the actual picture. Since the skins splash art are never considered cannon (not that anything is now adays) it only makes sense to group them from a business stand point. "Hey these are all the champs you can get this type of skin for buy it now!"

Grouchy PoroJun 17, 20151 votes

I think it makes the splash arts seem more lively, though I don't like the clarity it sacrifices sometimes. Basically it fills a lot of space that would go unused otherwise.