How to Make your Own League of Legends Skin
How to Make your Own League of Legends Skin
There are so many skins in the Riot store, with some being much more detailed than others. But have you ever wondered how Riot design their skins and what goes into making them? In this article we’ll be exploring the inner workings of Riot and their skin development team. We’ll look at what it takes to design a new LoL skin from start to finish and how they come up with their crazy skin ideas!
Why Skins?
In game skins allow players to customise their character and breakaway from the default looks, giving each player a sense of individuality and uniqueness in game. If everyone played with the same skin it would be pretty boring and people would get fed up quickly.
Skins also form an important part of the games revenue. Since League of Legends is completely free to play, there needs to be a way to raise money in order to pay for their huge team of staff. In this case Riot design skins and collectables with can be purchased in store for real money.
Although these skins don’t give you any unfair advantages in game and are merely cosmetic changes they’re still great to own as it shows you support the game. Some skins are even released as limited edition versions which only stay in the store for a brief amount of time. Owning these skins shows other players how long you have been playing the game for gives you huge bragging rights.
So how exactly do they make these skins? Let’s find out.
Practise Makes Perfect
Before the skins are produced the team of concept artists need to come up with suitable ideas that match a certain champions personality and backstory. In this case the ability to draw great concept art doesn’t happen overnight.
Employees at Riot are treated to drawing sessions, also known as sketch jams to help improve their ideas and drawing. Riot as a company believe it is important to grow their artists skills and craft in order to see an increase in quality of skins being produced. With every skin Riot produce they are always looking for new ways to raise the standard and give it that extra WOW factor.
Teamwork is Key
Although a single piece of splash art for a skin may be made by an individual person, the creation of a whole skin requires a team of highly skilled experts. Not only do you need people to do the draw the concept art and textures but you also need new animations and voiceovers created. It’s fairly obvious that one person can’t create a skin on their own.
At Riot they have a fine handpicked team which consists of many highly talented individuals. This team includes 3D modelers, tech artists, concept designers, animators, illustrators, audio designers, engineers, VFX artists… the list is literally endless!
In fact the whole team includes over 60 members of staff. This is not surprised when Riot are constantly releasing new skins and collections every few weeks. Sometimes they release 3 or 4 skins at once, this requires a huge team in order to get them all designed, created and tested within a small timeframe.
Seek Inspiration
With so many skins available in the store what’s really impressive is the fact that Riot keeps coming up with new ideas and style. But how exactly do they come up with the idea in the first place?
It all starts off with a few sketches from the concept artists, these can be related to anything such as sports, nature, films or mythical. Once the concept artists has drawn some ideas the whole team takes a look at them and select their favourite ones. They always look to create the craziest, coolest skins without just limiting themselves to video games and comic themes.
Give it the WOW Factor
There’s nothing worse than a boring skin. If there’s nothing special about the skin then players might as well stick with the default champions skin. If the skin is boring then it’s likely nobody will buy it. To sell a lot, a skin needs to have a unique style and look good. Riot knows this and constantly tweaks their designs until they think it has that special looks.
Riot don’t have a strict list of Do’s or Don’ts which means it allows them to take risks when thinking up skin ideas. Obviously not all of their ideas and skins are success but at least they continue to think outside the box and bring new styles to the game.
Perfection Takes Time
When League of Legends was originally released there weren’t a lot of champions. Since Riot was focused on increasing the content for the game they would release a new champion every two weeks or so. This pace meant they didn’t have a lot of time to produce new skins, and if they did then they would be merely minor cosmetic changes at the best.
Thankfully this is no longer the case and Riot has slowed down new champion releases. They have also increased the size of their team which allows them to work on producing new skins for new and existing champions. It currently takes around 4 to 6 months to design a skin from start to end depending on how complex the idea is. The ultimate skins take a lot of work and require a whole team effort in order to complete them. Ultimate skins are almost like new champions, not only do they have new animations and textures but also sounds, particles and models.
Opinions Matter
Not everyone on the team will like every idea, buy those differences can be helpful when designing the skin. Providing feedback for a skin can help it change into something magical. Riot understand that every skin won’t please everyone. By getting feedback from members of the team this helps Riot create a skin that really excites some players instead of just something that is OK to everyone.
That’s all you need to know about Riot and how they create their skins. Riot are always looking for ideas and feedback on their forums, so if you have some views to share be sure to head over there!
If you’re looking for some cool League of Legends skins then be sure to check out or LoL skin shop. We have a wide range of super rare skins which are no longer available in the store. The only way to purchase them is by buying an account with them already redeemed. Click below to view our store now!
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