In the words of TFT environmental artist Phillip Zhang, “Why are those Champions walking in a circle, anyway?” In case you haven’t been playing Set 17, for the first time in TFT’s history, the carousel, which marks the midpoint of every stage, has been replaced. Instead: The Realm of the Gods. Phillip helped design this divine environment where you can gain boons by praying at the altar of gods like Evelyn, The God of Temptation; Thresh, The God of Pacts; and Ekko, The God of Time. If you’re in touch with Runeterran lore, you might be saying,“Wait, Ekko isn’t The God of Time, that’s Zilean.” And normally you’d be right! But TFT decided to switch it up, so for this episode, Phillip decided he wanted to give Zilean some love. The task? Imagining what Zilean’s altar would have looked like in a crumbling, forgotten state. As an environmental artist for TFT, Phillip works on the stages, carousels, and occasional god realms that bring TFT to life. In this episode of The Super Art Power Hour, you can watch his process from beginning to end as he explains everything from the subtle details that make an image pop to how TFT approaches visual hierarchy for players, to how he incorporates feedback from art director Pengu. But, sorry Zilean disciples, nothing from Super Art Power Hour actually ships, so don’t expect to see this shrine in a future update. 00:00:00 - Introduction: Concept to Finished 3D Asset 00:00:37 - Creative Prompt and Concept Ideation: Zilean's Shrine 00:03:21 - 2D Concept: Tools, Brushwork, and Color 00:06:41 - TFT Environment Art: Career Journey and 00:09:37 - Art Fundamentals: Shape Flow, Scale, Avoiding Half-and Half Shapes 00:18:31 - Storytelling, Scale, and Projecting 2D to 3D 00:26:14 - Polishing Texture 00:31:58 - Hand-Painting Workflow and Considerations 00:35:55 - Production Gates and Navigating Live Feedback 00:40:46 - Visual Hierarchy in TFT: Value Range, Color, and Technical Constraints 00:46:29 - Collaboration and Design Principles 00:53:07 - Geometry Integration and Finalizing the Asset 00:55:49 - Exercise/Workflow Recap 00:56:31- Final Art Reveal Watch more episodes of Super Art Power Hour here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL42m9XiTqPHKvZE-2gprBW6KV40oG_NL2 #TFT #gameart #environmentart _____________________________________________ Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/riotgames?sub_confirmation=1 Follow Riot Games on: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@riotgames X: https://twitter.com/riotgames Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riotgames/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiotGames Learn more about Life at Riot: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/riot-games/ X: https://twitter.com/lifeatriot Open Roles @ Riot: https://riot.com/3Unb61t
