Riot Games League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King Art Blast

By Daniel Wade - July 27, 2021

Hello friends!

I’m very excited to welcome y’all to the League of Legends Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King Art Blast! It’s been a long anticipated pay-off to a conflict that we’ve been hinting at since the Shadow Isles and the Harrowing were introduced. Over the last few months, the all-consuming battle for Runeterra has been tied in with the release of 3 new Champions: Viego, Gwen, and now Akshan! We’ve seen some familiar faces deputized into the Sentinels of Light while others fell victim to the lies and false-promises for power from the Ruined King. We even got to see an Unbound Thresh! It’s been a thrilling ride for us on the developer side and we’re so glad for the opportunity to share a glimpse into all the hard work that so many creatives put into the work!

As always, quick disclaimer since there are so, so many incredible teams at Riot that all help make something like an event like Sentinels & Ruined even possible, including our vendors and 3rd party partners. There’s quick-comics, CGs, the in-client visual novel and experience, collaborations with teams on Legends of Runeterra, VALORANT, Team Fight Tactics, and WildRift! Even though this Art Blast mainly focuses on the skins, Champions, and work done by the League of Legends – PC team, I just want to also acknowledge and give a fist-bump to all the other amazing friends that took this journey with us!

From a high-level, art-pillars perspective, it was important for the Sentinels that they feel serious, gritty, and dark, but always hopeful! It was really important that we showed off these awesome Relic weapons in the hands of champions that have answered the call to be light in the darkness. Making sure Sentinels of Light retained the core identity of champions from all over Runeterra as they banded together under this one cause. Feeling cohesive, but never losing their individuality. Some elements of their home region in Runeterra should be maintained, whether that’s reflected through tertiary hues or secondary shapes and pattern designs. They are a team, but more like a faction than soldiers in uniforms. They are a ray of light in the darkness!

For Ruined, it was important that we tie the ruined champs to Viego and the black mist. Amplified, twisted versions of themselves; ‘Beautifully corrupted’. Ruined Champions are beautiful, sexy, and consumed by their amplified desires, like the Ruined King himself. There’s an element of opted-into tragedy that you could be sympathetic for, if it wasn’t at the cost of the destruction of the world. You get your deepest desire fulfilled and (surprise!) it wasn’t actually a good thing.
Viego has left his mark on each ruined champion in the form of that oozing black triangle on their chest where they were pierced by his blade. They are surrounded by Black Mist wraiths and take on visual similarities to their unliving king.

Art-wise, this was an interesting event to work on, because we already had previous examples of Sentinels & Black Mist from the Shadow Isles, but they were inconsistent sometimes in their execution. Another major hurdle was ‘how much should we feature the black mist in the Sentinel’s skins?’ At first nearly every ability had some element of ‘banishing’ the black mist, which we later pivoted away from. While the struggle on the Ruined side was ‘how do we avoid just making this all monochromatic?’
Finally, THE key milestone-learning was when we all aligned on the visual importance of sacred geometry in all things Sentinels related. That was pretty key and I’d say a visual turning point that so many teams were able to rally around. More tactically: Visually leaning into ‘ancient-but-modern’ aesthetics.

One really big advantage we have with an event this large is that we have different avenues to tell our story! The biggest, most obvious and immersive way that we get to tell a narrative story this time is with our visual novel in the League of Legends Client that reveals the story and allows you to participate through the eyes of the Rookie as the Sentinels deputize more champions across Runeterra to fight back the tides of the Ruined King in one last and final stand!! Big ‘thank you!’s here to Gem Lim and Jessica Oyhenart for art directing this experience!!

Last thoughts: we are so proud and thrilled with the final results of the Sentinels & Ruined King event and all that goes with it, how it has played out for Players and fans all over the world! We’re happy to be able to show even just a peek into all the work that went into this event and we hope you enjoy it! If you’re interested in learning more about our open art roles at Riot Games, check here for more information.

Seth Haak
Art Director, Riot Games

Art Directors

Jon Buran – Art Director

Seth Haak – Art Director

Concept Artists

David Ko – Concept Artist

David Ko – Concept Artist – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Megan O’Rourke – Concept Artist

Megan O’Rourke – Concept Artist – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Oscar Vega – Concept Artist

Oscar Vega – Concept Artist – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Simon Dubuc – Concept Artist

Simon Dubuc – Concept Artist – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Thomas Randby – Concept Artist

Thomas Randby – Concept Artist – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Taylor Jansen – Concept Artist

Taylor Jansen – Concept Artist – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Illustrators

Jennifer Wuestling – Illustrator

Jennifer Wuestling – Illustrator – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Jeremy Anninos – Illustrator

Jeremy Anninos – Illustrator – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Esben Lash Rasmussen – Illustrator

Esben Lash Rasmussen – Illustrator – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Bo Chen – Illustrator

Bo Chen – Illustrator – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Horace Hsu – Illustrator

Horace Hsu – Illustrator – Riot Games – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Rudy Siswanto – Illustrator

Rudy Siswanto – Illustrator – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Alex Flores – Illustrator

Alex Flores – Illustrator – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Character Artists

Oscar Monteon – Character Artist

Oscar Monteon – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Jason Namgung – Character Artist

Jason Namgung – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Yekaterina Bourykina – Character Artist

Yekaterina Bourykina – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Liem Nguyen – Character Artist

Liem Nguyen – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Kylie Gage – Character Artist

Kylie Gage – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Duy Nguyen – Character Artist

Duy Nguyen – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Liam Liang – Character Artist

Liam Liang – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Eggsy Ma – Character Artist

Eggsy Ma – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Hank Fu – Character Artist

Hank Fu – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Kevin Jones – Character Artist

Kevin Jones – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Jordan Ewing – Character Artist

Jordan Ewing – Character Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Environment Artists

Naki Liu – Environment Artist

Naki Liu – Environment Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Bao Bao – Environment Artist

Bao Bao – Environment Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Blake Peng – Environment Artist

Blake Peng – Environment Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Animators

Stéphane Videlo – Animator

Stéphane Videlo – Animator – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Adam Turnbull – Animator

Adam Turnbull – Animator – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Awen Yu – Animator

Awen Yu – Animator – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Lunjie Bi – Animator

Lunjie Bi – Animator – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

VFX Artists

Edison Ding – VFX Artist

Edison Ding – VFX Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Kim Jin – VFX Artist

Kim Jin – VFX Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Megan Bayona – VFX Artist

Megan Bayona – VFX Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Sugarlight Zhang – VFX Artist

Sugarlight Zhang – VFX Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

Kevin Leroy – VFX Artist

Tech Artist

Isabella Cheng-Henehan – Tech Artist

Isabella Cheng-Henehan – Tech Artist – League of Legends: Sentinels of Light versus the Ruined King

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About the author Daniel Wade

Daniel is the Industry Manager for ArtStation.