Riot Games Art Contest 2014 Winners

Riot Games Art Contest is the largest contest Polycount ever held with over 2,000 people participating in the contest.

The categories range from Character Art to Environments, Illustration, Animation, and VFX.

CHARACTER ART: 1st Place – Goldo_O

The art style of ‘El Braum’ aligns closely with the character style of League of Legends. It has a great in-game read and takes camera angle and character scale into account. The sculpt has the right amount of detail and the chunky shapes resonate well with Riot's unique style. The design choices throughout are very appealing and cohesive. In every aspect, this feels like a skin you’d see in LoL.

CHARACTER ART: 2nd Place – DmitryGrebenkov

The Caitlyn entry has very beautifully rendered textures. While staying true to the original design, this version subtlety improves on many aspects of the costume and accessories. There is also a very nice material separation in the texture. The materials are clean and well painted throughout. 

CHARACTER ART: 3rd Place – JRancourt

One of the strongest aspects of the Cho’Gath entry is the high resolution sculpt. It has large chunky shapes that are very true to Riot's style. Overall, it is clear that the artist has a solid understanding of the character. 

ENVIRONMENT ART: 1st Place – Owl

Creature camp: The most impressive part is the near seamless integration. Owl nailed the colors, the mood, the majority of the shapes and the transition into the ground plane is awesome.  Everything from the individual grass blades and bush leaves to the lily pads and flowers are all well rendered. The aggressive shapes of the rocks and tree bark are well contrasted by the soft curves of the water and shrubbery. Outstanding job!

ENVIRONMENT ART: 2nd Place – Daniel Duy

 From a design standpoint, this is a well-crafted scene with a lot of cool ideas. The integration of the statue motif and the story telling floor pattern is pretty awesome. It’s cool to see a different take on the crashed airship shop. The way Lionkid158 created an overall cool scene and used warm hits to identify focal points is fantastic. Everything from the subtle pink cast on the statue and ground to the soft purples and teals in the shadow is incredibly well done.

ENVIRONMENT ART: 3rd Place – anglorum

 Inhibitor: The bold, chunky shapes and artistic brass plating do a great job of framing and reinforcing the importance and power of the crystal. The small owl on the back wall of the well, is a great touch. 

ILLUSTRATION: 1st Place – mr.Roboto

This piece does just a stellar job of communicating champion personality and capturing the pinnacle moment right before a 5v5 team fight. It's obvious Minkyun understands each of these champions’ nuanced personality traits. The sense of motion and gesture in the execution of each champion’s pose is both exciting and character-defining.

ILLUSTRATION: 2nd Place –Skyzocat

 Capturing the idea of a League of Legends champion and clearly injecting the alternate fantasy of a skin is not easy. Skyzocat does this in such a great way with balancing the relationship of Annie and Tibbers as well as mixing in just the right amount of that journey through an otherworldly/whimsical environment. 

ILLUSTRATION: 3rd Place – denstarsk8

This image really is a trip! We look at Mundo in a different way now because of it. This image dripping (almost literally) with awesome character motion and narrative.