Hello! My name is Lana and I like to chat about
#gamedev
and
#animation
. I'm an Associate Art Director working in R&D
@riotgames
. Like many, I'm finding myself spending less time here, so I've updated my links to show the best places to keep in touch. ♥️
My favourite part about working on Spirit Blossom
#Ahri
was making the transitions between fox and human form as seamless as possible. Including her ult, she has 6 separate transformation
#animations
! Here's a closer look at Ahri going to and from her Homeguard form.
@riotgames
Oh man -- I'm out here with the sketches and I totally forgot to share what is quite possibly the silliest piece of reference I've ever filmed.
I got REALLY STUCK on the Lantern's dance moves and... well... sometimes we do what we must..
#gamedev
#animation
#LeagueOfLegends
I love animating creatures and cute girls, and for this skin I got to animate BOTH.
Spirit Blossom Ahri is bounding her way onto PBE today!
#leagueoflegends
#ahri
#animation
I've forgotten to post it for months, but here's a little peek behind the scenes of my
@riotgames
#animation
test for the skins team.
Inspired by a video I found of
@loltyler1
dropping food on his keyboard (multiple times) I give you...CHEF DRAVEN!
Cc:
@RiotCareers
#gamedev
My first
#animation
for
@riotgames
goes live to PBE today: Bewitching Miss Fortune.
I was extra delighted to have my 1st skin be on a
@LeagueOfLegends
champion I play and love. If you're so inclined, hop on and play a couple'a games with dis witch.
#gamedev
#MissFortune
💋🎃
I had the pleasure of catching the new
@SpiderVerse
a little early last night, and I don't want to risk hyping it up too much, but it is the singular greatest piece of animation ever created.
I am in awe.
I can't possibly say enough, so instead I will be brief: I am leaving Blizzard.
There is so much out there -- different worlds to see, to explore, to create...These 5 years have been the best of my life. I'm on an exciting new journey, but my heart will always be in the Nexus.
This industry will continue to generate trauma like this until we choose to remove individuals that harass, instead of justifying harassment based on their perceived usefulness.
Sometimes we must go where we are needed the most. I'm happy to finally announce that I will be staying on the
@BlizzHeroes
team at this time. Thank you for passion and your patience; There is still so much in store for you.
Happy Holidays, Heroes. I'll see you in the Nexus.
I can hardly believe I get to write this, but I am very proud to share that I was promoted to Associate Art Director on our R&D project at Riot Games. ♥️
Big change; good change. Very excited for the future.
I've been s'dang busy I forgot to tell y'all something cool: I've moved off of League of Legends and into an exciting role on R&D at Riot!
To celebrate, I'm giving away RP and LoR Coins. Tell me about something that inspires you and I'll pick a few at random sometime tonight! <3
#TFW
Your proudest accomplishment is finally released. So glad to finally introduce you to Orphea. Incredibly honored to be a part of this remarkable team.
#gamedev
Cc:
@BlizzHeroes
#animation
Apologies if you find this gratuitous, but I am so incredibly proud of the progress I've made over the last few months. I've got a long way to go to reach my personal goals, but for now I'm feeling happy, healthy, and more like myself than I have in a long time.
#FitnessFriday
Yesterday was my last day at Blizzard Entertainment. I spent it smothered in love, surrounded by friends, and ultimately overwhelmed by all of this.
Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives.
I wanted to wait until I made a cute illustration or something, but I'm honestly too excited: Things have been happening behind the scenes for a while, but I'm delighted to share that I've been promoted to Lead Animator on a Riot Games R&D project. ♥️
Last year, Riot gave me a couple hours to try and take an animation from 0-100 while being hit with interview questions the whole time. It was a very fun (and super intimidating) challenge -- I hope you'll give it a watch! ♥️
#animation
#gamedev
Someone asked me if there were any other animation books I'd recommend, and now I can't find the tweet - but anim friend, if you see this, when I was just starting out I found "Timing for Animation" by Harold Whitaker and John Hales really helpful!
I've been trying and failing to find some words to sum up my thoughts all day. I will feel forever fortunate for the time I spent working on Heroes of the Storm. That team was really something special. Priceless memories. Thank you for so many wonderful years. ♥️
It's been five years since I put together an animation reel. There's no reasonable way to show off everything I've done, but here is a selection of my favourite animations from
@BlizzHeroes
to date.
#gamedev
#animation
I want to work with you! Or, to be more precise, I want you to work with me! Delighted to announce that I've paired up with
@VFXApprentice
to make some animation for the upcoming
#2DFX
class where YOU will create the ability FX for a working game! Details:
It’s been a long week. Thank you to everyone who reached out to me for your thoughtful messages. After individually addressing many of you, here are a few thoughts about my time at
#ActivisionBlizzard
:
Yesterday I received truly the most thoughtful gift of my life.
@raspbearyart
drew us all as RPG characters, complete with deeply personal strength charts and inventory. I am still so overwhelmed; I can’t stop looking at it. So proud to call you my friend, Oscar. All the love. ❤️
In the wake of some of my
@BlizzHeroes
brothers and sisters fearlessly moving on to tackle other
#gamedev
challenges a few months ago, I celebrated their new adventures by designing a shirt as a keepsake of their time on Heroes.
I think it's my favorite piece to date <3
Before/After: This one is great because you can see how animation and FX work together to get the final result. That solid blue tube sock lookin’ thing in the prototype is what it looks like when I animate, and all the cool stuff is
@ThomasHorwath
’s handiwork.
#gamedev
#Orphea
Students of animation take note: There is a world of animation practice that lives between ball bounces and full-on lip syncs -- this is a perfect example of a smaller, more focused exercise. an animation doesn't have to be deeply complex to be an impactful learning tool!
Decided to spend 3 hours on practicing some hand animation to improve my timing and mechanics. After the 3 hours is up, i left it as it is and move on.
#animation
#animated
#3d
#hands
Some process sketches from Spirit Blossom Thresh's recall.
I don't always sketch as a part of my process, but for rigs like Thresh, with ~12 different cloth/rope/chains that make blockouts pretty slow going, sketches are my favorite way to explore & lock down ideas.
#gamedev
I have an exorbitant amount of dumb reference from animating
#Orphea
, but she's especially significant because I recorded the single most absurd piece of reference I've ever taken for Eternal Feast. Posting this for you,
@Hency_Heccu
.
#gamedev
#animation
How do you make a new hero that stands among legends? Hear
@Latienie
discuss the making of
@BlizzHeroes
' original champion Orphea when you attend
#GDC19
!
Oh my god, it actually happened.
Thank you everyone, and a big hello to all my recent follows. I'll try and think of some way to celebrate with y'all soon (art give away? RP giveaway?)
In the mean time - wow! I am stunned at the outpouring of love and support
Thank you!
😳❤️😭
Regardless of where you work or play – here at
@riotgames
we’re all about the “The Set Up”!
In the first entry of our new series, we tour Sr. Animator
@Latienie
's workspace – and find out how she connects w/
@RatAnimators
at home & in-office!
Watch now:
Qhira is the result of a resilient amazing team and a ton of effort. Delighted to have worked with nearly the entire animation team on this one!
@CareenaKingdom
was the vision holder/main animator, with additional work by
@BrittanyGleiter
,
@shumface
and me! WELCOME TO THE NEXUS!
| Qhira Spotlight |
A sworn knight and holder of a singularity shard, Qhira’s only desire is to seek out others who may have escaped the destruction of her doomed home realm, Iresia.
Wow. Anyone who feels like
#gamedev
is some kind of ladder where their title puts them *above* other people can stay the hell away from my teams, thank you.
(It's a group effort, and ensuring that a game is fun, functional, and bug-free is a massively important role.)
Long-weekend Friday feeling. ♥️
(Bounced into R&D so fast I never got a chance to share my work on Seraphine. Her joke was one of my faves.)
#gamedev
#LeagueOfLegends
Hey Twitter: Since I'm staying at home, I'm opening up limited commission slots for my hand-drawn
#charcoal
work, again. Samples in the tweets below!
DM me for details. (Shares welcome!)
#art
#gamedev
Reading Turning Red discourse is astounding. Imagine getting mad that a movie about being a 13 year old girl talks about getting your period??? Wild times.
1900. My heart is aching.
Blizz pals, DO NOT HESITATE to reach out and let me know if there is any way I can help. Email intros, answering questions, or just being available to chat. I'm here for y'all. Love you.
@CharlizeAfrica
I drew a still from this film for a buddy a few years back. It's fun to see these snips and memories you're posting. Thanks for being such a badass.
16x20 Charcoal on sketch paper:
I’m way behind on my personal goals, and I struggle with
#bopo
on a daily basis, but for some reason I’m feeling like a million bucks heading off to workout tonight, so here’s a commemorative bathroom selfie.
I didn't really get to talk about it yesterday, but my home internet is awful. As such, Riot generously set me up in this INCREDIBLE space for the stream! It was such a refreshing change of pace to be back at the office, even if just for one day. 🥰
Found some of my sketches from Spirit Blossom
#Ahri
's recall! (Including my final pitch of the fox-form perched on a rock that
@YBourykina
graciously crafted into a beautiful set despite my request being *beyond* last-minute.)
#gamedev
The predatory behaviours in the games industry are so reliable I used to factor them into event attendance as a networking strategy. Me and my friends (men) would show up to an event together. If it proved to be too difficult to make any connections, we had a plan. 1/4