Absolutely. That's a big component of pre-production now. Making sure the triangle of Art, Game Design, and Creative Design are all aligned. We have to be in consensus so we don't get crossed wires. The visuals must jive with the game play and the story. It's the same in any order you put it. We don't want to have a squishy character look tanky. We don't want someone from the cold wearing a bathing suit. We don't want a character from Demacia to be similar to Noxus, etc. We may still have flukes. That's development. But the practice now is to have a heavy communication between all disciplines in order to more holistically develop a cohesive character.

My self in particular, I work very very closely with the designers, creative or game, when making a champion. Personally I want to be all up in the mechanics and creative direction including lore and back story. In fact, I'm actually not fond of working on characters which don't have extremely solid lore development. I want to know that the character has longevity and will remain relevant for a long time. I want to be able to theoretically make a movie from the story of a single character.

I might be a little aggressive actually on how closely I prefer to work with other disciplines to make my voice heard. I'm sort of pushy I think.. you might ask Volty and Runaan about such things =)

I'd like to make a more appropriate skin for her honestly. Fur, some armor, leopard, something along those lines.

Is it one of those fire and don't look back things? I don't mean to imply an negative connotation, but it seems outsides of reworks riot is focused on progress. It seems like you guys get the polish done and more polish doesn't come, for good reason, I'm sure many artists look @ their champions and would have constant improvements and no new one would ever get new ones done. But I digress, do you think of these champions as works in progress or simply good experience for the future?

Why not just edit her current skins to give her clothing?

I don't think there's much merit trying to steer eyes away from the fact that her original look was a mistake by saying "but wait guys, we fixed her in a skin"

Treat it as a champion makeover or something

I can't be the only one who likes the "bikini in the snow" concept....

How do you show you're a badass? By foregoing clothings and purposefully expose yourself to the elements of Freljord! Show that you don't care about taking damage(since Bristle's the one taking the hits anyways)! Besides, wasn't bare-chested Tryndamere from Freljord too?

Although with that in mind, her helmet is a bit out of place...and if only her in-game actually reflected that rather than having to recall after her first clear.

Tbh, i was thinking that riot will change her default skin like what happened to kat, but maybe this is wishing too much

I think thats cool but i think im also one of the few who LIKES her as is.

And I love Leona too so this isnt just a *** appeal thing.

Hear me out.

I think the fact shes from the frozen tundra and dresses like that makes her look more badass. More tough. More fierce. I used to go to school in shorts a t shirt and sandals...in a NY winter. 2 feet of snow and I dressed like summer time. It got me used to the cold. She is taking this to much more rediculous levels but its FANTASY. I like thinking that chick was so strong that she can wear a bikini in a blizzard and feel like shes on a sunny beach. That shows a lot of character IMO.

I realistically don't see us going back and changing her default any time soon. We'd have to retcon a lot of stuff which is a little baked in at the moment. Not to say that it couldn't happen, but that's a whole discussion outside of art.

I do indeed think sometimes we focus on learning the lesson and moving on, but that's only because we have a lot of awesome ideas that need to be made, and we have a lot of forward momentum. It's not always feasible to go back and do a salvage operation when there's a number of priorities, new champions on one end and then reworks of really classic champions that are in severe need of love on the other. We always want to make a "10", but we're not always going to be able to achieve that given some circumstances. Again, we learn from that. Personally, I feel that we have a lot to glean from Sejuani-type experiences that are better served by making an upcoming champion work more cohesively as a character than trying to bandaid extensively.

I think a lot can be served with skins, we can bring her to a real level of epic. That's more of a cosmetic option we can give though, rather than a script re-write.

I think most of the artists view "mistakes" as learning experiences which help us arm for future challenges rather than treating a product as a work in progress. It's never a good idea to release something half-baked. At least in Sejuani's case it was a finished cake, but man, it was just a weird combination of flavors.

Thank you O Great Parrot. Not only for your insight into the design process but also for your continued support (and admitting to your 'faults') of the works you've done. I suppose that 'Senior' title didn't just fall out of the sky.

I am rather inspired by your first reply, in fact. The term 'informative' doesn't do this feeling justice.

So, thank you IronStylus.

No one is stepping in saying she'll be changed =)

She is who she is. There's no changing that. This is all really a matter of preference. For some this fantasy works. I TOTALLY see what you're saying.. I'm from NY, I know the winters! =D I think that disregarding attitude does indeed fit her. I think there is a story to tell there, and yes, it IS fantasy! I just personally believe it was a stretch. That's just my opinion though!