Q&A with Isabella Cheng, Technical Artist at Riot Games
Interview with a rigging technical artist working on League of Legends.
Isabella Cheng is a rigging technical artist working at Riot Games on the League of Legends’ Art & Sustainability Update team. Since her joining in 2019, she has had the opportunity to work on many champions and skins, including Caitlyn, K/DA Ahri and Kai'Sa, Ruined Miss Fortune, Lunar Beast Aphelios, Space Groove Samira…
Isabella’s journey into the world of technical art is really interesting. She tells us more about her work at Riot, her feelings, her motivations and much more.
First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself? What’s your background? How and when did you know you wanted to be a technical artist?
I started as an engineer, I went to college for computer science. At first I thought I'd be like a gameplay programmer or something, and I interned as one. But I discovered I loved working with artists, and art is kinda my hobby anyway. I found the title tech artist, it was fairly unknown at the time, but there were some tech artists I connected with at GDC [Game Developers Conference] in college that have mentored me even up until now. I love it because it mixes my skills as a programmer and an artist. I tried doing pipeline scripting and materials before I deep dived into rigging. Now I consider myself specifically a rigging tech artist.
Did any specific games make you want to work in the game industry?
For sure! I was super inspired by BioShock. I loved the environmental story telling in the game. This is what made me want to get into materials at first, but turns out that wasn't for me [laughs].
I'd like to talk about your job at Riot. What are all your responsibilities there? Have they changed since you joined the company in 2019?
I'm on the Art & Sustainability Update team on League of Legends. So I'm fixing certain elements of older champs like outdated animations. During the day I mainly do character rigging. But my responsibilities also include other tech problem solving that surround putting our characters in the game. It's a lot of working with artists and other disciplines to try and bring the best character to life. I personally feel my team has changed over time, and I've grown a lot in my career here.
How many people are in your team?
On my immediate team, ASU, it's about 10 people.
How did you join Riot Games?
I joined Riot after a recruiter reached out that they were hiring for a technical artist. I was hesitant at first but had a couple friends who worked there and reached out to them to see how they liked it. And after talking to them, they recommended me and I went through the interview process.
Was it one of your goals? How did you feel when you learnt you were hired?
It wasn't particularly one of my goals before. But at the time I was looking for a job, Riot had some appealing things I was looking for in the next step in my career. For example, a huge team, a stylized game, and a lot of stability and perks. After going through the hiring process and seeing the campus and meeting people, I felt confident it would be a good step, so i was really excited to join when I was hired.
How did it go the first few days? Did you adapt quickly to your new job?
The first few days, first months really, are a culture shock. There is a lot to learn when working here, I was confident I was doing a good job, but it was shocking how much nuance there is. I think i adapted at the typical rate. After a year of working at Riot I felt really comfortable.
Had you ever played League of Legends before joining Riot Games? If no, did you start playing after joining the company?
I tried it a couple times, when it first came out. I am not really a competitive gamer. And no, I still don't play it [laughs]. I play only to test, or ARAMs if my team wants to do team bonding.
I'm not a competitive player either [laughs], I play just for fun. Who's your favorite character? You said Caitlyn was your baby, is it her?
[laughs] Caitlyn is my baby because I did her ASU. She has a special place in my heart forever. Jinx and Vi are cool too, because of Arcane!
What's the work you are most proud of?
Caitlyn ASU is definitely up there. I also worked on this Little Legend in TFT, it's the Umbra dragon. I had so much fun working on it. I just love cute things [laughs].
What is a typical working day like?
My workday mostly consists of working closely with artists and other disciplines, solving tech problems, rigging characters, and meetings. I work very closely with the artists of my team to try and make the best product for players possible.
What do you usually do in your free time? Do you work on personal projects in addition to your job?
I do traditional art in my free time and play video games. My favorite game ever is Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I also love traveling and hanging out with friends. I've been trying to do that a lot more since COVID isn’t as crazy now. I don't do specific personal projects related to my full-time job honestly, but I do love meeting new devs, so i go to meetups in my free time when they happen in my area, and GDC. And if there's opportunities to mentor new riggers, I've done that in my free time as well.
Talking about COVID, how did it go during the lockdowns? How did you feel?
Lockdown was kinda tough honestly, I really value hanging out with people and meeting new people. So it was hard. At Riot we had to work from home and I did not like it. I thrive the most in person collaborative environment. I missed walking through our campus and running into friends randomly and chatting. Or eating lunch and dinner with people. I felt kind of isolated working and being at home.
The lockdowns lasted a very long time in California, didn't they? I guess you’re feeling better now. What are your passions? What motivates you for everyday life and work?
Yeah, they lasted pretty long. And it opened up really slowly, too. It does feel much better lately. I am passionate about art of all types. I enjoy going to art museums. I do a lot of sketching outdoors. One of my favorite things to do is go to sketch groups with my friends, we also used to have figure drawing every week at Riot. I am motivated to make positive impact in peoples' lives, whether it be through art, my job or mentorship. It's rewarding to see people grow and get inspired by what i do.
Motivation is a very important issue for young artists, from what I see on social networks and for my friends. It’s sometimes pretty hard.
I understand, staying motivated is very hard. I guess my advice is to pace yourself and make sure to take breaks and be kind to yourself. Listen to yourself when you need a break. That's what I do.
What are your dreams and objectives? Have you ever experienced failure and how did you learn from it? How did it make you grow?
I guess my dream is to live a long and happy life full of creativity and interacting with creative people, making the world a better place. Super cheesy but if I were to water it down to that, it's true [laughs]. Failure is an interesting thing. For me, failure is a good thing. I try and fail often, but I always take it as a way to grow. And I feel the most excited in my life when I [know] I'm growing. Fail helps me grow into a better version of myself.
I think so too, we need failure to become a better ourselves. It's okay to fail! Let's go back to work questions. How do you organize your tasks at work?
I use a lot of sticky notes for reminders, that i stick on my desk and stuff. I also have a notebook where I write down things I'm working on, or problems I have run into that I need to solve. And maybe some ideas for solutions. I like to document the things and problems I run into in case I need to reference it later.
Have you ever found rigging repetitive? Do you rig more champions and skins or non playable characters?
There are times I find rigging repetitive, but at Riot luckily it has given me a lot of different opportunities to try unique things. So I'm not bored of it yet! I rig mostly champs and skins.
This was not in my questions at first but what is your favorite skin ?
I worked on Spirit Blossom Kindred which was super fun. It's probably my favorite. My friend worked on Space Groove Blitzcrank with like the many cats, that one is cute too.
How long do you take on average to rig something? Does it take less time to rig a skin? And do you know how long does it take to create a new champ from the idea to the release? And for a skin?
It depends on the challenge and how much feedback I get from animation. Something from scratch maybe a month or so. It does take less time to rig a skin because the skin takes the rig from the base champ. How long it takes for a champ, I think it's a couple months. For a skin its anywhere from 5 weeks to a month and a half.
When you finish a task, does a technical artist supervisor check it and give you feedback, or do you pass it directly to the animation team?
On our team the tech artists are pretty autonomous. We are trusted to do our work to the best of our ability, and if we have issues we bring them up often to the tech art team. There isn't really a checking by supervisor type of workflow. On ASU I'm the main rigger, so I am the primary decision maker for rigging side. I work directly with all artists (concept, modeling, animation, VFX) from day one and until release.
What organizational system is used at Riot? Are you working on one project at a time or several at the same time? What programs do you use to share files?
Regarding production, Riot is divided into games. So I'm a technical artist specifically on League of Legends. Usually, an artist (or individual contributor) works on one project at a time. There are different dedicated teams per project. On League, we share files using Perforce mostly. And we use JIRA for task management.
Is there another department / team you would like to work in one day? What could you advise to those who want to become tech artists? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I'm really enjoying my team at the moment! For those wanting to become tech artists, my advice is to find projects with other animators and artists and work on them, whether it be a game or even just a small little test in Maya. When I look at tech art candidates, I want to know if you've worked in a team collaboratively. In 5 years, hopefully I'm still making awesome things. I'm not sure if I'd have people I manage or not. But I hope I'm working with people I love on a project I'm really passionate about.
I would like to thank Isabella once again for giving some of her time to answer all my questions. You can discover her work on her online portfolio.
I hope you enjoyed reading this first Q&A, see you soon!
