Petals of Spring — Chinese New Year Skin Background (Night) | League of Legends: Wild Rift

Proud to share my contribution to the background illustration for the “Petals of Spring” Chinese New Year skin series in League of Legends: Wild Rift.

This project is a collaboration with The Palace Museum, and also marks the first time Wild Rift introduces a day–night cycle system into a skin background.
The environment transitions seamlessly between daytime and nighttime, incorporating traditional Chinese elements such as vermilion palace walls, dragon plum blossoms in snow, and architectural motifs inspired by the Forbidden City.

During the design process, we conducted extensive visual research based on historical references from the Palace Museum and explored multiple composition, lighting, and color solutions.
The development was highly iterative and challenging, but ultimately led to a result we are truly proud of.

As the in-game time shifts, the scene transforms accordingly:
during the day, snow drifts through the palace grounds alongside blooming dragon plums;
at night, a mirage-like vision emerges, illuminated by mythical beasts and ceremonial fireworks.

Images 2–7 showcase in-game screenshots and selected detail views.

Huge thanks to Ouyang _YK for his invaluable guidance and feedback throughout the process,
https://www.artstation.com/oyang_yk
and to all my teammates at Fish Art Studio for their dedication and hard work.