In their latest for Riot Games, the animation crew at The Line in London conjure a sweeping and richly rendered three-minute fantasy to launch the upcoming second season of League of Legends, Spirit Blossom Beyond.

From The Line: “The video explores themes of legacy, family, and transformation, taking viewers on a journey through a world where the living and the spiritual collide.

“To visually distinguish the spirit realm from the physical world of Ionia, the spiritual dimension was rendered with heightened, otherworldly textures and a saturated, dreamlike color palette. This contrast creates a sense of wonder and disorientation, where the familiar gives way to the mythic.
 

“To visually distinguish the spirit realm from the physical world of Ionia, the spiritual dimension was rendered with heightened, otherworldly textures and a saturated, dreamlike color palette.”

 
“In contrast, Ionia’s landscapes were grounded in rich, earthy tones and tangible detail: lush forests, ancient idols, and glowing lanterns that evoke warmth and tradition.

“In sequences featuring characters like Ashe and Lux, we leaned further into this duality. Ashe’s scenes in Ionia were designed to feel like stepping into a living storybook – fluid, vibrant, and filled with motion. Lux’s sequence, centered around the motif of light, used heavily textured animation, visually representing her connection to the spirit world and the tension within it.”
 
 

 
Client: Riot Games

Production: The Line
Director: Antoine Perez, Sam Taylor
Producer: Adriana Piasek-Wamski, Tom Kay
Art Director: Antoine Perez, Burno Mayor
Animation Lead: Mourad Sedikki
Compositing Lead: Antoine Foulot
Animation Assit Lead: Seti Erfan
Production Manager: Denise Cirone
Production Coordinator & Schedule assistant: Viktoria Milcheva
Production Coordinator: Daisy Link
Production Assistant: Bingqi Liu, Isabella Fitzsimons
Managing Director, Commercials & Branded Content: Laura Breaden
ECD: Tim McCourt
ECD: Wesley Louis
EP: Tan Jones
Head of Production: Nick Miller
Head of Animation: Kwok Fung Lam
Head of Compositing: Freddie Lewis-Wall
Head of Art: Juancho Crespo
Head of CG: Pete Addington
Talent/Scheduling Coordinator: Jesus Ovejero
Talent & Scheduling Coordinator Assistant: Viktoria Milcheva
Storyboard: Ricard Ubach, Kevin Molina-Ortiz, Neil Dieu
Editor: William Barnett, Sam Taylor, Jamie Rathbone, Antoine Perez
Concepts: Daniel Clarke, Rudy Parfaite, Florian Perron, Neil Dieu, Dan Converio, Michael Shorten, Eido Hayashi, Antonio Reinhard-Wisesa, Emmanuelle Walker, Studio Wednesday
Colour Script: Daniel Clarke
Character Design: Saskia Gutekunst, Lea Rey-Mauzaize
Modelsheets/Cleanup: Mourad Sedikki, Omar Alsuk (onasugar)
Character Layout: Saskia Gutekunst, Marta Andreeva, Andrea Gulli, Mourad Sedikki, Kathryn Layno
Animator: Mourad Sedikki, Antoine Tran, Ricard Ubach, Florian de Chelle Animation Jose Luis Rosado, Zoé Palaisie, Pierre Rutz, Neil Dieu, Tamas Pazmany, Kwok Fung Lam
FX Animator: Olivier Malric, Jonghyun Jungboix, Christophe Madeleine, Kerim Turmer, Paul Bouchart
Motion Graphics: Pablo Lozano, Joseph Clark
Animation Assist: Seti Erfan, Daniel Morales, Kat Michaelides, Elenora Quario, Kwok Fung Lam, Bingqi Liu
Background Layout: Simon Masse, César Chevalier, Thomas Reutena
Background: Igor Piwowarczyk, Eido Hayashi, Daniel Clarke, Luc Courtois
CG Supervisor: Pete Addington
3D Generalist: Andrey Kolesov
Compositor: Anotine Foulot, Natasha Francis, Skye van der Walt, Marco Antoinio de Silva, Florian Ojeda Diop, Abel Kohen, Clarisse Valeix, Freddie Lewis Wall, Joseph Clark Colour Grade: Freddie Lewis Wall
Edit Assistant: Bingqi Liu, Isabella Fitzsimons, Viktoira Milcheva
Head of Operations: Anna Degenaar
Studio Cooridnator: Sophia Owen-Moulding
Marketing Manager: Ella Johnston
IT support Rob Riley (Gal Consultancy)
Pipeline Developer Ynput

Cleanup/Color Outsource studio: AMIX

Music: Here, Tomorrow (ft Lilas, Kevin Penkin)