Pengu Garen Unbound

An April Fools 3D mini cinematic for Teamfight Tactics: Pengu Garen's new skin and an arena made just for him. I supervised all of the CGI.

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Client: Riot Games
Deliverable: 3D mini cinematic (April Fools)
Role: CGI Lead (CGI supervision) and set design
Year: 2026
Studio: Histeria! Studio

01 / About the project

From brief to final frame.

The brief

Riot Games brought Histeria! Studio back for an April Fools 3D mini cinematic in Teamfight Tactics. The goal was to introduce Pengu Garen's new skin and a bespoke arena with the game's humor: eccentric, self-aware and unafraid of the ridiculous.

How it was made

As CGI Lead, I supervised all of the 3D: modeling, lookdev, grooming, lighting and final rendering, all in Blender, and I designed the arena set. Animation was done in Maya and compositing in Nuke. The challenge was balancing a stylized PBR look with exaggerated cartoon animation and 2D FX without losing the character's readability.

The result

A short, chaotic and fun film worthy of TFT's April Fools. With the 3D centralized in Blender, the direction had full control of the visual language and room for the acting and physical comedy the community expects from Pengu.

02 / Gallery

Arena concept with golden statues, pink clouds and Pengu's guitar — Arena concept

Arena set design board with references for statues, stage and textures — Arena set design

Frog statuettes in gold, marble and metal in Blender lookdev — Statue lookdev

Matte painting of a blue and pink spiral sky — Sky matte painting

Sequence of final frames from the Pengu Garen Unbound mini cinematic — Film frames

Prop sheet with megaphone and clapperboard for director Pengu — Props: megaphone and clapperboard

Lookdev of Pengu Garen's golden armor and blue cape — Armor lookdev

Close-up of Pengu's face with blue cape and golden pauldrons — Face lookdev

Detail of the golden pauldron and brushed metal — Pauldron close-up

Golden gauntlet with blue gems in lookdev — Gauntlet close-up

Pengu Garen's leather boots and cape in lookdev — Boots lookdev

Digital sculpt of Pengu Garen's torso and armor — Torso sculpt

Digital sculpt of the gauntlet and armor skirt — Gauntlet sculpt

Digital sculpt of the legs, boots and cape — Legs sculpt

Pengu expressions: spiral eyes, scared and angry — Pengu expressions

Pengu's dizzy expression rig with Garen's helmet — Rig: dizzy expression

03 / Tools

BlenderModeling, lookdev, grooming, lighting and rendering
MayaCharacter animation
NukeCompositing and post

04 / Credits

Client: Riot Games: Huan Shen, Sarah Westerfield Kondeati, Yiying Li, Bridget Brennan and Jonathan Chavez
Game: Teamfight Tactics
Creative production: Histeria! Studio
Director and art director: Victor Tchaba
Executive producers: Jannerson Xavier and Marcelo Moreno
Production: Marcelo Moreno, Felipe Moreira and Laila Monobi
CGI Lead: Murillo Cunha
Set design: Murillo Cunha
Animatic / previz: Jan Xavier, Victor Tchaba, Valeriia Kaspirovich and César Boletti
Concept art: Victor Tchaba and Tiago Calliari
Matte painting: Victor Tchaba and Gabriel dos Anjos
Modeling: Amanda Cristina, Bruce Lima, Jamile Bispo and Renan Rodrigues
3D generalist / assembly: Marcus Sidônio
Rigging: Glauber Belo, Caio Filizola and Heitor Assis (Cyan Heart)
Animation direction: Victor Tchaba and Bruno Monteiro (OnFire Animation)
Animation supervision: Francisco Catão (OnFire Animation)
3D animation: Felipe Simões, Gabriel Urtado, Hannry Pschera, Mariane Tostes, Rogério Britto, Fábio Pugliese, Caio Filizola and Heitor Assis (Cyan Heart)
2D FX: Mateus Pitta (layout and supervision), Lewis Barr and Paulo Passaro
Texturing, lookdev and lighting: Carol Fiorito, Gabriel Laranjeira, Hugo Dionisi and Vinicius Alves
Compositing and post: Samantha Oda, Hugo Dionisi and Rafael Medrado
Color grading: Raphael Borghi (Abacateiro Filmes)
Social media: Sibelle Lobo

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