1 of 41

2 of 41

3 of 41

4 of 41

5 of 41

6 of 41

• TennoGen are community created items for Warframe! There is a high quality bar to overcome, but once reviewed & accepted by our internal team, artists get paid for every individual purchase on PC. On console & mobile, DE licenses the item for a flat fee and the items are sold for Platinum.

• TennoGen Launched in 2015 on Steam as PC Only.

• One year later in 2016 we managed to bring TennoGen to Console by licensing individual items for sale on the non-PC Platforms.

• Over 400 TennoGen items exist, across Warframe skins, Syandanas, Armor Pieces, Facial Accessories for the Operator and Drifter. Etc.

• Over 90 artists from all around the world. Some solo, others collaborating. A truly global project!

• Those 90 artists have included some of our panelists: Kaz Adams & Nikita Leshakov were TennoGen creators before they were hired by Digital Extremes.

• Marco Hasmann, now Warframe's Associate Art Director, was also submitting TennoGen pieces back in 2016 under the alias STENCHFURY before joining DE as a concept artist in 2018.

7 of 41

• Using a TennoGen tool available to all, artists can upload their submissions directly to Steam.

• Tenno can vote! Submissions are public on Warframe’s Steam Workshop page, allowing fellow Tenno to react and comment on the item. While voting is not THE deciding factor for whether or not an item gets accepted, it is certainly helpful for letting DE know what items are exciting the Tenno. �

• Digital Extremes periodically reviews these submissions, providing feedback to artists.

• There is a back-and-forth process where our team requests changes, the artist resubmits, we re-review. This process is sometimes quick, other times lengthy, but at the end of it we have an item that is ready to go.

• When ready, we do the necessary work on our end to get the item in game on all platforms, and ensure artists are set up to get paid.

8 of 41

9 of 41

10 of 41

11 of 41

Form and Silhouette

Clarity/Readability
Ratios

Shape language

Balance
Space
Contrast

Scale of details (Secondary-tertiary)

Rhythm (repetition)
Tension
Flow

Compare side by side:

12 of 41

Form and Silhouette

Clarity/Readability

13 of 41

14 of 41

Balance
Space
Contrast

Shape

language

15 of 41

Ratios

16 of 41

Stalker Landing Craft Skin

By Nikita Leshakov

17 of 41

Stalker Landing Craft Skin

By Nikita Leshakov

18 of 41

Sense of scale

and details

Rhythm/Repetition
Tension
Flow

• Scale of Details: once you nailed the big, medium and small shapes, it’s time to sprinkle some fun stuff. Warframe is really gestural, and the best way to implement this is using the principles of...

• Rhythm: repeated elements, could be regular (use carefully as they can look boring very easily), progressive (marked in green), alternating (marked in magenta) or even organic or organic (marked in orange). These should guide the viewer's eye across the artwork.

• Flow: the way a viewer's eye moves, can be used to direct the viewer's eye to specific areas of the artwork, such as a focal point or Unifying the Composition.

• Tension: avoid Contrasting Elements, Diagonal Lines or Arrangements that create distractions on the overall read of the composition. Instead, use elements to drive attention to important areas.

19 of 41

Corey: When it comes to Warframe Skin & Helmet submissions, we often pass on helmets that look too much like motorcycle helmets. Why is that?

Kaz: In real life, I really like motorcycles and motorcycle helmets, obviously. When we get into the Warframe universe, though, we're looking for something that's got a lot more personality. When you're designing a helmet, the temptation is to make it as cool as possible. Cool shapes are basically 'V' shapes -- sharp lines, sharp chin, big round head -- that's kind of the default of what 'cool' is, right?

But we try and go more into the 'weird' because then you end up with a lot more interesting shape language and different kind of balance than everything else. It just makes it fit into [Warframe] a lot better, because the whole game is kind of weird, right?

You want it to be weird first, and the cool comes after that. When you've got a good balance in your design that makes it work somehow, everyone will be like "I don't know why I like it, but I do!" that's way cooler than just a 'cool' look.

1 of 41

2 of 41

3 of 41

4 of 41

5 of 41

6 of 41

7 of 41

8 of 41

9 of 41

10 of 41

11 of 41

12 of 41

13 of 41

14 of 41

15 of 41

16 of 41

17 of 41

18 of 41

19 of 41

20 of 41

21 of 41

22 of 41

23 of 41

24 of 41

25 of 41

26 of 41

27 of 41

28 of 41

29 of 41

30 of 41

31 of 41

32 of 41

33 of 41

34 of 41

35 of 41

36 of 41

37 of 41

38 of 41

39 of 41

40 of 41

41 of 41