MANILA, Philippines — A number of millennials trooped to Metrowalk in Pasig City recently to meet one of the popular figures in the world of online games, a Los Angeles-based Pinay, who is a senior concept artist at Riot Games, the multi-billion dollar US company behind League of Legends, the worldwide, record-breaking and generation-defining multiplayer online battle arena game.
Gem Lim (a.k.a. Lonewingy) is the creator behind several popular champions for the game such as Nami (her first champion and her personal favorite), Evelynn, Galio and Irelia. She has also designed “skins” or costumes for many champions.
Young fans, mostly video game aficionados, posed for selfies and groupies with the celebrated balikbayan during a meet-and-greet at Metrowalk’s Coreon Gate Internet Café, where Gem spoke to her fans and gave them inspiring lessons and tips about making it in their chosen fields.
Gem has a B.S. in entertainment design from the prestigious Pasadena Art Center College of Design. Prior to joining the award-winning Riot Games about six years ago, she freelanced for many video games and animation studios.
Born and bred in Manila, she studied elementary and high school at Jubilee Christian Academy in Quezon City, where she developed her passion for drawing.
“I would draw anything in my textbooks even during class hours and teachers would take my textbooks and ask me why I’m not paying attention in class,” Gem told fans. “That’s how much I loved drawing.”
Among Gem’s popular League of Legends creations are (clockwise, from left) Irelia, Evelynn and Nami
She planned to take accounting in college, but it didn’t work out. Her supportive parents — owners of Sterling Global Call Center — enrolled her in an art school in Pasadena that matches her interests.
Following her dream, however, required leaving her sheltered life in Manila for a life of independence and solitude while completing her degree in California.
“I was very happy even if it meant I will be living on my own, even cooking my own meals,” she said with a laugh.
Gem had her own share of frustrations while trying to get into the creative and technology industry. The competition was quite tough, she noted, but giving up was not an option. Only her love for drawing kept her going.
“I attended conventions, I talked to people in the industry to find out what exactly I needed to do,” she shared.
After graduation, she worked with start-up companies and served as character designer at Cartoon Network and visual development artist at Lego Concept Lab, among others, before joining Riot Games.
“Once you get to Riot Games, you need to really play a lot of video games because you’re gonna be making that video game and I just love it,” she giggled. “I really love this company. It’s an awesome place to work at because the people are extremely talented and awesome and we always talk about things that we love like animé, video games, movies. The way people support each other is mind-blowing.”
League of Legends has become the most played PC game in the world and a driver of the explosive growth of eSports. Headquartered in L.A., it has 23 offices worldwide.
At the end of her talk, Gem left this message for her fans who wanted to follow in her footsteps:
“You should never stop learning even after you finished school. There’s a lot of knowledge you can find, especially on the Internet. Get yourself exposed, promote yourself and be visible. Once you’re out there, it’s no longer like competing with your peers, but you’re competing with the rest of the world. Riot Games is always looking for any talented artist no matter where you are as long as you get the job done and you are able to provide something new that Riot doesn’t have yet.”