Artistic Heights and Milestones: A look at Lemon Sky’s 2023

December 29, 2023

Embarking on a vibrant journey through 2023, Lemon Sky embraced a year marked by artistic triumphs, groundbreaking collaborations, and significant milestones. From spirited celebrations to pioneering artistic endeavours, here’s a recap of Lemon Sky’s dynamic and eventful year.

A Roaring Start! 

We had a roaring start to 2023 by welcoming prosperity and good fortune at our ProsHARErity Chinese New Year celebration. It was a vibrant celebration with the essential ritual of Yee Sang tossing, a banquet filled with delectable dishes, lots of singing, dancing and merriment and not to forget the hearty yells of YAAMMMMM SEENNNNNGGG around the tables, bonding Lemonions across various departments, both junior and senior. 

Now isn’t that a great start to the year? 

With that kind of a kick off, Lemonions were revved up for the upcoming projects that came our way, and significant projects they were! 

Not Quite Exclusive 

The release of Not Quite Narwhal (NQN), our first ever collaboration with DreamWorks Animation that was featured on Netflix, is a major milestone for us this year. The animation marked significant moments for us as we enjoyed an amazing three-way working relationship with DreamWorks and our pre-production partners Doberman Pictures, we appeared in major international trade publications, Animation Magazine, and C21 and the incredible moment when NQN took home the Best Art Direction Award at the LEO Awards in Canada. We had goosebumps when Doberman Pictures, Art Director, Garnet Syberg-Olsen mentioned us in his speech. It has been an honour and a truly rewarding experience working with these creatives to create art for a title that teaches kids about self acceptance and inclusivity. 

The animation team was kept invigorated through the year with NQN as well as the way too cute Playdate with Winnie the Pooh and the action packed Pokémon: Path to the Peak which we also had the pleasure of working on. 

The Art of Games

In the games arena, some of the titles we contributed to have had releases this year! The extensive list includes Warlander, Forspoken, Hi-Fi Rush, The Settlers, Wild Hearts, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Monopoly GO!, RedFall, Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy XVI, Exoprimal, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Armored Core VI. Now that is a list to be proud of! Each title was unique for us and allowed us to explore different art styles and narratives that kept our fire for creativity going. 

While Lemon Sky is known for creating art for AAA game titles and remastering RTS games, we are always looking for partnerships that will put us out of our comfort zones and test our artistic capabilities and creativity. Titles like Hi-Fi Rush and Monopoly GO! allowed us that opportunity. 

We delved into sketches and 2D art styles to explore ideas and concepts that are not as common as the ones we are used to with the usual AAA briefs, and what a pleasure it was. It just goes to show the diverse art styles Lemon Sky is capable of taking on. 

Many of these titles also made appearances in the most eagerly anticipated event of the year for gamers, game developers, and creative studios like ourselves: The Game Awards 2023. It is such an honour to be able to contribute to these fan and critiques’ favourites! Congratulations to all winners and we can’t wait to see what innovative and creative boundaries the game industry has to offer in 2024. 

New York! New York!

Speaking of breaking boundaries, it was a day of pride as Lemon Sky’s very own Metal Genesis made its appearance at New York City’s Time Square! In conjunction with NFT.NYC, The Engineers were decked across 3 buildings, NASDAQ, One Times Square and Midtown Financial. And this is just the beginning folks! More to come. 

A Lemony Conquest 

Amidst all these developments, we are also growing in size and space. Both HQ and Lemon Sky North are expanding, resulting in the need for more office space! Which means more space for more artists, more facilities and infrastructure to support all the amazing art we can create! Exciting times indeed. 

A Decade of Dedication 

And in our usual Lemon Sky fashion, we ended the year commemorating Lemonions who have spent a decade worth of tenure with us. It was an especially special celebration as we celebrated many “firsts”. With a record number of Golden Lemons this year (a total of 12), the line up included our very first Assembly Artist to reach 10 years, our first Business representative, expat, and woman to reach 10 years and our first two Concept Artists to reach 10 years. 

The night was filled with a rollercoaster of emotions as we laughed, cried and reminisced through the memories of making good art. It gave us great pride to see the growth of the studio alongside the growth of these 12 individuals. By the end of the event, everyone was excited to see what else we would accomplish next year and where this journey would take Lemon Sky. 

It has been an amazing ride so far and as we approach 2024, we are buckling our seatbelts for the possibilities to come. See you next year!