In order to develop my world a bit further, I have created concept art of some of the environments. The very first one wasn’t super relevant to my concept but there are still aspects that link nicely, such as the wizard figure (a mage) and the mountains, which could be considered to be the ones bordering Tillursir, the elven kingdom, so I am including it.
Here are also the justifications that I did for this specific piece a while back:
Now, onto my more recent artwork. In the same way as for the posters, I once again had many ideas that I didn’t get around to doing, such as banshee forests, wraith highlands, and a village overrun by The Taken, all places in Unitaris affected by Kreo’s reign and that would have been included in the animation had I chosen to do it. For the ones that I did complete, I made a short animation/gif of the process I went through and how they came together and I will be explaining design justifications and inspirations below.
Process
Moodboard
Design Justifications
For Lord Umber’s (Kreo’s) throne room, I know I wanted to create something grand and sleek. I had an idea in my mind of an enormous, almost cavernous room, with high vaulting ceilings, balconies and tall windows. I wanted there to be a lot of vertical lines to emphasize the size of the room, as Kreo was definitely someone who enjoyed flaunting his wealth and power and would have everything on a massive scale. The red carpet leading up to his throne is to show his wealth, but also reflects all of the murder and crime he had to do in order to get to his position, like a line of bloodshed under his feet as he walks to his throne. The colours are mostly Kreo’s palette, but I wanted the windows to add some contrast and make it clear they show the outside world, so they are blue. Golden banners line the walls, again for wealth, but they are tattered and torn to reflect his style and remind him of his origins as a gang leader in Smalbruk. Other than that, the room is black, like Kreo’s morale, soul and magic, as well as his link to darkness, except for the golden diamond above the throne and the red fire which add some extra detail and draw more attention to the throne.
Process
Moodboard
Design Justifications
The Unitarian Orcs live in mountains, which during Kreo’s reign and overrun by black dragons called Störms because their roars sound like thunder. I went a little loose with this one as mountains are a part of nature unlike Kreo’s castle, hence the sketchy style and composition (I placed the mountains where they felt right to me). The dragons are shown in various positions, and whilst some are angry and dominate the tops of the mountains, others are resting towards the middle, all to show their ownership of them and all those who live there. The little black lines are Orc villages and fortresses, which I wanted to look scattered, so I dotted then around, but I should have made it more clear that they are settlements as they look like the mountain’s texture. Another aspect that shows that Kreo invaded the orc mountains is the sky, which is blood-red, and as we know, that represents Kreo, his symbol and status. Other connotations include fire, blood and anger, which again, all link to Kreo and show what happens under his reign.
I wasn’t sure whether this counts as concept art because it is included in my title sequence, but I am including it just in case, as Kreo’s castle is an important landmark. The style is a little different as it is an asset made for the intro, but the colour palette is quite consistent with the other pieces.
