TESV:Skyrim - Riverwood

As requested here's the Riverwood street scene from the art of book. A similar approach to the previous post for Whiterun was taken with this. Both are 'Day for Night' shots. In other words the original screenshot were taken with daytime lighting but I painted over them to look like night.

All Images Copyright Bethesda Softworks LLC, All Rights Reserved 2011

TESV:Skyrim - Sexy Ladies Pt. 1

What would a Sword and Sorcery game be without sexy bar maidens and dancers? :) Here are a couple of quick sketches that had some elements used for a few of the female NPCs. My muse for them was, of course my beautiful and sexy wife along with her friend and belly dancer Sharon Kihara mixed with some others from my subconscious..:)

I definitely took some ques from Sharon's wardrobe as she has a lovely variety of objects and talisman she uses in her costumed performances.

I'll feature the final version of a Barmaid outfit in another post for another post down the road. Thanks again!

All Images Copyright Bethesda Softworks LLC, All Rights Reserved 2011

TESV:Skyrim - Jorrvasker (Companions Guild)

 The Companions Hall. The Companions are an elite fighter's guild of Nords with a strange secret who's sphere of influence emanates from inside the city walls of Whiterun. I wanted the design of Jorrvaskr to speak the language of Nord culture and attempted to sum up what they're all about architecturally. 

I went quite a few rounds with myself in coming up with something I thought was more compelling than just a standard viking structure.  

After exhausting myself with a ton of sketches I took a walk around the office and laughed out loud when I thought of what to do. Take a longboat and flip it over dummy! Rushing back to my table I quickly scrawled out this sketch.

Shields along the gutters of the roof would signify each member of the Companions. I thought it might be cool if you got your own when you passed the challenges but I think that was asking a bit too much considering the volume of other content to create for the game. I'm just glad they liked the idea of the boat...:) 

All Images Copyright Bethesda Softworks LLC, All Rights Reserved 2011

TESV:Skyrim - Early Wisp Concepts

Continuing from my previous Wisp post, this was an early sketch designed to show an encounter with Wisps pre-Wisp Mother. This concept of them (being more like Sirens) was the driving idea in my mind to pitch to the designers and Todd. They have an insatiable hunger that can never be quenched. Doomed souls forever looking for another wayward traveler lost in the woods.

 I imagined the Wisps luring the player deeper into a glen with an enchanting and seductively harmonic song. As they surrounded you they would start stripping away your magica, weapons, and gear as you were lifted into the air by their ghostly forms. After you were sufficiently defenseless they'd drain your health and take on a more corporeal monster/vampiric form and finish you off. After a while the effects of the lifeforce they took from you would dwindle and they'd revert back to a more ethereal ghost like state.

Of course this was a tremendous amount of resources to devote to one creature design and it didn't really fit with the lore so it was never made it in. But in going through this process we explored a lot of ideas that manifested in opening some doors elsewhere and established a new part of the Elder Scrolls canon.

All Images Copyright Bethesda Softworks LLC, All Rights Reserved 2011

TESV:Skyrim - Wisp Mother

When asked to design the Wisp I researched not only the TES version, but also the Will o' the Wisp from Celtic folklore. There it was a more mischievous creature like a little goblin who would lure wayward travelers to their doom off of a cliff in the fog or roll them in a thicket, etc. In Oblivion they were essentially particle spheres with the promise of loot if you killed them. I liked the supernatural aspect of them but I wanted to design a creature who was more compelling and potentially seductive.

My thought was, if they're supposed to lure you to your doom then they should be tempting bait, no? Difficult to pull off in an RPG setting but I thought I'd try to pitch anyway. Luckily they went for it...

..After making a few quick drawings of ghostly women we came full circle back to the original concept of the TES4 Wisps but with the added component of the Wisp Mother and her 'child' Wisps... 

...The idea pitched at this point was to make her beautiful and ethereal and seemingly like an ally until you got within her striking distance. She'd then reveal her true nature and revert to her 'vampiric' form quickly draining the player's life force...

...When all was said and done these ideas proved a little too ambitious, the transformation concept got axed and probably rightfully so...

Still, this was an evolution for the Wisp and it was really fun to develop with the rest of the team. I'll be updating more in the near future so stop by again soon.

All Images Copyright Bethesda Softworks LLC, All Rights Reserved 2011.

TESV:Skyrim - Art of Skyrim video montage

If you hadn't seen it here's a video that was put together of concept art juxtaposed with in game assets to show how the final product comes to life. This is a mixture of mine and Adam Adamowicz's concept art. There is a tremendous amount of work that happens in between these steps that requires teams of artists and coders to make happen. Without them, these would just be drawings. They're the ones who really bring it to life. Music is from the Skyrim soundtrack by Jeremy Soule.

TESV:Skyrim - Concept Art pre-release

Hi everyone,

First of all, I want to thank everyone who follows my meager little blog for sticking with me and being patient. I've been extremely busy over here hence the lack of posts. As a matter of fact, I should probably be playing with my older son instead of letting him watch TV as I write this but never the less I rarely find the time to do this so strike when the iron is hot as they say. I plan on updating more often with art related materials that are either mine or things that I find interesting. If you have any ideas or things you'd like to know about I'd love to hear from you.

So that said Bethsoft has released some more of the work I've done for Skyrim over the last 3 years and I wanted to share some of that with you. As the weeks and months continue I'll likely be trickling more out there so if you're interested stay tuned and check in every once and a while. Also check Adam Adamowicz's blog in the coming weeks as I have a sneaking suspicion he'll be posting his stuff too. If he doesn't I'll pester the hell out of him until he does:)

Speaking of which if you have a few minutes also head over to the Bethblog for a link to our recent interview about the concept art process on Skyrim in the Skyrim Team Diarys.

As always I love hearing from you and welcome any comments and suggestions. Without further ado here's some of the most recent release of paintings I did for Skyrim. Thank you and I hope you enjoy.

-Ray

TESV: Skyrim - Gameplay Trailer

Here's the debut of in game footage from the project I've been working on for the last 2+ years! We have an incredible team and here is the proof! The footage seen is a mere glimpse into what's to come. Many more surprises are in store for the fans...:)

TESV:Skyrim - Concept Art

Newly released concept art in high resolution!

This one actually covers quite a few bases. I originally began this one as a simple concept painting of a bear but I decided to spend some time after hours developing an entire scene to pitch a few ideas on wildlife encounters in the game and duel wielding weapons. Luckily Todd was excited by this idea as it had never been done in an Elder Scrolls game before and he felt it was time to give it a go.

TESV:Skyrim - Concept Art - Time Lapse Painting

Hi everyone! Here's some new stuff to show! This is an example of a paint-over, painted by yours truly. A paint-over is the process of taking a screen-shot from the game and painting directly on top of it to visualize how to improve a scene. It's a bit of the reverse of traditional concept art but it falls square within the job description and it happens more than you might think. The next time you're cruising around the different concept art sites, keep in mind that many of the pieces your seeing are not necessarily 'from scratch' but are collaborative pieces done with level designers and character artists to support the end product. It's a bit of different beast than illustration. 

I recorded this back around Christmas 2009 using Camtasia and painting in Photoshop. I'd frequently stop and start the recording to make the clips more manageable in the editor so you may see a couple of dramatic jumps where I forgot to hit the record button:)

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I can FINALLY(!) acknowledge what I've been working on for the last 2 years! I am so happy and pleased to announce that myself and my good friend Adam Adamowicz have been hard at work creating the vast majority of the concept art for the 5th installment of the Elder Scrolls series. I am truly honored and thrilled to even be a part of such an amazing project and I cannot wait for fans to see the end result. Personally being here and working on this day in, day out represents a real turning point artistically which I feel is only the beginning of another leap forward. I won't say much more now, other than the game in it's current state looks a-mazing! Really. I can honestly say that being almost a year away from release this title already looks and feels incredible. This is a fantastic studio filled with hugely talented and cool people who pull off voodoo bad ass-ery on a daily basis and I'm so proud of what they're doing. They take my art and make it look a thousand times better. I wish I could show more but that will have to wait. In the meantime check out the super cool teaser trailer! I'll post more ASAP...