Originally published April 26, 2017. The original article can be found here.
This amazing new piece was crafted by Lucas Slominski, one of our Senior Concept Artists, so we thought we'd ask him a few questions about it and his process.
When tasked with creating this new key art illustration of the Warden, how do you determine what to paint?
The whole process begins with discussions with our art director about what elements or ideas he wants to feature. In this case, we wanted to depict the Warden in a way that would highlight the signature characteristics of the class, which suggested a combat scene as well as the inclusion of the Warden's Feral Guardian ultimate. We also wanted to showcase a location from Morrowind, since the Warden will be debuting alongside the new zone.
Based on those initial conversations, I begin to sketch out a variety of action beats, exploring a lot of different compositions and narrative premises that players usually never end up seeing, since we can only take one sketch through to completion. In this case, it became clear that given the Warden's connection with the forces of nature, the ecology of Vvardenfell itself deserved to be highlighted as a character in the image.
We talked about emphasizing the island as a place of constant destruction and rebirth, which symbolically mirrors both the aggressive and restorative aspects of the Warden's Skill Lines. This approach is what ultimately led us to the standoff between two Dunmer Wardens and a group of Cliff Striders, with the Red Mountain looming in the background.
What's the rest of the process like for completing the illustration?
After I get approval on the selected sketch, I start to gather the reference imagery that I will use to refine the line drawing and add in additional details. It's a strange quirk of my process that initially, I tend to sketch all the characters as semi-naked bald dudes, but that's just to save time until I gather the right reference to represent the various races of Tamriel and the specific armor sets from the game.
Reference gathering is one of the most important parts of the process, and it makes a huge difference in the quality of the final painting. Pinterest boards tend to be helpful for finding useful reference, but I will also often shoot my own photos, using myself or friends as models to help figure out facial expressions and the trickier parts of character poses.
Once the drawing is completed, I typically paint a grayscale value study of the composition underneath the line drawing and then begin painting in color on top of it. From that point on, it's just the long, laborious process of rendering and detailing the image, with lots of revisions along the way.
How long does a process like this usually take, and what tools do you use?
Including the sketching phase, the whole process can take up to eight weeks, which is a long time, but I work at a high pixel resolution (the full-size file for the Warden illustration is over 12,000 pixels wide!)
Sometimes a change in art direction or marketing focus requires that I revise the original composition in the middle of the painting process. That can make things take longer, but one of the things I appreciate about our approach here at ZOS is that everyone is committed to delivering art at the highest possible quality.
As for the tools I use, I work on a Wacom Cintiq 22HD, and do my sketching and painting exclusively in Photoshop. When I need to build a rough 3D scene for perspective reference, I use Maya, mostly because that's the software package I learned to use way back when I was a 3D Production Artist. I also occasionally shoot photo reference using my GoPro camera, which is helpful when I'm acting as my own reference model because I'm able to control the camera remotely with my phone.
Was there any aspect of the Warden that you found especially challenging or fun to illustrate?
I'd have to say the most frustrating part of this piece was probably painting the spectral magic effects for the Wardens' spellcasting. We went through a number of variations, but the image kept becoming overwhelmed by the magic as a lightsource, and in the end I had to scale it way back. Also, bonemold armor is a cool idea, but I found it difficult to paint convincingly (maybe because there's no good real-world equivalent for it.)
As for the fun stuff, I love painting faces, and taking a crack at the Dunmer facial physiognomy was a blast. For some reason, I also really enjoyed adding the spittle flying off the bear's mouth. After a long and challenging painting process on the rest of the image, adding that saliva was a satisfying finishing touch.
How did you get started in a career as a concept artist?
I majored in Illustration in college, and although I got a good foundational education learning traditional oil painting techniques, I didn't have much experience with digital workflows. Concept art is a really tough field to break into, so when I realized my portfolio needed more development in order to be considered a serious candidate for industry jobs, I decided to go back to grad school to focus more specifically on art for video games.
I earned my MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2010, and following a summer internship with WB Games in Boston, they hired me as a 3D Production Artist. After about a year there, I managed to weasel my way onto their concept art team, and I spent the next four years creating concept art and illustrations for The Lord of the Rings Online, Infinite Crisis, and Arkham: Underworld. I joined ZOS in 2015, and since then, I've had the privilege of painting the key art illustrations that accompany new content updates for The Elder Scrolls Online!
Love the illustration? Click the links below to download the wallpaper for your desired resolution.
(Links for the above wallpaper can be found on the article page)
