FROM CONCEPT TO CHARACTER: CREATING SKYRIM’S ARTWORK, 9 DE NOVIEMBRE 2021

1🚀It seems obvious, if not utterly blatant, to say that creating a game like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim requires imagination. To breathe life into a fantasy world that originates from the mind and translate that to a medium like video games can be tricky – after all, how do you make something that begins as purely conceptual and turn it into virtual world that others can see, hear and inhabit? Well, that’s where you bring in concept artists.

Ray Lederer, Senior Concept Artist: “The role of a concept artist is multifaceted, from marker renderings, notes scrawled on bar napkins, to digital painting, sculpture and 3d software, we will find a way to hopefully create a successful image to jumpstart production artists to building final assets.”

2🚀Like almost all video games, especially one of Skyrim’s scope and scale, the process begins with Bethesda Game Studios planning out the core ideas of their current projects well in advance, from tone to setting to target audience. An essential part of that planning stage is producing images that capture the feel of the game and help direct artists creating assets. 

Ray Lederer: “The general philosophy is the sooner we can get it in game, the quicker we can fix problems that may not have translated well from a drawing.”

3🚀Lederer first began his career at Bethesda Games Studios in late December of 2007, travelling across the country to create art for the team. 

Ray Lederer: “I remember because I drove from Seattle to Maryland between two massive blizzards with everything I could fit in an SUV, plus a dog and a cat!” 

4🚀Partnered with the talented late Adam Adamowicz, the two created concept art that was crucial to the overall look and feel of Skyrim – a task that offered ample room for big ideas. 

Ray Lederer: “Our concepts could become a bit out there and not practical for kit building, but the flavor was captured expertly by our art team.”

5🚀Concept art can cover everything from simple props like buckets or food to important characters and locations like the fearsome dragon Alduin or the northern reaches of Winterhold. Depending on the complexity, some concepts can be developed and approved in a matter of days – others, weeks or even longer just to get everything right. For example, Alduin’s wall, a massive carved mural famously depicted as early as Skyrim’s first official reveal trailer and major motif in the game, required significant input relatively early in the game’s development.

Ray Lederer: "There was a lot of work put into that, as it covers most of the Elder Scrolls lore, I'd say they spent a couple of months fleshing that out.” 

6🚀Of course, a complex piece like Alduin’s offers plenty of room for artistic touches that fans could uncover and enjoy. 

Ray Lederer: “There’s a section where the Nords are seen running up a path to hide inside a cave from impending doom, and couple of them trying to shove a barrel of beer up the path before the fires licking at their tunics consume them!”

7🚀Given the richness of Skyrim’s world and the many characters, creatures, landscapes and props that inhabit it, the art team drew upon (forgive the pun) several inspirations and disciplines. 

Ray Lederer: “Personally, I pulled from experiences I had living in Boulder, Colorado, and travelling across the western United States, as well as Lord of the Rings, Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight books and even Moby Dick, I referenced books from the back to the land movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s for some of the architecture. Joseph Campbell also fueled some thoughts about character and costume design as well as iconography.”

8🚀That’s all in a day’s work, of course, as any work of art is in one way or another driven by a number of outside influences. Nonetheless, it’s still exciting when a concept is able to make its way to the game for all to take in. 

Ray Lederer: “I loved working on Azura's Shrine, I deliberately made it huge in the painting, thinking it would be scaled down for practical reasons. I'd moved on and sort of forgot about it. A few months later, we were doing a companywide playtest. I was simply wandering the landscape with no destination in mind when a sudden shift in the weather hit as I was walking up a mountain. A blizzard engulfed me for a few minutes as I moved ever further upwards, when out of the storm emerged Azura's Shrine! Monolithic and towering over the landscape, I was awestruck. I had never imagined what an impact one of my drawings brought to life would have on me personally in the game. I don't know if anyone else felt the same way, but it affected me greatly to see just how well the team had built and implemented it"

9🚀It's not the just team internally who gets excited by these discoveries. The Skyrim fan community also latches on to these designs, going as far as even bringing them to life in our own world.

Ray Lederer: “I love all the cosplayers, weapons designers and the wonderful artists making props and jewelry from Skyrim. There is such an overwhelming amount of cool stuff being done by our community of fans! When I see people using the Amulet of Mara as centerpiece items for weddings and engagements, I feel so touched. I loved designing most of the jewelry and shrines for Skyrim and to see people use them for important moments in their lives is heartwarming, to say the least.”

10🚀 Much like how Skyrim is a vast sum of its parts – its story, characters, worldbuilding, visual design, gameplay and more – no one role solely makes such a game come to life, and the inspirations led by concept artists are no exception. As Bethesda Games Studios heads to the stars for its next project, Starfield, the developer imagines not just its next new world, but an entire universe for players to lose themselves in.

Ray Lederer: “The scale is so much bigger than we've ever attempted, and the variety of worlds and cultures will rival anything we've done in the past,” 

🚀It remarks Lederer who, much like the rest of the team, is excited for the next artistic challenge.

 “We are visual designers. Many times, we build gameplay and especially storytelling into our images. This is what keeps our jobs so challenging and interesting. We are on a constant quest to improve and learn.”

🧭 Fuente.