Artist research: Simon Stalenhag

After my last concepts I wanted to push everything a bit further in terms of work method and pushing the split canvas method in a new direction to see if it would work.

I Normally use the split canvas technique on similar concepts so that I can have them both feed of each other. I wanted to do the same with these two concepts but this time it was a bit different as they were different subject matters and the painting style was different on each design as the building concept was first modeled in 3D and then painted over. I could transfer the painting techniques over to each other as much on this one but instead focused on the story and design. My aim for these two concepts was to create a character for the game and to also create where he would live/work. Having the concepts link together this way still allowed me to use both concepts to help influence one another but in a different way than normal.

I wanted to concept the character who discovered Gun powder and created the first fire arm weaponry in this world. I'm guilty of only ever creating concepts for main characters and not spending anytime on side characters who help sell the idea and establish the world the game is set in. So I put an end to that with these concepts. However just because it's not the main character it doesn't mean he has to be a generic npc. I wanted to give the design a story to help shape the game. The idea I cam up with was a bit of an unfortunate one for the character. The blacksmith was looking for the next step in weaponry and happened to accidentally discover the compound of gun powder. Sadly the discovery blew up in his face causing blindness, however he's a master at his craft and still works the forge creating weaponry and advancing in his craft. I had the idea for this when learning about Japanese blacksmiths who would listen to the forges high pitch whistle in order to tell when the metal inside was ready to be taken out and crafted.

With the building design I wanted to keep the character in mind to really make it fit well together. I painted the building up and then kept a clean version and placed it on the left before painting further into the concept and evolving it into something that suited the idea. I wanted the house to be slowly deteriorating as the only inhabitant is the blind blacksmith who wouldn't really be able to tell how many vines are climbing up his walls. There's hole in the roof that had an attempt to be fixed but not worked resulting in birds nesting in the attic. There's also the details that he's a black smith with the extended house with smoke rising from the forge with smoke damaged walls and iron work on the rooftop.

I feel like working on two completely different concepts and methods still worked when using the split canvas and it's made me question how much further I can push it in any other ways. It seems to work well for spontaneous concepts and thought through ideas.