EP: Research - The Witcher 3 Concepts

While The Witcher 3 isn't released yet, I've been looking at some of the concept art for the environment spaces and they look amazing. Witcher 3 is also fitting of the dark fantasy genre and it's only shown once again in the 3rd installment.

With the images I've looked at being concept art I think they feel much more expressive and emotive than screenshots of a level which has give a nice different dynamic to my research into environments. Following on with my common theme of looking into classical architecture and odd surrounding settings, Witcher 3 delivers. I love the use of silhouette in the concepts, contrasting architectural scales and shapes. There's one image in particular which has stuck with me, which is the one that has a huge tall tower surrounding by much smaller buildings and ruins in a spherical formation. It feels realistic and believable but at the same time it's not any kind of city layout you'd find in the real world. It treads on the barrier of real and fantasy in terms of structure in my opinion.

My 'The Witcher 3 Concepts' Inspiration Board

A great thing I've noticed in the concept art for The Witcher 3 is the use of lighting in the images. All of them contain only one light-source and it gives everyone one of the concepts the atmosphere of abandonment as there is no man-made lighting. it also makes each image appear to be set at dawn/dusk, a less 'awake' time of day to witness an environment; adding to the mood of unusual, forgotten areas.