Warcraft | Background: Karazhan Library
Today, I wanted to talk about some of the work I did for the Karazhan Library from Warcraft. I worked with Gavin Boucquet who recently designed The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, to develop the look of the library.
He had a clear idea of a circular layout for the library with a central staircase that runs through the core of the Karazhan tower. My job was to illustrate his design and bring it to life. I wanted to push the lighting to feel dusty and heavy, with strong sunlight through the windows.
I also illustrated Khadgar amongst the books. This serves two purposes. It brings story to an image and also conveys scale. Again, with the lighting,
I wanted to get the feeling of an intense sunset outside.
These concepts were early ideas of what the central staircase, that goes through the tower's core, including the library, looked like. Gavin wanted a high level of ornate detailing in this environment, also incorporating a golden trim to structures. So we tried various historical approaches.
These diagrammatical design sheets were used to depict the references and application of those references onto rough geometry. They provided a vague roadmap that could be used down the whole chain of production. Gavin asked me to apply various historical approaches to the staircase. So I researched some of my favourite architectural styles and aimed to give Gavin a wide range of options.
Here's a quick featurette with Gavin and the team showing some of the great work they put into the Library, which I think looks amazing in the film!
