The Art of Darkwatch

by Farzad Varahramyan, Chris Ulm

This book showcases the concept art that went into creating the video game, Darkwatch . It demonstrates the process and development of the concepts, as well as the evolution of the intellectual property itself. Gorgeous color and black and white sketches and renderings of all the environments, vehicles and characters are included. Steal a glimpse into the true talent, perseverance, and collaborative spirit of the concept artists that contributed to developing Darkwatch .

Genres: Horror, Art

175 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Parka]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

Darkwatch is a first-person shooter video game whose main character is a vampire.

This book is packed with art, sketches and paintings, with no screenshots. It covers designs for characters, enemies, environment, vehicles, weapons and other graphics.

Concept design is an evolutionary process and it shows here. Early direction for the game had something to do with having a humorous take on the Western genre. As such, early concepts for main character Jericho Cross and other characters were much more cartoon-like. But that of course changed into something darker in the end, with vampires and undead.

If you like ghouls, skeletons, gothic and creature designs, there are much featured. The designs are very interesting, especially the vehicles and weapons which are given elements to make them look more vampire-ish. The environment art looks good too, moody.

There's also plenty of commentary that talk about the design process and changes.

Nice concept art book for the game.