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The fine art of Fallout 4

3 min read
40

Fallout

If I had a coffee table (Or a house that wasn’t a cardboard box in the middle of dirt road where I would walk to the mill to work for tuppence a day. LUXURY!), my selection of books wouldn’t be drab.

None of that bird watching or National Geographic crap for me! No, my coffee table would most likely be populated by dodgy anime collections, trade paperbacks and gaming art books. I’m a big fan of the concept art phase of video games, where projects develop a signature look and feel.

It’s a vastly underappreciated field, that churns out stacks of art that most fans will never ever get to see. In fact, I’ve got several books based on popular games that make me appreciate them even more.

And the Fallout 4 art book is looking pretty swank. The game is almost here, and it’ll be releasing with the aforementioned art book as well. Here, peruse the art without having a stuffy curator breathing down your neck and trying in vein to explain why Jackson Pollock’s works shouldn’t be viewed as oil paint enema explosions.

“The tip of our creative spear is our concept team: Adam Adamowicz, Ray Lederer, Ilya Nazarov, and John Gravato. Their work is done in an area we call the “Art Pit”: a room in the middle of the art department with walls covered in drawings,” said Lead Artist Istvan Pely on Bethesda.net.

Their work is done in an area we call the “Art Pit”: a room in the middle of the art department with walls covered in drawings. Many ideas originate here, born out of lively discussions between game director Todd Howard, lead designer Emil Pagliarulo, the concept artists, and me.

Each artist has a unique visual style, and together they drafted a rich and varied world, with every design having personality and authenticity. Our process is very iterative: we start with loose, rough sketches, which are gradually refined into detailed drawings that are then handed off to our 3-D artists.

And even after a model is built and textured, we often revisit and rework that model until it achieves a level of quality we can be proud to ship. In these pages, we try to show a variety of images from all stages of this process.

As you can see, we carefully consider every detail of the game, sometimes to an obsessive level; this is pretty much the Bethesda way.

While the focus of this book is on art, the amount of work done by professionals across multiple disciplines at the studio cannot be overstated. Designers give the work purpose and context; programmers ensure that everything works smoothly.

Animators give it life, while audio engineers give it voice. And producers make sure all of these parts come together efficiently. Without all of this effort, the images you see here would have never left the page. To witness the amount of passion and talent that goes into this process is truly humbling.

It’s a gruelling job being an artist in this day and age. But it’s nice to know that your efforts won’t always go unrewarded. Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to gawk at more of those mech designs, oh my yes.

Last Updated: October 29, 2015

40 Comments

  1. Sheeeeeeeeeeeet, ok now I’m hyped

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 29, 2015 at 09:40

      Need a new mouse wheel. Scrolling past Fallout 4 articles to the comments is taking it’s toll

      Reply

      • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

        October 29, 2015 at 09:53

        Buy Razer, problem solved

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          October 29, 2015 at 09:55

          Suicide is not a solution.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the Goo

            October 29, 2015 at 10:01

            XD

          • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

            October 29, 2015 at 10:03

            Razer not razor you muppet

          • Hammersteyn

            October 29, 2015 at 10:11

            It was a pun you… um….. puppet

      • Captain JJ the Goo

        October 29, 2015 at 10:01

        The rubber on my MS wheel actually came off. Haven’t decided to buy a new desktop set yet though.

        Reply

        • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

          October 29, 2015 at 10:03

          So you are heavy on the rubber? Just get your wife on the pill dude

          Reply

      • th3SiCn3ss

        October 29, 2015 at 13:07

        not your mouse, it’s this damn slow website….

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          October 29, 2015 at 13:35

          Dead slow in Firefox, use Chrome. Yeah yeah I know.

          Reply

  2. Graeme Norval

    October 29, 2015 at 09:47

    Is this going to be included with any of the editions of the game or sold separately alongside them? I’m not entirely sure from the phrasing in the article.

    Reply

    • Graeme Norval

      October 29, 2015 at 10:07

      Never mind, it’s a 368 page hardcover book available separately for $50 from Bethesda’s store. Looks awesome though.

      Reply

  3. Milesh Bhana

    October 29, 2015 at 09:49

    Adam Adamowicz….cruel parents were cruel.

    Reply

    • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

      October 29, 2015 at 09:53

      Or, just plain stupid

      Reply

  4. HairyEwok

    October 29, 2015 at 09:51

    Concept Art…. Showing gamers just how much damn hard work and love goes in to the game.

    Reply

  5. Captain JJ the Goo

    October 29, 2015 at 10:00

    I think Lazygamer is part of the overhyping problem 😉

    Reply

    • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

      October 29, 2015 at 10:03

      Indeed, like your handbag, totally overhyped

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the Goo

        October 29, 2015 at 10:06

        It’s a manbag!

        Reply

        • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

          October 29, 2015 at 10:08

          The only “-bag” that is acceptable is MEATBAG

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the Goo

            October 29, 2015 at 10:10

            What about an ammo bag?

          • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

            October 29, 2015 at 10:16

            One shot, one kill. Not 50 shots no kill

          • Captain JJ the Goo

            October 29, 2015 at 10:20

            So it’s not the new Battlefront then, clearly.

          • Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja

            October 29, 2015 at 10:22

            PewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewHITpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewHITpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewpewKILL

        • Brady miaau

          October 29, 2015 at 13:15

          Does your wife keep her make-up in it?

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the Goo

            October 29, 2015 at 13:25

            Her make-up? My wife doesn’t need to take her make-up everywhere she goes. She’s pretty as is.

          • Brady miaau

            October 29, 2015 at 13:27

            I did not mean just make-up. you know, her woman stuff. My wife does not do make-up either.

    • Deceased

      October 29, 2015 at 10:52

      TO THE TOP WITH YOU!!!

      I CAN’T WAIT!!!

      Reply

  6. Viking Of Science

    October 29, 2015 at 10:06

    I broke my one rule…… I pre-ordered Fallout 4….

    Reply

    • BurninZ

      October 29, 2015 at 10:18

      same here!!

      Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 29, 2015 at 10:26

      We all did, but it’s because it’s quality

      Reply

    • oVg

      October 29, 2015 at 10:59

      Ya, the Art Direction beats whatever framerate its at, and they have acknowledged that. No BULLSHOTS with Fallout, and they are proud of that.

      Reply

    • Brady miaau

      October 29, 2015 at 13:15

      Not yet, but I might still…….

      Reply

  7. BurninZ

    October 29, 2015 at 10:16

    I dont need any more reason to want the game, pre-order is done, bring on launch day!!

    Reply

  8. BurninZ

    October 29, 2015 at 10:19

    i want a working Nuka Cola fridge!!!! for all the beer i am gonna go through when playing!!

    Reply

    • Rock789

      October 29, 2015 at 10:30

      ^This!

      Reply

  9. Rock789

    October 29, 2015 at 10:27

    I’m getting so excited for this! Man, I can’t wait.

    Reply

  10. Nikola

    October 29, 2015 at 11:46

    Dammit I might just have to buy it now when it releases………..

    Reply

  11. Nikola

    October 29, 2015 at 11:46

    Wow that looks good!

    Reply

  12. Darren Peach

    October 29, 2015 at 16:13

    Awesome.

    Reply

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