Guild Wars 2 Interview and Artwork
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Can you talk a little bit about how you've approached NPC and clothing design for Guild Wars 2?Several new pieces of artwork litter the interview, as well.
Designing the clothing for a race is a lot of fun, particularly when you start at the beginning with a clean slate. One of the things I really like about GW2 is it gave us the opportunity to see the town inhabitants as a whole, rather than just an individual list of needed people (even though what I got was a list of needed people, heh heh). This allowed me to draw a block of designs at once and see them all together. Doing that gives insight into how the NPCs work as a crowd, spreading out interesting silhouettes and shapes that make them simultaneously a good backdrop for the players as well as appealing individually.
This is the first and most important step, as I'll outright plan on designing by silhouette. There will be a shirt with short sleeves and another with long, one will be frilly while the other is tight, and even more mixing. The same line of thinking follows any pant or boot; all of their silhouettes must look appropriate for the culture but also have very different shapes for visual variety at any distance.
Once you start designing with that in mind, then focusing on the details and traits that are unique to the race culture will add to the overall world direction. As with any project, all these pieces need to work well together: environment, props, characters, etc. So for the humans, I needed to design in the vein of what, for example, Divinity's Reach townsfolk might look like. What would a pauper in Divinity's Reach look like? Or a noble? A merchant? They all have to fit their roles and fit well together.
Humans are probably the most familiar and flexible of the designs, as folks will wear just about anything. However, pulling from particular time periods in history is just the start. Though Divinity's Reach does have a distinct flavor, this is also a fantasy environment, so my methods are more about designing a convincing, functional outfit with a twist. They may be wearing a waist vest, but the side is split and latched and the collar is tiered leather. Maybe the overcoat is not just a gentleman's long coat, but mixed with the layering of a highwayman's trench and tailored with the double-breasted buttons of formal wear. Sashes are a favorite of mine I love modeling the knots but I'll always twist up the pant they go with.
The human costume designs that accompany this post in particular are a combination of gypsy, a little bit of gaucho, and the texture and durability of a farrier's chaps.
