Hello again, and welcome to another glorious edition of the Legends of Equestria Artist Showcase! Last time, we took a look at some of the houses in Ponyville, and today, we're heading over to Canterlot to take a look at one of the buildings you haven't had the opportunity of seeing in the game yet!
You're looking at the Headquarters of the Wonderbolts, Equestria's most prestigious flight team! They've been known to perform stunt shows, hold races, judge competitions, and even assist in matters of national security when needed, but in order to properly conduct business in an environment like Legends of Equestria, they're going to need a base of operations. Without having such an area shown to date, it's up to the Legends of Equestria artists to provide them with the necessary facilities.
These are some of the early sketches that our concept artist, Pa_Hsia, created while conceptualizing the Wonderbolts Headquarters in Canterlot. Unlike the Ponyville houses, this is a building which has not been featured in the show, which means that it's up to our own imaginations as artists to decide what it should look like.
The design of the Wonderbolts' HQ was influenced by the airport in Sweet and Elite, HMS Belfast, and the Cutty Sark.
While the process of creating from scratch may allow the artist more freedom, it is typically a more difficult process, as it involves creating a thematically appropriate design with accurate dimensions that can fit into the environment without disrupting its surroundings, while still being visually impressive, all without having any canonical basis! It also runs the risk of being discarded completely should a canonical building actually appear. It's quite the daunting task for our concept artists, even without all the other unforeseen problems that can arise during the creative process.
The design of the top view went through several iterations, but I still struggled to get it to look right: after I drew the front and side views, I realized that the tower small jutting out of the main building was floating six feet from the building!
However, as you can clearly see, we were able to put together all the concept art we would need to create such a complex structure as the Wonderbolts Headquarters, and we were left with some fantastic artwork in the process.
The final model is *much* bigger than I planned. Since then, I've been far more careful to think about the scale of the buildings I'm drawing and how they'll fit in the scene.
This was my first full drawing using ArtRage, which is now my staple art program; the Wonderbolts' HQ was instrumental in helping me figure out the ink pen settings I've used for every piece of CA since.
After the concept art was finished and approved, we handed it over to our 3D modeler SteveLynx to turn it into a usable model. Now, unfortunately, we don't have any pictures to show of the process of creating these models. In fact, in the artist's own words,
So far all memories I have of modeling that is that I traced some lines of the CA and suddenly the model was done.
Some evil modeling demon always takes over shortly after starting to model, I can�t control myself nor do I have any memories of whatever happens during that time, I�m pretty sure I�m either cursed or just always really tired during modeling hours.
However, I do think it's safe to say that Steve's work can speak for itself without any problems, so we invite you to have a look at his completed models of the two structures:
As well as the completed version below, brought to life by the accompaniment of these beautiful textures created, once again, by our 2D artist, Musetrigger:
The finished product is quite large, as was mentioned earlier, and there are, of course, interior models intended to accompany both structures currently in the works. Once the game is open to the public, players will be able to explore the Headquarters inside and out, as well as interact with characters and embark on the many quests that will be available from this area, so be sure to look for it once you start playing! And for those of you who have been wondering why the headquarters is split into two parts, the large ship-like building is actually going to serve as a museum, complete with historically significant exhibits detailing the Wonderbolts' exploits, among many other things.
[LOE] Wonderbolts Memorial [UV-Mapped] (
View in 3D)
Well, that's all for now, but everyone please give our wonderful artists one last round of applause, and we hope to see you again for next month's edition of the Legends of Equestria Artist Showcase!
