Yesterday, German studio Karakter released some of the gorgeous concept art it made for Game of Thrones Season 6. Artists Kieran Belshaw and Jessica Sinclair also worked on the season, and their work is just as impressive. Let’s take a look, starting with Belshaw.
(Click on any of the pictures for a blown-up version. They deserve it.)
An overview of the siege of Riverrun, with tents on tents on tents.
Cersei looks out the window of her “new chamber,” trusty wine bottle in hand. And the reverse:
Half a world away, Daenerys gets used to her own new digs. That’s oddly appropriate, considering that these characters are headed for a clash.
But before Daenerys could get to that point, she had to undergo some trials. Belshaw did a couple renderings of her talk with the Dothraki in “Book of the Stranger.” Here’s an early conception.
That fire pit in the center didn’t appear in the final version, below.
But for Daenerys, all’s well that ends well.
Those are some badass mastheads.
Speaking of boats, Belshaw did some conceptual work for the Iron Islands scenes. Here’s Balon’s death scene…
…and here’s his original idea for Nagga’s Hill, where the kingsmoot took place.
This is much closer to what Nagga’s Hill looks like in the books, where there’s a hall built in the skeletal ribcage a long-dead sea dragon. That would have been completely awesome, but the show went for something simpler.
This idea, of a ship’s prow shooting out of the ground, also wasn’t used. We can’t have everything.
Moving to North of the Wall, Belshaw did a lot of work on the sequence where the Night King attacks the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave. Here’s the wights following Bran and crew down the tunnel…
…here’s the aftermath of Leaf’s self-destruction…
…and here’s Meera and Bran escaping out the back door. Hodor’s not pictured, so I don’t have to start crying again.
Here’s the sight of the Night King’s creation, before…
…and after.
There’s plenty more where this came from.