Hogwarts Legacy Search-and-Find Poster
Artwork for Warner Bros Games by Gus Morais
I was invited by Warner Bros Games to draw a funny and detailed search-and-find poster for their 2023 main release: Hogwarts Legacy. It was the best-selling game of the year in the entire industry worldwide and I feel very honored of being part of it's promotion by creating this unique artwork.
Having sold sold more than 24 million copies worldwide, Hogwarts Legacy was considered
a huge step for expanding the Wizarding World universe. One year after it’s official release,
I’m happy to share more details about how the artwork was created, always with great support
from WB Social Media staff and Avalanche creative team.
Zoomed-in view of Hogwarts Castle, a complex and living building in the game. Above, many famous rooms and halls from the Wizarding World stories
Here we can see the Forbidden Forest, where many dangerous quests are waiting for players to test their courage
In Hogsmeade village you can find some typical shops and houses from the game, like Ollivanders' and The Three Broomsticks
I. Initial Sketches and Composition Studies
The creative staff from WB Games and Avalanche were great on working close to the drawing process and sharing ideas, inspiration and references to develop the poster. Since the beginning, they wanted the poster to depict both the Hogwarts castle and Hogsmeade village: studying the best composition possible to show the details from all of them was a very cool and important initial step.
Above, you can see the different view angles and compositions we’ve tried before choosing the definitive one
II. Drawing the Background: Linework and Coloring
After the sketch was defined, I started making the linework for Hogsmeade houses and Hogwarts castle. In Hogsmeade, due to the magical atmosphere of the environment, all the houses have slightly distorted outlines - To keep true to this aspect, I have avoided using parallel or straight lines while reproducing their architecture in these drawings. See some of them below:
Another curious fact: although the castle in the final version of the poster has a strong tridimensional aspect, it was drawn with my usual linework style in Photoshop and Procreate. After coloring it with flat and basic colors, I’ve added some realistic textures - for bricks, roofs, etc - that I’ve created by mixing some different brushes. Specially for this poster, we wanted to achieve a more realistic and less cartoonish atmosphere for the background elements and use the same muted color tones from the game. Below, you can see the final linework for the poster before finalization process started.
III. Adding the Characters and Funny Situations
When every building and piece of land was positioned in the right place, I started my favorite part of the process: it's time to populate the drawing! Before adding hundreds of Hogwarts students everywhere, I've drawn the concept artworks for the main characters in the game. You can see some of them here:
Regarding the content, the poster shows more than 200 funny situations performed by people living in Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and outer lands. When students are not practicing magic inside the castle, they can explore dangerous areas, play magic tricks and have fun everywhere. To achieve such a vivid portrait of this universe I've created a list of ideas with the creative team detailing all these specific situations, paying special attention to in-game details. This way, we were sure that all magic powers, potions and some key events of the game were well represented. See some examples below:
Hope you've liked reading about this project! This artwork was officially released as part of the Back to Hogwarts celebration last year in both Instagram and Twitter accounts from the game: you can see the fans' warm reception here and here. Also, a high-resolution version of the poster was made available for download at the official website, here.
I'd like to thank specially Joe Harris, Victoria Brown and Kyra Hassler from WB social team for the huge support during the development of this artwork. Also, I'd like to thank Eriq Martin, Nasan Hardcastle. Colby Acree, Chandler Wood, Jeffrey Bunker and every single person from Avalanche and Wizarding World team who also helped me with precious ideas, references and creative feedback.
Have a project in mind? Drop a line!
Gus Morais - Search and Find illustrator
instagram http://instagram.com/gus_morais
e-mail gusilustra@gmail.com
