How PlayStation Official Magazine’s Hellblade cover was created

Hello, Dominic Matthews here from Ninja Theory. Today we are releasing our new development diary video, which focuses on the creation of the Hellblade cover art for the latest issue of PlayStation Official Magazine.

Our whole ethos with Hellblade is to be open in our development, sharing as much of the game’s creation as we can. Through www.hellblade.com we’re giving regular updates to fans through our development diaries, blog posts and artwork.

But it’s not just the fans that we want to be open with, it’s also the press. Journalists often don’t to get to see games until they are deep into development, and don’t get to tell their readers about how the game is being created or who is creating it. Our approach is different. We’re taking down the barriers and welcoming the press into the studio to see Hellblade live in development. This new way of working with the press led to a special opportunity.

Back in September the Editor of PlayStation Official Magazine came to visit the studio and was given an all-access pass to see the Hellblade team at work. Nothing was hidden, nothing was out of bounds. For us it was an opportunity to test how our open approach with the press would work. For PlayStation Official Magazine it was a rare opportunity to gain access to a game so early in its life.

We were delighted that the visit provided enough material for a full Hellblade feature in issue 104 of Official PlayStation Magazine. Not only that, but also that Senua would be the cover star for both the retail and subscriber-only editions of the magazine.

 
The subscriber-only edition features a bespoke Senua piece on the cover created just for the magazine. The story of how this art was created is told in our latest video. This includes a time-lapse of the render paintover, which was completed in just a day:

Thanks for reading. Our work on Hellblade continues at full pace, with the team currently focused on our prototyping phase. Over the next few months we’ll be sharing a lot more of development, including details of our first Hellblade performance capture shoot. You can follow the Hellblade journey at www.hellblade.com, on Twitter @ninjatheory and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ninjatheory

Issue 104 of PlayStation Official Magazine is available now, and digitally on Apple Newsstand and Google Play.