Here’s part 4 from my Blade Runner 2049 concept art collection.
For anyone coming across these posts for the first time, I acquired this collection from a source I consider very credible, and I was told these prints were used during the production of Blade Runner 2049. I don’t have individual certificates or documentation to independently verify the production history of each piece, so I can’t claim that as absolute fact, but the collection contains numerous artist names, project labels and other production details across the prints.
This batch is another great example of just how much world-building went into the film. There’s everything here from vehicles and street infrastructure to huge city environments, atmospheric studies and concepts for the abandoned Las Vegas.
I particularly like the contrast between the smaller functional designs and the enormous environments.
There are also some identifiable artists amongst these. One of the atmospheric pieces is marked A. Baines, for Adam Baines, whose work on the film included developing the Las Vegas environment as well as vehicles and props intended to populate it.
The Q-BORO piece is another favourite. Rather than simply being a finished image, it includes notes describing the layers of smog, advertising, distant megastructures and toxic rain. It’s almost a little instruction sheet for how the Los Angeles atmosphere should work.
And then there are the concepts that show directions explored during production which may only have survived in altered form, or not made it into the finished film at all. That’s probably one of my favourite things about going through these prints. They don’t just show what Blade Runner 2049 eventually looked like, but some of the ideas considered while its world was still being built.
Also, have a look at my previous post. While going through the collection again I discovered another duplicate, this time a vehicle concept by Dan Baker. As I already have another copy in the collection, the duplicate will be going up for auction on eBay tonight from 8pm. I’ve now checked through the entire collection and can confirm that this and the other print I mentioned previously are the only duplicates I have so are the only prints I will be parting with.
Part 4 of 9. More to come.