Ash Sky [Tris Babayan]

FOREWORD
Being the Art Director on a project like Borderlands 2 was like stepping onto Pandora for the first time. There was raw beauty to witness, adventures to be had, and the ever-present lure of glorious loot to be obtained around every corner. However, just like exploring an uncharted territory, there was danger at every turn. How do I take an immensely beautiful and unique art style and improve upon it? How do I add snow, grass, and lava to Pandoras barren wastelands without changing the character of this amazing planet? How do I make 87 bazillion guns even bazilliondier? Quite simply put: I didnt do any of those things. Instead I had the pleasure to direct an amazingly talented group of individuals who rose to the challenge and made Borderlands 2 the incredible experience that it is. I am well and truly honored to work with such a passionate, creative, and hardworking team. These folks are the kind of people who are excited to have a fifteen minute discussion about Bandits wearing sombreros and whether said sombrero-wearing-Bandits should drink Molotov cocktails. They are also the kind of people who routinely asked for the chance to improve an asset even though they knew it would mean a long night of work ahead. Mostly, though, they are the kind of people who love what they do and you can see that passion in every crate you leap over, every monster you explode, and every loot chest you delve into. Many people might assume that in a game where visuals are at the fore, much of its look must come from the Art Team. While we do have a big impact on the games visuals, I think its important to understand that the final look of Borderlands 2 was a teamwide effort that involves every discipline at Gearbox. Story and Design dreams up an incredible world, and Code helps us realize those dreams while Effects, Animation, and Audio all make heads explode along the way. I think however, its important to note that the Level Designers are the people who combine the elements created by the other teams into a rich and expressive world for players to explore. We owe much of the final look and feel of Pandora to their tireless effort. Thanks to everyone at Gearbox for making the development of Borderlands 2 an amazing adventure and I hope this book will provide some insight to the reader as to how we got it made.

CONTENTS
Gearbox Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Art Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Weapons & Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Items & Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Tech Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Cinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Jeramy The Chef Cooke

Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

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S R E T C CHARA
forgiving e a harsh, un b t h ig m ra o Though Pand ttract it tends to a t, e n la p a f o wasteland st of eople. The ca p f o m ru ct e a wide sp rful kinds of colo ll a s e d u cl in 2 Borderlands e fascists to om attractiv fr rs e ct ra cha ll befriend experts, you s n io lit o m e d underage during your ntless people u co r e rd u m and/or 2. Borderlands adventures in at. bly knew all th a b ro p u o y , e But of cours ck used Sir Hammerlo t a th w o n k But did you Jack at Handsome th r O ? y u g t to be a fa s character Gary Oldman e lik d e k o lo nearly racters all of the cha y rl a e N ? li E f from Book o ral through seve t n e w 2 s d n in Borderla ase, and e games rele th re fo e b s iteration you the ges will show a p g in w llo the fo ese n designing th e h w s ie h p o teams philos at ended a few ideas th s a ll e w s a , characters r. ing room floo up on the cutt

Illustration [Scott Kester] Right

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CHARACTERS [SALVADOR]

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SALVADOR
CONCEPT ART
When it came time to announce Borderlands 2 to the world, Salvador the Gunzerker was chosen as the games unofficial mascothis bandaged, mohawked head was the first thing Gearbox fans saw when the team released BL2s teaser trailer in August of 2011. Why? Perhaps because his action skill was the most easy for fans to wrap their head around in a thirtysecond teaser. Or perhaps because his short stature and dark skin made certain that he couldnt be confused with any character from the first game. Or maybe its just because he looks so damn cool. Concept designer Scott Kester strove to create a character who is the essence of Borderlandsa guy who lives and breathes guns. From the numerous bandoliers slung across his body to the bullet tattoos that adorn his right bicep, Sal makes no pretenses about his purpose on Pandora. Hes here to shoot stuff, and have a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

Gunzerker Model [Adam May] Left Gunzerker Concepts [Scott Kester] Right

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CHARACTERS [SALVADOR]

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Its true, the little dude loves his big guns. But no, hes not compensating.

Scott Kester says, Sal is probably my favorite design of all the characters; I love how he came together. The small touches on him, the bullets, buttons, and bullet spurs. His whole body has so much personality. I think we tend to try things that other companies might not in regards to characters. Im thankful we are asking more questions than just starting with what is already status quo. Its true, the little dude loves his big guns, Adam May says. But no, hes not compensating.

Despite his relatively simple gameplay premise, Salvadors class name changed more often than any other playable character. First, his class was called Merc, until the team decided that was too bland. Then, Gunslinger. Then, finally, Gunzerker, to convey his status as an evolution of the Berserker class from the first game. Much of his design also revolved around creating a distinctive silhouette. In Borderlands 1 we had Brick, the big tough guy, Scott Kester says. This time around, we wanted another big guy, but didnt want to use a similar body type. So we said, Lets make a little big guy! From the start we really wanted to make a more compact character with Sal: short and stocky, and totally badass.

Gunzerker Concepts [Scott Kester]

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CHARACTERS [BOrDerLaNDs 1]
Zippy (Claptrap) Concept [Lorin Wood] Top Claptrap Concepts [Lorin Wood] Middle Left Claptrap Model [Brent Hollon, Lorin Wood] Middle Right Claptrap Credits Cartoons [Kale Menges] Bottom

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CLAPTRAP

Claptrap was created as both a nod to a friend of mine who designed Pixars Wall-E character, and my own personal challenge to design the most generic robot I could think of, says concept artist Lorin Wood. I like to think I was successful. I was working on another project at the time and did the initial sketch that started it all, and named him Zippy. I posted that in our database system as a joke. When I was pulled onto Borderlands, the art director, Brian Martel, saw the sketch and loved it. I fleshed out his design in meetings with Brian as we acted out his behaviors and developed a personality. Some of those details, such as articulated eyebrows, were removed before we went to the modeling phase. It was added to in spades by David Eddings (when he provided the voice) and our fantastic animators.

Claptrap Models [Brent Hollon] This Page

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ENVIRONMENTS [ZONE 2]

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2 E N O Z
CONTROL CORE ANGEL
A techno-horror battleground of sudden death and harsh lighting.

THE BUNKER
Handsome Jacks stronghold in the sky affords players the ability to get killed by all kinds of fun stuff, such as robots, turrets, or a giant, transforming warship.

THE HIGHLaNDS
Grass! Water! Stalkers! The highlands of Pandora are as lush and inviting as they are dangerous.

FINKS SLaUGHTERHOUSE
If you love ice and bandit murder, this is where you wanna be.

L YNcHWOOD
Of all the wild west-esque areas in Pandora, this is the wildest and the westiest.

NaTURaL SELEcTION aNNEX

This Hyperion-owned circle of slaughter arena is a paradise of overgrown machinery and Varkid blood.

THE HIGHLaNDS OUTWaSH

Hyperions Eridium Extraction Plant stands out like a garish, industrialized sore thumb. Covered with robots. This metaphor is atrocious.

THOUSaND CUTS
The bandit-infested cliffs that Bricks Slab Bandit Clan calls home.

THE HOLY SPIRITS

Welcome to the home of the amoral Zaford Bandit Clan, who love murder as much as they love booze. And they really love booze.

OPPORTUNITY
Handsome Jacks fascist city of the future is waiting for youto get the hell out so our taxpaying tenants can move in.

TERRaMORPHOUS PEaK
The mysterious cliffs where Borderlands 2 s terrifying raid boss lives. Try not to fall to your death.

WILDLIfE EXPLOITaTION PRESERVE

Hyperions awful creature torture facility of awfulness. Visually, this map represents a close marriage of Hyperion hi-tech with Pandoran nature.

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ENVIRONMENTS [ZONE 2]

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GYROCOPTER FACTORY AND JACKS BUNKER

The fight up to Handsome Jacks fortress needed to feel epic, says Kevin Duc. The house was intended to sit on the edge of the Grasslands and Ash. I pulled a lot of influence from the recent volcano in Iceland, and thought that a giant, lightning bolt laden volcanic plume would be a perfect backdrop to the players first encounter with Jack.

Artist Matias Tapia was tasked with creating a Buzzard factorybefore the Buzzards had actually been designed and built. At this point, I think we didnt have a Gyrocopter yet, but needed to have a factory. So, the factory sketches were sort of designed to be an abandoned Hyperion factory instead of what it actually became.

Factory Concept [Matias Tapia] Jacks Bunker Concept [Kevin Duc] Right

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WEAPONS & GEAR [BANDIT]

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ASSAULT RIFLE
The Bandit guns were originally designed to have a rag-tag, pieced together look, says David May. After a few designs came on board we opted to go with a more streamlined aggressive look. This helped the design to integrate better with other manufacturers as well as look less junky. The original gun was then redesigned and built to fit the updated Bandit aesthetics.

OVErVIEW
The Bandit class of weapons was pushed by a want for us to answer the question of what type of weapons would an isolated bandit, sitting out in the wastes, build? We wanted these guns to look cobbled together with found objects, to have screws and nuts and bolts coming off at skewed angles, and at the same time look dangerous. The design team wanted a large capacity magazine and left the rest to the artists imagination. On our first light machine gun pass, we went really far into the junky, cobbled together look, Duc says. We even built our first scope out of a beer bottle. As the weapons system was implemented, and parts began swapping with other manufacturers, we found that our initial design language may have been a bit too scrappy. In later iterations of the Bandit machine gun, we tightened up some of the odd angles, and went with a sturdier looking design.

RED GRAFFITI BLOOD

Bandit Explorations [Kevin Duc, Jeramy Cooke] Right Weapon Breakdown [Kevin Duc] Below

Assault Rifle Concepts [Martin Sawkins] Above Assault Rifle Models [David May] Left

Borderlands weapons are made from many different pieces. These accessories are ideas of what Bandit accessories might look like. Later in development, we dropped the idea of having manufacturer specific accessories, and instead made the accessories universal throughout a weapon range, Duc says.

Accessories Breakdown [David May, Kevin Duc]

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WEAPONS & GEAR [BANDIT]

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SMG
These SMG concepts show the reboot of the Bandit manufacturer identity. We wanted these weapons to look sharp, strong, and deadly. You can imagine the metal is pressed quarter inch steel, the kind of thing you could throw off of a building, pick up, and stab someone in the face with. We still wanted the homebuilt look, but maybe built with a bit more skill than we had first envisioned. Since our weapons are made of parts that are procedurally mixed in our game system, we have to breakdown each weapon into its component pieces. Here the individual parts that make up the Bandit SMG are called out for the 3D artist. Once the initial design for a weapon is solidified, our 3D artist, David May, makes a 3D block-in mesh for each weapon in a class. We have to make sure that all pieces in a particular weapon type fit together. For example, all barrels must attach to all bodies in a functioning, aesthetically pleasing way. Once these pieces fit, I paintover Davids block-in mesh to provide a very accurate representation of what the final model should look like, Duc says.

rOCKET LAUNCHEr
The Bandit launcher and Bandit weapons in general were a special challenge because all of the crazy bandit type things we did in the environments (piecemealing it together from other objects, cloth wrapped around everything, etc.) had to be toned back so they still looked good when mixed with the other guns, says Jett Sarrett. I think the end result was better for it.

Rocket Launcher Concepts [Virtuous] Below Rocket Launcher Models [Jett Sarrett] Right

SMG Concepts [Kevin Duc] Right SMG Mesh [David May, Kevin Duc] Below

SHOTGUN
The Bandit shotgun continues the theme of high capacity magazines. 3Point, a partner of ours, handled most of the heavy lifting on the shotgun designs and models. The process was very similar to working with in-house artists, as 3Point sent us a set of sketches, we provided feedback, and so on and so forth. The middle piece is a paintover done over one of 3Points drawings to pull the design closer to our established Bandit language. Shotgun Concepts [3Point] Left Shotgun Concept [Kevin Duc, 3Point] Below

PISTOL
The Bandit pistol retains the large capacity theme. In these sketches we explored various configurations and types of magazines. In the end, we went with a side-loaded magazine and a big, double-drum magazine for rarer pistols, says Duc.

Pistol Concepts [Kevin Duc] Above Pistol Concept [David May, Kevin Duc] Right

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