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Artbook

Engraving and watercolour

An engraved line of blue-black ink, hatching for volume, then a few transparent washes laid down by a colourist. All the game’s illustration follows this old process, inside a clean, contemporary interface.

An investigator’s desk in 1974 under a brass lamp: kraft folders, a draft family tree with empty lockets, photographs, a map of Velmarche, a magnifying glass, a stamp, a cup of tea and a herbarium fern; at the window, dusk over the roofs of Aubrelieu.
“The desk under the lamp” Key art, 16:9, and 4:5 recomposed for phones. The game’s title screen.

Intent

“The desk under the lamp”

It is late. On an investigator’s desk steeped in the blue of night, a brass lamp lights up the archives: letters, registers, photographs, an unfolded map. Everything you read is paper in the light; everything that serves as a tool stays in the shadow, clean and discreet.

The illustration is an intaglio print in iron-gall ink, heightened with watercolour. The line sets the hierarchy: firm outlines, finer details, shadows and contour lines barely touched in. The washes stay transparent, never more than two layers, and spill a little over the line, like a colourist’s hand.

The portraits are three-quarter busts, recognisable as a thumbnail or full size: each person has their own hairstyle silhouette, accessory and clothing colour.

Vignettes

The objects on the desk

Ten vignettes painted for the interface: each one opens one of the game’s moves, on a pool of wash.

Portraits

A gallery of faces

A few plates from the game’s thirty or so portraits. The names stay in the archives: it’s up to you to find them there.

  • Pl. I
    Engraved portrait of an elderly woman with white hair braided in a crown, a lace collar and a brooch, in a pink dress.
    White hair braided in a crown, lace collar, brooch. Carmine wash.
  • Pl. II
    Engraved portrait of a bearded man in a sailor’s cap and a blue buttoned pea jacket.
    Sailor’s cap, full beard, buttoned pea jacket. Indigo wash.
  • Pl. III
    Engraved portrait of a young woman with chestnut hair cut in a bob, a pearl necklace and a lilac dress.
    Short bob, pearl necklace, bare shoulders. Lilac wash.
  • Pl. IV
    Engraved portrait of a smiling man in a leather helmet, aviator goggles pushed up on his forehead.
    Leather helmet and aviator goggles pushed up. Sienna wash.
  • Pl. V
    Engraved portrait of a woman in a black feathered hat, a lorgnette hanging on a chain, a pink blouse.
    Feathered hat, lorgnette hanging at the neck. Carmine and indigo wash.
  • Pl. VI
    Engraved portrait of an elderly woman with plaited grey hair, in a green jumper with a zigzag pattern.
    Zigzag Ostrian jumper, plaited grey hair. Celadon wash.
  • Pl. VII
    Engraved portrait of a man in a brown felt hat, with a goatee and a floppy bow tie, in a yellow jacket.
    Wide-brimmed felt hat, goatee, floppy bow tie. Saffron wash.
  • Pl. VIII
    Engraved portrait of a woman in a yellow turban, earrings and brown gloves, in a green dress.
    Knotted turban, earrings, gloves. Sage wash.
  • Pl. IX
    Engraved portrait of a red-haired, bearded man in a blue jumper with a zigzag pattern.
    Red beard, zigzag jumper. Indigo and carmine wash.

The map

Details of Velmarche

A single large plate, cut into layers: ground, relief, water, places and place names. In the game, each place lights up when you visit it.

  • The cartouche A double rule, a title in capitals, the engraver’s credit: the map presents itself as an official document of 1974.
  • The compass rose Pen-drawn circles, a solid needle pointing north: the only ornament in the western margin.
  • The Cap de Tennok A white lighthouse with a red band on the north-western point, and the contour lines of the Mer Grise.
  • Aubrelieu The capital as a vignette: dome, ramparts and roofs in a carmine wash, the Orvelle as a celadon ribbon.
  • The Clairette and the Lac d’Aulne Chimneys, water wheels and a lake of clear water: the Clairette valley at the foot of the hills.
  • The Monts Corvins The relief is engraved in hatching, the Thalbère border traced in a carmine wash.

The illustrations of the documents (photographs, postcards, press cuttings) will join the artbook when the game is released.