[7th September 2021] To celebrate twenty-five years of Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics teamed up with a group of artists who would bring their own reimagined twist to the game covers we all love and grew up with. For September, the studio has been focusing on Tomb Raider Underworld (2008) and teamed up with Switzerland-based artist, Laura H. Rubin.
Tomb Raider Underworld is considered to be one of the grittier of the series, featuring a deeper emotional depth than we had sometimes seen before, and with buried tombs with dark secrets. Darkness plays a huge part in the experience, from more realistic weathering on Lara's skin to the sometimes limited use of light for the atmosphere. For the piece, Laura represented Lara's dual personality, showing both the adventurer and her doppelganger but also representing that darkness, both in the feel of the piece and in Lara's look.
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Talking about her inspiration behind the piece, Laura states on the Tomb Raider 25 blog that "the big challenge in reinterpreting the artwork for "Tomb Raider Underworld" was Lara in combination with her evil doppelganger. Both look almost the same, but are fundamentally different, and it also had to be clear that this is not a 'psychological doppelganger', (i.e. the dark side of Lara herself), but that this is an independent character in the game.
Inspired by old movie posters, I moved the two characters close together, creating a classic "adversary" look. However, I slightly offset them so that they are perceived as two different people. The stone fragment in the background shows various Norse runes, which refer to the main relic (Thor's Hammer) in the game.
So my goal was to depict two strong female characters: Lara Croft, as brave and courageous as we know her, and Lara's evil doppelganger, who watches her from the darkness."
You can learn more about Laura's piece, HERE!
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| Full piece. Click to enlarge. |
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