Yoshitaka Amano's Raw Reimagined Take On Tomb Raider (2013)

To celebrate twenty-five years of Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics have 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 October, we start a brand new trilogy with Tomb Raider (2013). To celebrate the game, the studio has teamed up with legendary artist, Yoshitaka Amano to recreate Lara in his own style.

Released in 2013, Tomb Raider is a darker reimagined take on Lara's origin story. While on a research mission searching for the lost island of Yamatai, the crew of the Endurance is shipwrecked and its crew must fight for survival on a deadly, strange land where believed mythological concepts are now real. The experience can be described as "raw" and "harsher" than what fans had seen before, a description that the artist conveys in his work too. For his work, Amano only paints and draws on canvas, making him one of the few artists using traditional techniques for the celebrations. 

With the piece, Yoshitaka Amano also spoke about his latest piece in an interview translated for the Tomb Raider 25 website. Congratulations on 25 years of Tomb Raider. When working on the world-famous game character Lara Croft, I thought about how to express her features as a Japanese artist. I decided to create a sumi-e (ink wash painting) atmosphere with a dignified Lara. I also added a cherry blossom petal treatment in the background. I hope game development teams and fans will all enjoy it."

Final additions were made to the final piece, the inclusion of the Tomb Raider logo by Franchise Art Director, Brenoch Adams.

You can learn more about Yoshitaka Amano and his work on the Tomb Raider 25 website, HERE.