This article serves as an archive of past The Dark Mod concept art and discussions related to concept art.
It also houses fan art for TDM, made either by individual FM authors or player-only fans of TDM, and discussions about said fan art.
Concept Art
Official concept art for TDM. Most of it was made in the earliest years of the mod (2004-2009), before its initial public release in 2009. A few pieces of concept art are from more recent years, mainly for ideas or characters that have been contemplated, but not yet included in TDM.
Major concept artists for TDM include: Springheel, KFMcCall, god_is_my_goldfish, Darkness_Falls, oDDity, DeepOmega
Characters
Thieves
Oldest concept art piece for TDM, by Springheel (August 2004)
Further developed initial thief concept, by Springheel (2004)
Further developed initial thief concept, by Springheel (2004)
Thief study concept, by Springheel (2004)
Thief facial disguise concept, by Springheel (2004)
Thief on the streets concept, by Springheel (2004)
Thief sneaking around concept, by Springheel (2004)
Early thief character mockup
Early thief character mockup
Scene with completed thief character
Female thief concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Female thief concept (with facial disguise), by Springheel (2000s)
Guards
Oldest City Watch guard concept (original & coloured), by Springheel (October 2004)
Oldest City Watch guard concept (only coloured), by Springheel (October 2004)
City Watch guard concept, by Springheel (ca 2004/2005)
City Watch guard concept (coloured), by Springheel (ca 2004/2005)
City Watch guard concept, by KFMcCall (ca 2005)
City Watch guard mockup, by Oddity (2000s)
Comparison of City Watch guard concept and AI model (concept by Springheel, model by Oddity)
City Watch guard mockup (upper body close-up)
Scene with completed City Watch characters
Professional guard concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Domestic guard concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Domestic guard concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Helmet concepts, by Springheel (2000s)
Helmet concepts, by KFMcCall (ca 2005)
Noblemen
Nobleman concept, by Springheel (October 2004)
Noblemen concepts, by KFMcCall (ca 2005)
Noblewoman concept, by Springheel (October 2004)
Noblewoman mockup, by Oddity (2000s)
Noblewoman early model in-game
Builders
Second Builder Priest concept, by Springheel (October 2004)
Second Builder Priest concept (coloured), by Springheel (October 2004)
Builder Priest early mockup, by Oddity
Builder Priest early mockup (complete), by Oddity
Comparison of Builder Priest concept and AI model (concept by Springheel, model by Oddity)
Scene with completed Builder Priest character
Builder acolyte or prelate early mockup
Inquisitor early model in-game (reworked from acolyte/prelate)
Builder guard concept (original & coloured), by Springheel (October 2004)
Builder guard concept (only coloured), by Springheel (October 2004)
Builder guard early mockup, by Oddity
Builder Elite Guards, by Springheel (unused)
Builder Elite Guards, by Springheel (unused)
Scene with completed Builder characters
Pagans
Pagan settler concept, by Springheel (April 2005)
Pagan warrior concept (close-up)
Pagan lady in finer dress, by Oddity (April 2006)
Mages
Mage concept (coloured), by Darkness_Falls (August 2005)
Mage concept (coloured), by Darkness_Falls (August 2005)
Mage concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Mage concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Mage concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Mage concept (coloured), by Springheel (2000s)
Mage character early mockup (complete)
Inventors' Guild
Inventors' Guild scientist concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Inventors' Guild scientist concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Inventors' Guild theoretician concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Inventors' Guild theoretician concept, by Springheel (2000s)
Inventors' Guild "faction" poster
Environments
The City
City architecture sketches, by KFMcCall (December 2004)
City architecture sketches, by KFMcCall
City architecture sketches, by KFMcCall
Window and window frame concepts, by KFMcCall
Cityscape concept (night)
Alley concept, by Darkness_Falls
Street lamp concept/mockup
Bridgeport ("The City") map concept
Various locations
Pagan village concept, by Darkness_Falls
Wilderness cave concept, by Darkness_Falls
Concept for the outside of a castle or manor house at night, by Darkness_Falls (December 2004)
Comparison of real world towerhouse and early in-game mockup, by Komag
Map of The Empire concept
Interiors
Concept for interiors with vaulted arches, by KFMcCall (December 2004)
Concept for interiors, by KFMcCall (December 2004)
Builder forge for sacred hammers
Early mockup of mansion walls and door
Early mockup of a mansion basement hallway
Household items untextured mockup
Equipment
Short sword and arrow quiver concept by Springheel (2004)
Early arrowheads concept (unused)
Water gem for water arrow concept (unused)
Water arrow concept (unused)
Fire arrow crystal-holder concept (unused)
Schematics for the inner workings of a noisemaker (January 2005)
Early rope arrow concept (unused)
Crossbow and bolt concept (unused)
Gauntlets and sleeves concept (reworked)
"Light crystal" concept (unused, August 2005)
Breath potion concept
(May 2005)
Scene with completed gadgets and tools
Creatures
Belchers
Proposal stage, not developed yet. Test footage of Belcher AI (old and very rough).
Early belcher concept art
Early belcher mockup (by AScottK)
Head mockup of newer belcher model
Zombies
Revenants
Automatons
Guard robot and other concepts currently unused, only the lantern robot has been completed and included in the core mod.
Early guard robot sketch, by god_is_my_goldfish (unused)
Early guard robot mockup, by DeepOmega (unused)
Early guard robot mockup, by DeepOmega (unused)
Early guard robot mockup, by DeepOmega (unused)
Early guard robot mockup, by DeepOmega (unused)
Early guard robot mockup, by DeepOmega (unused)
Early guard robot mockup, by DeepOmega (unused)
Early guard robot mockup (unused)
Early guard robot mockup, close-up (unused)
"Camerabot", by Darkness_Falls (unused)
Spider-legged guard robot armed with knockout gas, by KFMcCall (unused)
Spider-legged guard robot armed with knockout gas, by KFMcCall (unused)
Wheeled-and-limbed guard robot armed with knockout gas, by KFMcCall (unused)
Various designs for guard robot heads and faces, by KFMcCall (unused)
Quadrupedal sphere-shaped sentry robot, by KFMcCall (unused)
Early lantern/alarm quadruped robot mockup
Werebeasts
Proposal stage, not developed yet. Test footage that includes a pursuing Werebeast AI (old and very rough). A newer version is slowly under development. Test footage of newer Werebeast AI.
Early werebeast concept in Pagan "faction" poster (lower right corner)
Pre-2.0 Werebeast test AI (unused, being reworked)
Newer werebeast test AI (preliminary testing in Dark Radiant)
"Mantians"
Proposal by Plutonia, not developed yet.
Concept model for a 'Mantian', an insect-like humanoid
TDM Menus and GUIs
Visual mockups for early menu and GUI concepts.
Oldest Main Menu concept (November 2004)
Alternate Main Menu concept (December 2004)
Options Menu concept (November 2004)
Real-time reading mockup (November 2004)
Loader screen background concept
Loader screen concept (thievy background)
Loader screen concept (thievy background, final version)
Failure screen concept (first half)
Failure screen concept (second half)
"Broken Glass Studios" logo
None of these have been officially adopted to date, but they're interesting. Discussed here.
Logo concept by Darkness_Falls
Logo concept (sequence) by Darkness_Falls
Logo concept by Springheel
Logo concept by Springheel
Development videos
Promotional Art
Various official promotional art, including wallpapers.
Wallpapers
The Dark Mod wallpaper (1280 x 1024)
Logos
The Dark Mod logo (early years)
The Dark Mod logo (black background)
The Dark Mod logo (white background)
Trailers
Soundtrack
Fan Art
Various unofficial fan art, including illustrations and fan-made wallpapers.
Wallpapers
Fan-made wallpapers with a theme based on The Dark Mod.
Wallpapers by SeriousToni
"Guards drinking" (1920 x 1080)
TDM 2.0 promo (1920 x 1440)
Additional download link here.
General fan art
See also