I came upon this through a tweet from Reddit Halo. It chuckled.

So did you like it? Laugh even?

-Sal

Well folks, here we are at the last concept art article (for the time being). I’ve saved what I consider to be the best for last, that being the UNSC. Some of these you may have seen before, but I’m betting there are more than a few you haven’t. Read on and enjoy! (As always, click on pics to make bigger)

The concept above it titled “Pursuit.” It’s obviously a Broadsword, but what is it trying to escape from? Those do not look like Covenant vessels chasing it down. So they have to be Forerunner. Man, I’d have loved to have had a dogfight with Forerunner ships! This art is fantastic. My eye is immediately draw to the Broadsword, which of course is the focal point of the piece. The yellow glow on the ship from the glancing beam is an excellent touch and helps to sell the realism even more.
Another of Sparth’s amazing concepts. This is the Ivanoff Research station. More specifically the docking port. It’s amazing how much of this ended up in the game. I absolutely love this piece and would love to have it as a print. Man, why 343 hasn’t done this is beyond me. I think there’s a market for prints/posters of this stuff. WE mostly get the finished graphics as posters. Concepts like this are worth it to me. Heck, even MORE worth it, IMO. But then, you all know I love concept art.

One of Ivanoff’s corridors. Many similar details here exist in the final in-game version. This definitely feels like a space station to me. Alsmot along the lines of the Rebel corvette at the start of the original Star Wars. The orange lights as shape contrasts to the darkness of that portion of the hallway, while the lit portion is even more of a contrast. great design here!
A concept from a scene in the Web mini-series Forward Unto Dawn, here we have the ceremony deck that officially christens the UNSC Infinity into service. Very light and airy. I’m getting “Coruscant” (From Star Wars) vibes here!

The UNSC Infinity flies above the ceremony of it’s christening. I love how it just DWARFS everything else. Continue to look at this a bit longer. You’ll notice much more detail in the ship than with a quick glance.

The Infinity launches it’s dropships to Requiem. With dropships the size of the Forward Unto Dawn, you know the Infinity is massive! We didn’t quite see this scene like this in Spartan Ops. Instead we saw many Pelicans and Broadswords depart of Requiem. We did however see these dropships launch from the Infinity in protection of her from the Covenant fleet already positioned at Requiem.

Might this be the Composer aboard the Infinity? Why yes, yes it is. Recall that during the campaign, Dr. Tilson tells Chief that it took the Infinity months to move this from Halo Installation 03. This one became an instant classic and was used in early marketing.
Okay, I have to admit I LOLed when I first saw this. Why? Well, don’t those three sections with the three circles within look like the Phillips “Norelco” electric razor? Perhaps that too is a nod to Star Wars as The Pahntom Menace used a female razor as the base for the Jedi communicator prop as used by Qui-gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

An unidentified UNSC ship outside of Requiem, while a (likely) Broadsword flies past. While there is no fire in space, I never mind the embellishment by artists to convey thrust in space, using fire.

One of the rooms in the Forward Unto Dawn. The dark blue/black hues give off an air of cold to the whole piece. That makes sense as she was drifted for 4 years, 7 months, and 10 days. Chief was literally frozen over as well.
Another room within the Forward Unto Dawn. Again the same cold foreboding feel to this concept.

The above two were used for a scene in the Forward Unto Dawn miniseries. This is aboard the UNSC Infinity. Basically the humans, debris and fire was layered over the previous one, while the base layer was recolorized. It’s a great technique to use in Photoshop without having to create a whole new piece of virtually the same thing.

Once again, Ivanoff station. Love those lights and casting shadows coming off the asteroids.
This is another of the classic concept pieces used early on in marketing. This interior bay is quite large. While a bit dark, the treys give off a very industrial feel to the whole piece.

Originally this concept was to be somewhere within the Infinity. Technically that’s still true. I’ll explain. While we know this became the interior portion of the multiplayer map “Erosion”, we also know that War Games actually take place within the Infinity’s holodeck. So it is true, from a certain point of view. (Heh, lots of Star Wars references in this article.)

The Didact’s ship Mantle’s Approach coming to collect the Composer from Ivanoff Station. While the station is big, its NOTHING compare to the immensity of the Didact’s ship. heck, even the Infinity is small when compared to the Mantle’s Approach.

Here we see Chief as he is trying to complete his mission to stop the Didact. Much of this scene is very similar to the in-game version.
The above is a random interior shot of the Infinity. Man, why did we NOT see this in the game? Other than Episode 7 chapters 2-5 of Spartan Ops, we never got the chance to explore the Infinity. Yes, there were some cut scenes, but that’s not the same. I would have loved to have had the Infinity as a hub in the game that we could have interacted with. Hopefully the next game can bring something like that with it.
Once again Ivanoff. This design has always seemed a little strange to me.A station built AROUND asteroids? Heh, well, it IS sci-fii after all.
A greyscale sketch of the Infinity’s bridge. Even for a sketch, there is a lot of detail.

The next seven concepts are all differing viewpoints of the Infinity’s engine room.It’s clear that in the concepts Forerunner tech was much more prevalent. In Spartan Ops, during the missions, we never really get a sense of that. We do just a little in the cutscenes, but it is very little.

Well folks, that wraps up the concept articles at present. As I find more, I’ll post future articles. I can’t wait to see what Halo 5 Guardians concept art looks like!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the past couple of week’s worth of articles on Halo concept art from Reach and Halo 4. Now, just because these articles are (temporarily) ending, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t come back to HFFL.

There’s going to be LOTS of Halo news in the coming weeks. E3, RTX, San Diego Comicon, PAX Prime and MORE are on the horizon!

If you’ve enjoy this or any of the other concept art articles, please let me know. I’d like to read your thoughts on these. Hopefully they were entertaining and maybe even a little informative.

-Sal

Forerunner architecture is grand. Though some would say unnecessary. Since this is for a game and not in real life, I say, why not go with grandeur!

Let’s look at several Forerunner concept environments from Halo 4.

The beam generator above has an almost skeletal carcass like feel to it.
One of many Sky Spire concepts for Halo 4. This one reflects the campaign mission that we use the Pelican in. I wish we would have more piloting in Halo. I enjoy flying about!
Here is a concept of the bridge we cross in the campaign. Once again, no real sense of why it has the upward spires. But then, Forerunner architecture is a bit perplexing. I like how we go from shadow in the foreground to light in the background. More often than not, that’s switched.
Another concept of the bridge. This showing the multiple levels of it. Note the cyan light. It’s hard to take your eye away from it when viewing this concept, huh? It’s great use of color and contrast that focuses your eye where the artist wants you to look.
Above we see a MUCH grander scale of the sky spires. This concept conveys, “immensity”. The blue hues as well as the snow on the mountains really make this feel cold and uninviting.
A Forerunner hallway. I hope we do get a prequel game where we can see Forerunners in action, using these hallways. They are tall, but not THAT tall.
This concept is a little confusing as to it’s location. It could be Meltdown. It’s definitely not Requiem as there are two other planets/moons in the distance.
Another concept of the same structure. The red really commands your attention.Is that machine “glassing” that area? Hmmm….
The above piece might be familiar to you. If I’m not mistaken, it was in the Art of Halo book. This represents the generator that we target for the Infinity to blow up. I like the dark colors of this as it makes the beam of light that much more noticeable. In the campaign, this is at daytime. I think that took away from what could have been a much more epic explosion.

Chief in the air as he is grav lifted to the Didact. Now this is more epic, IMO. Here is Chief, alone, trusting in the grav lift to get him to the Didact. He’s the only one that can stop the Didact from further human composition. The Earth in the background makes a powerful statement. It shows it’s vulnerability.
Yet another of the sky spire concepts. Heh, I think someone just REALLY liked those things. 
This is likely either an early concept for Erosion or Warrens (the Spartan Ops map). 
Here is one of the pylons that you have to shut down within Requiem’s core. With no figure shown with it, it’s hard to get a sense of scale. Except…the clouds in the foreground. The pylon just reeks of power!

Above is one of the stations you arrive at to shut down the pylons. I don’t know what it is about these that I seem to like the dark tones. Perhaps it makes me feel like Chief is really fighting against something dark and foreboding.

The above is an illustration showing a Forerunner location that seems to have been created before the area around it. This reminds me much of “Sniper Alley” from Spartan Ops. I always have fun playing that mission. Have you played through Spartan Ops? If not, take some time to do so. It’s a whole other campaign. Yes, a bit different from a normal Campaign. Still, it entertained me for many hours and continues to do so.

Here is a concept for the multiplayer maps ‘Monolith’. This memorial stays true to the design and scale of Forerunner architecture.
This breathtaking view isn’t specifically in the game as is. However, elements of it were likely used for parts of the campaign as well as the multiplayer map, ‘Complex’. I really appreciate the detail in this piece. This is another concept I wish I could get a print of. It would make a fine poster.
Strangely enough this looks more like Reach multiplayer map, ‘Tempest’. Perhaps that’s the reason it wasn’t used?

That’s no moon! (and it’s not really a space station either…) A pinprick of light escapes Requiem as a portal opens to accept the uninvited visitors.
The sky leviathan was to be an ambient life-form in Halo 4. Sadly, it was cut. I really hope that in the next game, we get alien animal lifeforms.  It doesn’t have to be a lot. Heck, Reach had the Moa and Guta. That was enough for me. Just something more to bring realism/life into a world.
I wonder what purpose is served by this Forerunner structure? The sides remind me of a ribcage. Curious? Would that make this the heart of Requiem?

The above concept is CLASSIC ‘Sparth’. Nicolas ‘Sparth’ Bouvier was one of the concept artists for Halo 4. He’s since been promoted. If you’ve never had a chance to watch one of his videos where he shows how he creates a concept, then you’re in for a treat! His mastery of digital programs for ‘painting’ something like this is nearly unparalleled.

The above concept should definitely look familiar. If I’m not mistaken, it was one of the first revealed for Halo 4.
Here is a rough concept of a coolant room. Even in it’s unfinished looking state, it still gives measure to the power of Forerunner technology.

The last five concepts are of sentinel factories within Requiem.
I like the above one for it’s warm colors. The light bouncing off the top of the factory adds to the realism of this concept.

Now I’m not sure why the above is called a sentinel factory. But I’m not about to argue that point. It’s perspective tells us this is a HUGE structure.

The above two show the progression of concept art. The top one is a sketch not showing as much detail, while the bottom one is much more fleshed out. Note the subtle changes in design as well. It’s clear they came from the same line of thinking though.

Have any favorites from this article? Let me know by replying below.

Tomorrow we have more than two dozen concepts of UNSC locations in Halo 4.

-Sal

This was edited together nicely so that the scenes mesh with the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs717IIoO-E&feature=youtu.be

-Sal