Something different for this week!
An environment artist called Lucy Zini got in touch with me a while ago about a university project involving concept art of the Arcana Emporium, Alex’s shop in the Alex Verus series. Here are some of the pieces she’s produced!
The first is a scene of the Emporium in the evening rain – this is pretty much how it would have looked in that rainy day in Book 5, Hidden. Click on it for a bigger view!
It’s actually very close to how I imagined Alex’s shop. The main difference is the climbing plant wrapping up the left side and above the door, which Alex probably isn’t enough of a gardener to maintain, but which definitely makes it look a lot nicer.
Next is one in the spring, which is the time of year when the series starts with Fated:
Definitely blends in a lot more. You’d probably barely notice it among all the other weird shops unless you took a second look, which feels exactly right.
If you want to see more, go to Lucy Zini’s page here – she also has some variations of how she designed the shop front, and a collection of images for the kinds of things I described the shop as selling (crystal balls, daggers, herbs, etc). Go take a look!
Very cool!
Great job Lucy!
Very interesting to see some concept art! I won’t lie – last time I was in London I was looking for Alex’ shop. 😀
I guess your descriptions of Alex’s shop are pretty damn good, because that’s almost exactly like I pictured it too.