Looking beyond Westeros’ borders

Think you know Game of Thrones? Think again, as artists cast new light on unexplored corners of George RR Martin’s world

A fantasy artist’s raison d’être is to visualise worlds that only exist in the mind. That’s certainly something the group of 44 artists behind Unseen Westeros, an art exhibition and accompanying book, would agree with.

Led by matte painter Sven Sauer, and involving many artists who have worked on the TV series over the years, the idea was born back in 2015. Their aim was to visualise the parts of George RR Martin’s world that had been mentioned, but had not enjoyed realisation in the series.

“We were working on season five of Game of Thrones,” recalls Sven, and the book World of Ice and Fire had just come out, which tells the entire pre- story of the world of the series.” After two weeks he had 15 artists on board. Soon, the ranks swelled, boasting artists who had worked on successful video games titles like Horizon Zero Dawn as well as films such as Avatar.

“It wasn’t easy getting people on board,” admits Sven. “Many concept artists were booked up for the whole year, so to convince them to participate meant them cancelling paid jobs!” Normally, five to six concept artist work on a season of Game of Thrones, explains the artist. “You can imagine what a huge creative potential it was when all 40 artists came together!”

And it’s fair to say that this enterprise has been a success. Over 16,000 people filed through the

The original idea was that we could pack all the paintings into a container and go wherever we wanted

doors of the Berlin exhibition in the first four days. The art book has hit its ¤25,000 Kickstarter goal, with over ¤80,000 to spare at time of going to press. And it’s not over, either. “We plan to travel with the exhibition,” says Sven. “The original idea was that we could pack all the paintings into a container and go wherever we wanted. We’re already in discussions with other possible locations. So keep an eye on the website.”

However, Sven admits that online is not the best way to see the contents of the exhibition, and the exquisite art that’s contained within. “When displayed on a tablet or computer screen, the whole exhibition experience becomes very different and not as impressive as we had planned it,” he says. “The paintings were painted big, at 6,000 pixels wide or more, so that we can have them printed out at a final size of 180x100cm. That’s how we want them seen: either in real life, or as highquality prints within the book.”

So when Tyrion talks of the fall of ancient Valyria and you want a visual to accompany the fantastical images that appear in your head, visit the exhibition or buy a copy of the book. You can find out more details at

The free city of Norvos, as painted by Philipp Scherer, a concept artist and illustrator who’s based in Berlin.

Sven Sauer worked with concept designer Kirill Barybin to depict one of the labyrinths on the island city of Lorath.

San Francisco-based matte painter Kristin Johnson illustrated the Arm of Dorne, before it was destroyed by dark magic.

Matte painters Sven Sauer and Max Riess say, “In the series only a small ruin of Valeria was shown briefly. We want to reveal how gigantic this city must have been.”

This fearsome ice spider was painted by Jimmy Przemek Duda, a senior concept artist based in the Berlin office of VFX studio Trixter. Tobias Mannewitz, a creative director at Karakter Design Studio, painted Greywater Watch, a castle that’s built on a man-made floating island.