Beast of Burden: Concept art by Steven Kimura
Beast of Burden: Concept art by Steven Kimura
When a player wins the Impossible Vocal Challenge in Rock Band 2, a special outfit - known as the Beast of Burden - is unlocked in the Metal Shop. Harmonix Artist Steven Kimura wanted this garment to represent what many consider to be the deepest, purest strain in the genre: Norwegian Black Metal. "I took a lot of cues from Peter Beste's photos of the Black Metal scene," Kimura says, "But I didn't want to just recreate something that already existed. Rock Band is about generating this sort of fantasy around what it's like to be in a band. I wanted to make an outfit that a guy from a black metal band would want to wear. Something he wouldn't necessarily be able to pull off in real life, because I don't think those guys have great sewing skills."
Figure 1: Kimura's initial thumbnail
Kimura started out with a rough thumbnail of a singer draped in a caribou pelt, the skull of which fits snugly over the character's own head. "The antlers were a logical choice for a Black Metal singer," he says, "but most important detail for me was the dangling hooves." 
Figure 2: a more detailed view of the Beast in development
From the thumbnail, Kimura developed a more detailed illustration that skewed darker. "You can see that now he's got that black metal beard, and he looks a little more upset." At this point Kimura had to make decisions about how the various components of the outfit could be removed and combined with other articles in a character's closet. "You can see that the caribou head is actually, um, a hat, and the rest of the pelt qualifies as a shirt. So you could conceivably have a guy with the deer head, a T-shirt, and shorts."
Figure 3: An in-progress color illustration by Eliot Min
Artist Eliot Min then prepared a more meticulous rendering of the Beast so that an orthographic model (a map that brings the two-dimensional artwork to life as a three-dimensional character) could be generated. Kimura made some final adjustments - "I went in and inverted the bird hanging from his chest because so much of the Black Metal iconography involves the inverted cross – obviously we didn't want to get into any religious imagery in the game, but this upside-down bird has a similar effect. And I thought the boots could be a little more metal."
Figure 4: The orthographic model for the Beast of Burden
You've got a lot of work ahead of you if you want to check out the final Beast of Burden outfit. But cracking the Impossible Vocal Challenge in Rock Band 2 is a small price to pay for the privilege of wearing a fetid, fanged caribou corpse on stage in front of thousands of fans.
Posted
September 22
with
36 comments
Comments
Hinaruthekat...
My band's name is Black Monday, Which is actually also our real band's name- I play rythym
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Hinaruthekat...
wow
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
thedoom...
i made the name of my band living proof, which i think is a awesome name
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Stahlbrand...
Hey, awesome, I finally unlocked it today. Love the results, but I might not have shown as much skin through the pants section. It looks friggin epic though, so great job.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
WhizKidRaven...
I used this suit for my Lionheart character, and it is incredible. I interchange using the helmet or not, and I switched out the pants for moleskin, but it's an incredible outfit and thank you so much for representing the metal!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
TheTaoma...
Haven't gotten that yet~ But I know I can. Vocals isn't really all that hard anyways.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
HeavyHorse...
Its amazing what a good idea and a couple of sketches can result with.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Zen_49er...
I'm fine without the suit. I'm satisfied with how I made my character look resembling my all expert band's name "Shallow Grave". Check out my profile and look at my characters pics ;). Made him look like a zombie and took me 2 hours to figure out how it would make him best look like one too. Pretty Unique.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
BryanAtomic...
how do I get this? I completed the impossible vocal challange and it said "you have bested what most bands shy away from" or something like that, yet the outfit is still not int he rock shop or my closet.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
gothic_flavor...
Uhh.... oooohhhh-kaaaay- ?-
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Snake9...
Man I cant wait 2 get those cloths
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Trizzie D...
I dug the concept. I wish the coloring was a little different. Trying to change anything that "metal" to white is annoying. But putting the deer head and a pig mask? Hilarious.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Conatzer...
i have everyone of the impsossible outfits
the bass and guitar are the gayest of the 4
Friday, October 10, 2008
SOFA KINGSAVAGE...
Any chance we will see concept art for the other "impossible" items?
Thanks,
-Guy on the couch
Thursday, October 9, 2008
george...
That suit looks awesome...I wonder if there is a suit for the guitar challenges?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
afterstasis...
this isn't fair.
i'm obviously the king of black metal on the forums, but i can barely make it through all but the easiest songs on expert vocals.
maybe it's time to learn how to hum. :(
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
DEXTER LIVE...
I beat this on expert no problem same with guitar and bass.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Soror_YZBL...
no fair! I have to have a snake covering my boobs!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
mistrbily...
Beast of Burden is cool, but Kill em' Shakespeare is probably my favorite
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Fleshwound...
Very interesting. Now, if I could only hold a tone.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
tjolson...
I have this for my guy and then for my girl. The girl gets a snake for a top. Just a snake. ;-)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Aut0matic M16...
Like to do the Vocals Challenge, but as for the suit, blah not my style.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
uglyteradon...
Um... incredible.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
AROAH1337...
Now I have to beat the impossible vocals challenge. I have to.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
OKGost...
Holy crap. That's a nice suit.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Atsumi...
Definitely going to unlock this one soon.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
hpdude...
cool
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
kornhedd...
Wicked!!! This'll soon be mine!!
Monday, October 6, 2008
ensiferum98...
I think we need some BM to go along with the outfit now. Mayhem, anyone?
Monday, October 6, 2008
Costaboblas...
i liked this outfit a lot I'd say it was my second favorite. (I didnt really care for the dear head)
the punk outfit was a big disappointment though. (I love punk music but that outfit was just underwear and scribbles)
my favorite outfit though has got to be the goth one, even though i dont like that genre that outfit is wicked.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Jimmik...
Hmm, guess I need to go finish the impossible vocals challenge...
Monday, October 6, 2008
emmaopeel...
small price to pay, indeed : this outfit is a pinnacle at twice the price! I look forward to seeing more of this stellar haberdashery!
Monday, October 6, 2008
MarkHawk...
I very much enjoyed a behind the scenes look at what your artist are doing. Give a good idea on how not only what the process is but why you guys do it. Again awesome work and cant wait to unlock it.
Broke my Mic so it might be a little while.
Monday, October 6, 2008
SilentCricket...
you can do all the challenges on easy fyi, so far i have done the singing one, the guitar one and the bass one, i cannot play drums to save my life.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Serpentd...
Oh man I so wish I could sing above medium, haha. Hopefully I can talk my wife into getting this outfit, this thing is way killer and total metal. \m/
I must say this is really cool to see how things start out as an idea and morphs into ingame reality. Hope we get to see more of the behind the scenes type of stuff.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Stahlbrand...
Awesome. I love behind the scenes infomation like this. I would like to see more content like this, explaining how things go from the idea stage to the in-game stage.
Also, better warm up my pipes, because I am -so- getting that.
Monday, October 6, 2008