![]() ![]() Inside Driftmark, the seat of the Valeryons, where Lord Corlys sits on the Driftwood Throne. “We also referenced a seventh-century subterranean church dug out of a cliff in France that I visited once on vacation.” “Miguel wanted Brutalist influences,” Clay says. On Dragonstone, the ancestral home of House Targaryen, the vibes were grander still, while remaining foreboding in their own way. We wanted to echo that this was his palace, his royal kingdom.” The Hall of Nine-named after his conquests-has a palatial feel, with its high ceilings and big windows. He has built his own kingdom, and his own throne, from driftwood. Clay designed Driftmark to reflect its master’s pride and ambitions: “Corlys was playing on his Velaryon roots and the bloodline of his wife, the queen who never was. “Our approach was to embrace and extend that world.” One of the new locations that wasn’t present in GoT is the seaside fortress of Driftmark, overseen by Lord Corlys Velaryon, who is known as the “Sea Snake” for his many oceanic conquests. “We were stepping into enormously successful and big shoes,” Clay says. Naturally, creating distinct, visually stunning castles in a world already beloved by viewers was a daunting task. Once these renderings are approved by the directors and producers, art departments step in and begin bringing the scenes to life through techniques such as computer-generated imagery. ![]() HBOĪfter these initial drawing phases, Clay creates watercolors of his work and sends them to concept artists, who make renderings of House of the Dragon’s otherworldly landscapes and architecture. Dragon landscape pic archive#“I must have a thousand sketchbooks in storage somewhere from all the years I’ve been designing.” That repository of notes and drawings is essential to Clay’s creative process, and he mined his own archive for House of the Dragon inspo.Ī rendering of Clay’s original sketch of the Red Keep. “People don’t draw anymore-it’s tragic,” he says. In a world where designers of all stripes are prioritizing digital creation methods over analog, Clay’s pen-and-paper approach feels like a breath of fresh air. “I’m constantly drawing, whether I’m out for dinner, having a drink at the pub, or away on holiday somewhere.” “I carry a sketchbook with me all the time,” Clay says. House of the Dragon may be big-budget stuff (each episode clocked in at just under a cool $20 million, according to Variety), but the epic scenes start as scribbles in an old sketchbook. Here, Clay shares how he shaped the origin story of one of Westeros’s most notorious-and consistently blond-noble houses. Ultimately, Clay’s imaginative sets serve as a backdrop for a classic story of warring families-in this case the Targaryens, led by Princess Rhaenyra, and the Hightowers, led by Queen Alicent-each vying for the ever-elusive and often-bloodstained Iron Throne. One particularly large set piece was a model of Old Valyria-the fallen kingdom from which the Targaryens originated-in the king’s chambers. “So, three distinct looks to those three castles.” ![]() “I wanted the Red Keep to have a particular architectural vernacular, and Dragonstone a different vernacular-and later, Harrenhal,” Clay tells ELLE DECOR. Since many of the locations in House of the Dragon were also featured in GoT, it was important that each spoke its own language. Martin’s book, Fire and Blood, which recounts the long, violent history of the Targaryen House-was the first point of reference. Dragon landscape pic tv#The man behind the TV magic? British production designer Jim Clay, whose résumé includes the sets of Belfast, Murder on the Orient Express, and Children of Men, among many others.Ĭlay’s challenge with House of the Dragon was to create a landscape that felt similar to but also different than GoT, as the prequel is set nearly 200 years before the events of the original. Like its predecessor, one of House of the Dragon’s greatest strengths lies in its set design, which instantly transports the viewer to the fantastical land of Westeros-from the royal halls of the Red Keep to the seaside cliffs of Driftmark. Dragon landscape pic series#House of the Dragon, the long-awaited prequel series to HBO’s mega-hit Game of Thrones, is here at last, serving up a heaping helping of intrigue, violence, and scaly fire-breathers with each episode. ![]()
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