If you ask Donglu Yu about her career
highlights, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black
Flag is right up there. Set mainly in the
Caribbean during the colonial period,
the action takes place on pirate and
privateer galleons as well as among
the new towns and cities that were
taking root in the New World. Donglu
created artwork visualising three keyFLYING THE BLACK FLAG
Donglu tells us about one of her favourite – and demanding – concept art projects so far...
As well as painting various mood
images for the city of Havana, she and
the other artists created what are
called ‘street stripes’, which visualise
the fronts of the houses in various
parts of the city. “The 3D artists could
take those concepts and translate
them into house modules and build
the city efficiently,” says Donglu.
For the islands, she came up with as
many shores and shapes as possible,
so the player would have a richer
gaming experience.
“The part that I enjoyed most was
the underwater theme. I don’t think
there’s anything more exciting than
discovering an old wreck for a
mysterious fantasy pirate experience.
Raphael Lacoste and I gathered
references for the underwater mood
board in order to complete those
scenes. VFX was also part of the
discussion so the effects team could
come up with graphic solutions for an
immersive underwater experience.”
areas of the game: the Cuban city of
Havana, the islands and the
underwater environments.
“What was cool about the early
conception period was that the art
director gave us a very minimal brief
and let us explore freely,” she says.
“We took inspiration from traditional
oil paintings and different movies.”Interview
THE DEPTHS
Underwater scenes were part of Donglu’s
domain when Assassin’s Creed IV: Black
Flag was in production.FAÇADES
The frontages Donglu
designed for Black Flag
directly helped the 3D
artists texture the city
of Havana.