How Borderlands Devs Created Franchise's Signature Art Style

The Borderlands art style is instantly recognizable, featuring bold outlines and vivid colors that give the game a hand-drawn, comic book feel. However, the journey to creating this signature look was far from easy, and likely wilder than you'd expect.

In a recent conversation with Game Informer, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford reflected on how the art style came to be and the many challenges the team faced along the way. When development on the original Borderlands began in 2005, the team explored six different visual directions, ranging from conventional to wildly experimental. There was no shortage of post-apocalyptic games: id Software was developing Rage, and Bethesda had Fallout.

According to Adam May, Art Director for Borderlands 4 and Character Modeler on the original game, the release of Fallout 3 made the developers realize they were visually overlapping with Bethesda's style. In the end, the safe, realistic style was set aside because it didn't match Borderlands' tone and gameplay.

May, sitting next to Concept Artist Scott Kester, noticed one of his doodles that stood out, which later became Captain Flynt in the game. Working with Kester and Art Director and Executive Producer Brian Martel, May helped turn the 2D style into 3D game art, which became the foundation for Borderlands' iconic look. Pitchford gave them two weeks to try, expecting failure, but was amazed by what they created.

Fully resolved to redo the entire game with the new art style, he had to explain and convince 2K to allow Gearbox to completely revamp a game that was nearly ready for Alpha. Pulling this off was truly a herculean effort from both the developers and the entire business.

As Borderlands 4 Creative Director Graham Timmins, who was also Lead Level Designer on the original Borderlands, shared, the team scrapped all the existing levels and characters and rebuilt them from scratch after several years of work. When Borderlands launched in 2009, it became a runaway success, leading to numerous sequels, and despite advances in technology, this art style still defines the visual direction of the franchise.

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