Painting a Masterpiece on a Cathedral Ceiling for ‘Diablo IV’
To promote the fourth instalment in the hit gothic video game franchise ‘Diablo’, gaming industry giant Activision Blizzard has partnered with creative agency 72andSunny and production company Wildlife to take over a mediaeval cathedral in France and adorn its 60-foot-high ceiling and walls with 2,400 square feet of Renaissance-inspired paintings.
Titled 'The Cathedral of Diablo', the artwork was designed and led by American Baroque painter, Adam Miller. To create the enormous, demonic hellscape, he combined the epic scale and storytelling of the murals and frescoes painted by masters like Michelangelo and Caravaggio, with the gothic art style and characters of the ‘Diablo’ video game series. An accompanying spot featuring the voice of Charles Dance also showcases the Mephistophelian masterwork for those unable to visit the cathedral in person.
To delve beneath the layers of paint and down to the depths of hell, LBB’s Ben Conway spoke with the artist, Adam Miller, about a monumental month of 10-16 hour days working on the murals. Also discussing how this infernal idea came to life is Activision Blizzard’s VP, global consumer marketing, Kaleb Ruel, 72andSunny’s group creative director Tim Wolfe and Wildlife’s ECD and co-founder, Scott Friedman.
LBB> Where did the creative spark for this installation come from? How does it fit in with the wider strategy for the launch of ‘Diablo IV’?
Kaleb> Diablo’s art has always been rooted in gothic undertones, and takes inspiration from the Baroque style with a dark, gritty direction [that’s] really ownable by the IP. In partnership with 72andSunny, we created a vision for bringing this style to life in the real world in a way that’s iconic to Diablo.
Tim> The game's concept art and illustrations were created by following an approach Blizzard called the ‘old masters pillar’, which took famous art styles from painters like Caravaggio and Michelangelo and blended them with Diablo world elements. So, it made sense for us to give our game art and our story the same grand treatment, allowing us to showcase the game’s premium visual nature and the depth of its storytelling, while establishing ‘Diablo IV’ as a major blockbuster entertainment franchise.
Diablo is an epic franchise that we, as fans and gamers, have been playing for years, making this a passion project for all of us. It was important for us to honour the craft, storytelling and dark gothic roots of the franchise - so what better way to do that than cover the ceiling of a massive church with an epic Caravaggio-style painting of the battle through hell to Lillith herself?
LBB> The Diablo series is now over 25 years old! How has it evolved as a property since then, and how do you approach the marketing for a new release in such a long-standing franchise?
Kaleb> ‘Diablo IV’ represents the ultimate Diablo experience for our fans, while also introducing the IP to a new audience who will hop into ‘Sanctuary’ for the first time. Our programmes and activations will be a commitment to Diablo’s gothic dark undertones and deep lore that all our fans - current and future - are excited to explore. The evolution of the media landscape has really opened the aperture for how we position ‘Diablo IV’ as the mature gaming moment of the year. New and emerging channels have become an authentic way to explore Diablo’s innovative and edgy approach to media, and ways to connect with our audience.
LBB> How did you react to the cathedral painting idea at first?
Kaleb> When we first discussed the concept, we all thought it wasn’t feasible. Which church would we partner with? Is there an artist who can take on this project at such a scale?
Scott> 10 years ago, Wildlife recreated a portion of the Sistine Chapel inside a Fiat 500L, live on the floor of the LA Auto Show over a six-day period. Little did we know that our learnings on canvas preparation, working with a classically trained painter, and the nuances of working with Baroque painting techniques in unusually ambitious ways would prepare us for the project of a lifetime a decade later.
The Fiat project was a great success but also ended with us getting on The Pope’s official naughty list. Now, we were going to have to dance with the devil. Once we saw the scale of the church, we knew we had to expand our thinking. Working with 60-foot ceilings across 2,400 square feet of paintings, on top of building materials from hundreds of years ago, gave us a new appreciation for the original masters of this technique.
We knew the only way to truly bring this masterpiece to life would be through the hand of an artist classically trained in the Baroque style of the masters, with an eye for drama and realism. The paintings needed to be of epic scale - frescoes reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel - so Italy seemed like the best place to start our search. We explored the top art schools in Italy which led us to the alumni section of The Florence Academy of Art, where Adam Miller’s name was sitting near the top. His paintings spoke perfectly to what the campaign was seeking, and his knowledge of the Renaissance era of art made it seamless to blend that style with the epic battles and characters of ‘Diablo IV’.
Tim> Adam is a modern master. Every time we spoke to him was an art history lesson. Each reference he shared and his focus on the details became important when turning our game art into the elevated genre of art we were trying to achieve - an epic, artistic endeavour on the scale of the old masters.
LBB> How did Wildlife and Adam bring the cathedral installation to life? What production challenges did you overcome?
Scott> Wildlife was in charge of figuring out how we make this thing happen from literal top to bottom. Everything from unearthing the perfect deconsecrated church to finding the right artist, figuring out all of the logistics and material needs, solving construction and preservation challenges, and bridging the gap for all the parties involved to make sure the end result was staggering and completed in time.
We had many ongoing conversations with 72andSunny about the narrative of the artwork, the featured characters and the key beats to represent. Then, our team explored rough visual layouts and worked with Adam as he designed the characters, scenes and action. Through a month-long design process, the goal was to have every scene in the mural locked in before paintbrush hit canvas.
We put our heads together to solve some of the more unique aspects: figuring out how to secure canvases to the ceiling, building a fake wall on the real wall, suspending a huge dome, supporting the artists’ needs - from paint to power and heat - and finding the only spider lifts in France that could both fit through the church doors AND reach the height of the ceilings. Not to mention time differences, language barriers and haunted crypts. We worked to keep the art safely installed onto 331-year-old plaster and honour a gorgeous building that has a powerful history - the site of tribunals during the French Revolution, the first major tank battle in history during WWI and a Nazi cinema in WWII. This church has seen a lot, and we wanted to make sure we left it better than we found it, which will result in a few months of restoration work that the building needs and deserves.
LBB> Were you already a Diablo fan, Adam? What was your research into the game’s aesthetics and lore like? What fun source material did this provide?
Adam> I had no idea what Diablo was… My first action was to read the history of the universe and the mythology of Diablo. As a student of mythology and religion, it felt like a very familiar world - integrating aspects of Tolkien-esque fantasy mythology, in which good is always ready to be defeated by evil, but must struggle toward victory. That concept lent itself naturally to a dark Baroque treatment.
The paintings were very oriented towards the battles in the game, so it gave me a chance to really develop dramatic movements and actions in the figures. The challenge of the ceiling was to design a series of battles that integrated into the formal structure of the architecture, while being dynamic enough to convey the drama of the game. My favourite element was the big wall. It was one vast battle at an enormous scale that became the centre for anyone walking into the space.
LBB> 20 unique paintings is no small feat - let alone large frescoes on walls and ceilings - how long did this take you?
Adam> 20 paintings on the wall and the dome was an enormous job. I’ve been in Italy for the last couple of years studying the frescoes and large installed oil paintings in Venice by artists like Tintoretto and Tiepolo - specifically, how they were able to work efficiently at such a large scale. This was an exciting opportunity to apply what I had been developing as an approach to how this could be done. It was the first time I had tried to work this big, so there was no guarantee it would be successful.
The church was like being on a submarine for a month, and we almost never left to see the outside world. I lived across the street and went back and forth from the apartment to the church. We all worked 10-16 hour days for a month in France to make sure it succeeded - and we had worked for a month before on designs.
LBB> There is also an accompanying film that paints - pun intended - an epic atmosphere. What were the key driving creative ideas behind the film? And how much does Charles Dance’s voice add to it?
Tim> We knew that few people would get the chance to go to France and see the actual installation, so it was imperative to create a vehicle to help tell the painting’s story – an epic battle through hell to fight Lilith and her minions – in an emotionally compelling way. Charles Dance’s voice is amazing. He adds a gravitas that becomes the backbone of the film, which helps guide the viewer along that journey while also emotionally connecting our film to the dark tone of our game world.
LBB> Fans of the series can also win sweepstakes to be painted into their own Diablo-themed painting - what was the strategy behind this aspect?
Tim> We wanted a way to allow the game’s most die-hard fans to feel a part of this amazing project and the story of Diablo as well. What better way than to give them an actual chance to have Adam Miller put them in the painting itself? Those winners will be announced at the end of March, and then their individual scenes will be finished and released in May.
Adam> There is a tradition in Renaissance and Baroque painting of putting the patrons into the scene or, as Bernini did in the ‘Ecstasy of Saint Teresa’ sculpture in Rome, building a balustrade with sculptures of people looking and observing the scene unfolding in front of them. The painting of the competitors is an opportunity to bridge our world and the world of Diablo in an interesting and surprising way.
LBB> What part of the campaign provided you all with the most satisfaction? And how did you solve the challenges that must have arisen from such a grand project?
Scott> Walking into the church and seeing its true scale was a jaw-dropping moment. It gave us goosebumps to really know we had discovered a truly special location for this world-first project, and helped inspire us for the tough task ahead. We knew that if we were able to pull this concept off, we would be doing something that had never been attempted in marketing - an industry-smashing initiative that had not been attempted since the days of the Renaissance.
Kaleb> Seeing the artistry of ‘Diablo IV’ on this magnitude and scale was meaningful for our entire team, as well as the Diablo community. With this scale came the challenge of painting a masterpiece on a unique canvas – vaulted ceilings with a curved surface. Adam Miller and his team had to work through many technical solutions to bring this to life in such a physically demanding space.
Tim> Stepping into the church and looking up to see it for the first time was super emotional. All along the path, there seemed like so many ways for it not to happen but, through the sheer will of everyone on the team, there it was. It was hard not to be humbled by it and the effort Adam and his team gave to birth it.
Time was always going to be against us. It took Michelangelo five years to paint the roof of a church, and we had to do it in a month. Every little change that came down the development pipeline - which is common in game development - would affect all the paintings down the line. But this is one of those projects that everyone rallied behind. From 72andSunny, to our Blizzard clients, the Blizzard Art Team, Wildlife and, most importantly, Adam Miller and his painting teams, everyone just refused to not make it as great as they possibly could.
