The Art of Gothic 3 is a collector’s album that contains sketches, graphics and renders from the games in the Gothic series. Ralf Marczinczik, as the Art Director of Piranha Bytes, collected all the material during the production of Gothic 3, which usually just gets lost over time. After three years of work, the documentation for an almost 200-page book was gathered from them.
Two versions were produced: one that was part of the Collector’s Edition, limited by the publisher to 100 pages. The other, The Art of Gothic 3, encompassing the entirety of the completed archival material. The full version was published in German; copies in English were also printed.
After several years, Ralf Marczinczik did the job of archivist once again. During a move in 2022, he found sketches, posters and other memorabilia in the archives of his house. He found them to be scarce. However, as he wrote, his niece Jenny, convinced him to finally give them to fans of the series. I will devote a separate paragraph to her.
Together with two friends from the World of Gothic forum, he worked out the formula in which they should be given away. He did not want them to become the subject of speculation. He also wanted them to get into the hands of fans who don’t have much money. This is how the ‘Ralfs Rumpelkammer’ (pl. ‘Ralf’s Rumpelkammer’) lottery was created, organised by World of Gothic forum member JudgeKyle with the help of administrator Don Esteban.
Prizes
There were a total of 102 items to be drawn: sketches, scenarios, posters and necklaces. We present them below with a breakdown of the games they were created for. Some of them are in more than one copy, so we have shown fewer than 102 pictures. On top of that, we have not shown the Sleeper Mask pendant – we have focused on Ralf’s original artwork.
These are mainly sketches, but they also contain descriptions – and the creator’s signature. To browse them comfortably, just click on the first picture in the gallery. After that, you can already use the arrows.
There are three galleries in total: Gothic 1, Gothic 3 and Risen. Yes, there are no sketches for the second part of the series. Ralf Marczinczik was not involved in the work on it, which is one of the reasons why it is different from its predecessor. Those sketches were made during the development of Gothic 1, Gothic 3 and Risen.
Before going any further, I suggest you do a little test. Just like Gothic fans in 2023, choose five prizes that you would like to win. Their designations (numbers) are given at the top, or bottom of the picture. In the next paragraph, you will find out which ones players liked the most during the lottery, and whether they coincide with your types.
Gothic
On the right we see the inscription “Braunes Leder”, so “brown leather”.
Gothic 3
Risen
Popular Prizes
I collected all the draws from the lottery participants’ posts in a spreadsheet. I wanted to find out which sketches the fans liked the most. So I counted up how many times each ticket appeared, and below are the 5 most popular sketches.
Winner – 15 posts
Lot 012
This is the appearance of the guru from Swamp Camp. On his outfit we see the letters of the Orcish language, created by Mike Hoge and Frank Kahlfuss2.
On the belt hanging down the middle, we see the word “TRUTH”. Which, of course, the gurus knew. On the wide collar, it says “WISDOM”. Just after the “M” is again written “W”, so presumably the word is repeated on the other side of the collar.
On the shoulders and toga we see fragments of a repeating symbol. Probably, as in the case of lots 028, 037 and 041, this is the eye of Horus. In Ancient Egypt, as a symbol of power, it was identified with the eye of Ra3.
As late as the 0.94k version of Gothic from the second half of 2000, the god Ra was the highest of the gods, above Innos, Adanos and Beliar. Considering that the release of the first part was on 15 March 2001 and included dubbing, it is apparent that the change in the basis of Gothic’s world has occurred rapidly.
Comparing the guru’s robe to that of the game, one can see that the letters have been changed. For the most part, Ralf Marczinczik’s concept has been implemented.
2nd place – 10 posts
Lot 010
In the top left corner it reads: “NL/ORG/SCHWER”:
- “NL” stands for “Neues Lager”, or “New Camp”.
- “ORG” stands for “Organisator”. This was the previous name for the rogue.
The name suggests that this is a sketch of the Heavy Rogue’s Dress, which I have added for comparison. However, as we can see, the trousers in the sketch look like they are from the Shadow’s Dress, or Shadow’s Armor.
3rd place – 10 posts
Lot 014
I have already tentatively explained the inscriptions present in this picture in the gallery. In the picture on the top left we have the inscription “Kohlebecken” meaning boiler. The place where the fire is lit. And below that, “Fundament des historischen Turms”, so “foundation of the historic tower”. This means that this lighthouse was built on the basis of an earlier building.
At the bottom right we see the information that within one lottery ticket you get both a sketch (right) and a printout (left). As you can see from the left sheet, there is no sign of any more revisions.
I have added the Fog Tower for comparison. It’s damaged – it’s possible that there was an opportunity to light a fire above. It is by the sea and next to it is a beach with shipwrecked ships. It fits in with the lighthouse.
4th place – 9 posts
Lot 007
Comparing the sketch to the Light Mercenary’s Armor is an oversimplification. The name “GARDIST” indicates that it should belong to a member of the guard. In fact, it contains parts of the clothing of both guilds in the released game.
The trousers look like they are from the Shadow’s Dress or Shadow’s Armor. The pantlegs, shoulders, crotch protection and belt (the buckle doesn’t quite match) and probably the boots look like they are from the Light Mercenary’s Armor.
5th place – 8 posts
Lot 008
This sketch is named the same as the previous one, but the armour is more complex. I have compared it with the Heavy Mercenary’s Armor because of the elements visible on the chest and abdomen of the figure, which are arranged in pairs. The carvings and partly the bottom of the trousers are also similar. The sketch shows that the bottom of the armour was intended to be metal.
Puzzling Sketch
The sketch of the character signed as “mage” (lot 026) shows armour sewn together from small patches. It differs from the clothing we could see in Gothic 1. It also appeared in the lot discussion, and Ralf Marczinczik explains the origin of this armour as follows:
If I remember correctly, this was actually an imagined ranger (you can see it in the Aragorn-inspired hood – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time). These patchwork clothes can be explained by the fact that there are probably only smaller rodents left in our prison world (larger animals would have to be cultivated and bred – but presumably nobody came up with the idea). So the garments, if not made of woven material (where are the looms?), are puzzled together from smaller animal skins.
But it was never realised in this way…4
Blue Traces
Looking through the gallery, you might have noticed that Ralf used two colours to draw: black and blue. I didn’t know for what reason – it made me think of using carbon paper in art lessons. Ralf Marczinczik explains it as follows:
The blue lines… it’s like this: when you draw, you naturally make a preliminary drawing. With sketches and illustrations like this, you do them in light blue, just so that you get the proportions, poses and perspective right, and then you draw over them with a different color, because you can separate these colors during the scanning process. That means if I have a blue preliminary drawing and a black drawing, I scan the thing, open it up in Photoshop and then throw away the channels5 that I don’t need, which is usually the blue channel, and that means I have the drawing clean straight away – without having to erase anything or anything else – and only the black part remains. The blue preliminary drawing part is then no longer visible when you save it, the color is simply removed. You can do it in a more complex way, but the easiest way is to go through the color channel.
Return of Jenny
Ralf Marczinczik was the Community Manager of Piranha Bytes during the production of Risen 1. When contacting fans, Jenny Haberman aka Willow94, introducing herself as Ralf’s niece, sometimes replied from his account. The last time such a signed post appeared on World of Gothic was in 2010. 13 years later, she “spoke up” again.
During the lottery, she “chatted” with Ralf, the organiser of the lottery JudgeKyle and the creator of the lottery promotional graphics (michele_jasmin_). She even bragged about having done an internship at Piranha Bytes.
I write about what she did in inverted commas because Jenny never existed. It was a form of trolling of World of Gothic users on the part of Ralf Marczinczik. For quite a long time, many players believed in the authenticity of her story. She even has a profile in the former Piranha Bytes employees section.
End of the Lottery
Ralf Marczinczik’s sketches have dispersed mostly across Germany but some of the Concept Arts also went in other countries like Austria, Italy and Poland. Certainly not as easily and not as cheaply, it will still be possible to get them. It was not a sale, however, but a lottery.
Ralf Marczinczik himself is still an active graphic designer. He is involved in creating comics. Last year, under the pseudonym Ramar, he published a small booklet with the title nomen omen Digger. Two months ago, he could also be found live at the Dortmunder Comic-Streit (en. “Dortmund Comic Dispute”). You can follow his activities on Comixfactory.
PS. I would like to thank the lottery organiser JudgeKyle for his help with the article and Psimek for providing the book The Art of Gothic III.
- Ralf Marczinczik’s post with an explanation on World of Gothic [Access at: 22-03-2025] ↩︎
- Agnes Illinger / Ralf Marczinczik The Art of Gothic 3, p. 18 Halycon Media ↩︎
- Paraphrase of a sentence from the Wikipedia article in Polish about Eye of Ra [Access at: 22-03-2025]. ↩︎
- Ralf Marczinczik’s post on World of Gothic [Access at: 22-03-2025] ↩︎
- Color channels are the parameters used by a color model to represent color. In an RGB color channel there are three channels, R, G, and B, representing the amount of Red, Green, and Blue respectively. [source: FADGI, access at: 22-03-2025] ↩︎
