The latest project from Knightmare artist David Rowe gives new life to ideas and drafts that never made it to air.
As with many art projects, lots of sketches were needed in the production process to create the original Knightmare artwork.
Artist David Rowe has taken some of these ideas that never took off at the time and reimagined them into full artworks. These are now available as prints.
Educated guesswork
"Some ideas didn't work out at the time for a variety of reasons," Rowe tells us.
"If I wasn't aware of how a room was meant to work, my original idea for it might have been different from what Tim Child was looking for."
A clearly documented example of this was the Dragon Room, originally termed the 'Crossing Room'.
The brief was for a dragon to form the crossing between two short platforms. Rowe proposed the dragon's back rather than its mouth.
Child's faxed response, typed mostly in caps, is unequivocally frank.
"Please understand I need a powerful confrontation scene from this - hence this position which is best for my purpose," it reads, alongside a basic sketch of a dragon's head. This formed the basis of what became the final artwork.
"Tim liked ideas and suggestions, but they couldn't supersede the vision of how a room needed to work," Rowe explains.
"There might be technical reasons, such as the need to add further animation or computer effects. That might impact how detailed or complex you could make a scene.
"There could be a lot of faxes and sketches before settling on a final design."
Caught the bug
So, where did the inspiration for this latest project come from?
Over a decade has passed since the Art of Knightmare, the authoritative collection of Rowe's illustrations and artwork for the show.
Here, Rowe credits former Knightmare contestant and victor, Jason Karl, who had been reviewing the surviving correspondence between Rowe and Broadsword.
This prompted the commission of the new hand-painted scenes, with a physical album also in the planning.
And as time has told, Rowe never feels far away from the fantasy world of the Knightmare dungeon.
On his easel currently stands a full-scale pencil illustration of a Knightmare-inspired scene, full of interesting doors, staircases and passages.
It has some similarities with the Woodland Realm from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy.
"I think I've caught the bug again," he chuckles.
"Yes, new designs and ideas do surface occasionally. And with modern technology, you don't need to rule out any idea - you never know what might be possible."
Rowe recently told us that he is not at all fazed by technology. If anything, it has prompted innovative requests and commissions that blend old and new techniques.
Nevertheless, while his 2013 remasters for Geek Week and an archaeological series in 2015 were digital exercises, this latest project does herald a return to the hand painted glories of the original series.
The Dungeon You Didn't See is a rich new set of additions to the Knightmare illustrative catalogue.
Fans can choose from seven new prints, available in A3 and A4 through Rowe's online shop.
Orders and requests are recommended as soon as possible if ordering for Christmas to avoid disappointment.
