Fans have delighted in the work of Peter Pound, the principle vehicle designer and concept artist on the modern action classic Mad Max: Fury Road, so it’s exciting to get a closer look at his new tank designs for the strategic multiplayer action game World of Tanks Blitz. As an offshoot of tactical multiplayer shooter World of Tanks, Blitz was built as a freemium game for mobile platforms, and features 14-player battles with a wide selection of vehicle designs.
As for Pound, the concept artist has an impressive porfolio spanning some of the most influential genre films of all time. He worked as storyboard artist for director Alex Proyas’ sci-fi cult-classic Dark City, starring Rufus Sewell, Keifer Sutherland, and Jennifer Connolly. Interestingly, his first industry work was as a storyboard artist for 1994 classic The Crow, also directed by Proyas and based on James O’Barr’s indie comic, which would go on to inspire several sequels and a television series.
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Mad Max: Fury Road is probably Pound’s most recognizable and lauded recent project, which prompted the World of Tanks Blitz team to tap the artist for some exclusive designs during their limited-time, Mad-Max-inspired Halloween event, “Mad Games." These two new exclusive tanks — the Scavenger and the Gravedigger — were created by Pound and unlockable in-game for a limited time this month, joining previous Halloween tanks like the Tankenstain, Dracula, and Helsing.
“Working together with the World of Tanks Blitz team, I was able to create some unique designs and given creative freedom...With Mad Max: Fury Road, I was focused on car designs but the challenge here was taking tanks and making them even more heavy metal! I enjoy a challenge and it was a cool experience. Now I hope everyone enjoys the hard work put into these steel beasts.”
Looking at the exclusive concept art below, it’s clear that plenty of Mad Max flavor was injected into these menacing spike-laden vehicles. They definitely look quite a bit different than the most of World of Tanks Blitz’s roster, although there have been a few improvisations that have come out in the past years. In 2017, Blitz asked Games Workshop (of Warhammer 40K fame) to design an exclusive space marine tank, the Ultramarines Vindicator, and legendary Gundam designer Kunio Okawara created the signature O-47 tank back in 2016.
While a proper followup to Mad Max: Fury Road sadly remains in development limbo, fans can at least get a new taste of Peter Pound’s creative vision in World of Tanks Blitz.
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The World of Tanks Blitz “Mad Games” event continues on until November 12.