Baldur’s Gate 3 devs hired an artist after she offered to draw “muscle mommy Karlach”

Artist Anna Hollinrake revealed that she got to work with Larian, the developers behind Baldur’s Gate 3, thanks to sending a cold open email offering to draw “muscle mommy Karlach” for a T-shirt design.

Baldur’s Gate 3, despite being a breakout hit, hasn’t been monetized in any way outside of some digital deluxe goodies. Larian isn’t even planning to release DLC despite players clamoring for it.

So, the only way for loyal fans to get more Baldur’s Gate 3 in their life is through merch. They’ve got the traditional smattering of artbooks, records, and T-shirts you’d expect from a video game developer’s merch store, but one artist found her way into working with Larian by offering them something they didn’t have yet.

With the opening line of, “I art directed Fall Guys apparel, please let me make a muscle mommy Karlach shirt,” one Anna Hollinrake managed to land a job designing a T-shirt for the company.

The shirt depicts an Owlbear cub napping with Scratch at camp, a nod to two animal companions the player can pick up over the course of BG3’s campaign.

However, keen-eyed Baldur’s Gate 3 fans may have noticed a sore lack of “muscle mommy Karlach” on this shirt. The Karlach enjoyers out there are surely flying their freak flags at half-mast.

Hollinrake’s replies were filled with people saying things like, “But where’s the Karlach muscle mommy shirt????” and, “Does that shirt exist yet?”

Considering how beloved Baldur’s Gate 3’s characters are by the fandom, it’d be no surprise to see them on merch in the future so fans can rep their favorite party member. But, as of now, there is no official Karlach shirt, or shirts with any of BG3’s party members on them for that matter.

While she has yet to give an update on whether or not Larian is still interested in putting Karlach on a shirt as per her initial email, Hollinrake working on a game of her own called Crescent County in the meantime.