Space and Environment

Project 1- Invisible Cities

OGR
Contents:
3-7:Developmental Thumbnails.

8: Chosen City

9: Mission Statement

10-11: Influence Maps- Exterior/Interior

12-13: Key Thumbnails

14: Other Useful Link
Developmental
Thumbnails
Starting off we have my initial thumbnails based on the 4 cities we were
given at the beginning of the project.These drawings helped me to begin
to think in more of an abstract way, rather then my usual detailed
drawings that would take me longer to produce. While very rough these
drawings were very handy in molding the first thoughts and ideas of the
cities and ultimately which city I would be choosing to feature in my final
pieces.
The Spider City, Octavia. This city is one that I have seen many people
take interest in. I feel that this is because of the idea of having a city
encased in webs and encompassed with an overall spider theme, can be
taken in many ways from realism gothic to Tim Burton- esque, macabre
designs. The description for this city set me off with many ideas,
presumably because I am a huge lover of gothic design and the creepier
side of story telling and characters. Octavia definitely envoked a lot of
feelings and ideas within me, which cant be said for many of the other
described cities.
Baucis and Armillia: These cities were
very similar in terms of my drawings,
however very different in terms of the
description that is offered. Armillia is
what used to be a city, the only thing
that remains are the pipes that
connected everything, long ago.
Baucis is a city situated in the air, held
up by monolithic poles and stands
that shoot high up into the sky.
Looking at my thumbnails you can see
that they bear an unusual
resembelance, mainly because the
images I had in my head at the time of
drawing were very mixed.
The last in our series of 4 was Esmerlda. A
city full of canals and ravines, with water
running down over buildings and statues
alike. The thumbnails for this city are
incredibly abstract, as we had to use a
lasso tool and the brush just to create
blocks of color and to see where that
would take us. This type of city is not my in
my type of art style, I am much more
gothic, creepy then bright and vivid.
Perhaps that's something I could work on
in future studies.
Chosen City: Octavia
My chosen city for my final three digital paintings is the Spider-web
city Octavia. the first time I heard this description I felt like I wanted
to have this be my final design, the theme fit really well with my
style and attitude, however later on into the project I started to
explore another city, Diomira. I wanted to create a world outside of
the current universe and change certain aspects. Massively
advanced technology whilst still retaining the old cultural attitudes.
After looking at this city for a few days, I saw a scene from a video
game which included a Blood red moon. This sent me off into
thoughts about Octavia and how a blood moon would fit the style I
was originally going for. This led to the creation of a larger piece that
solidified my interest in Octavia once and for all. As I have previously
stated Octavia's description resonates with my own art style and
work I have created in the past. My work has always had this
underlying creepyness to it. Whether it be dark fantasy creatures or
twisted visages of fairy tale characters. I saw another opportunity to
expand and use my ideas in this project.
Mission Statement
Octavia. The spider-web city. Just saying these words fills my mind with a large an astonishing amount of
different visuals from cities suspended between the mountains by giant webs, created by creatures long
dead, with offspring in hiding within the citadels expansive halls. To tall towers coated in years of dust and
cobwebs that are all that remain of the inhabitants. My main ideas behind this city derived from my love of
the mysterious and fantastical, the creepy and unsettling and the outright insane. A lot of my work over the
years has been influenced by Directors like George Romero and his classic zombie movies, the classic
monster movies like Dracula and the Wolfman, as well as modern horror movies and reimagining of the
classic monsters.

The city of octavia is described as a city held, high above a void of blackness, supported only by webs and
chains put there long ago. This description screams dark and mysterious. What would the inhabitants be like
after living in this kind of environment. Cold skinned, blood suckers or just ghost going about there everyday
task as they would have when they were alive.

Lit by the moon, the only light this village would receive due to the high mountains and clouds that would
block out even the brightest day. The city needs to be dark and mysterious, leaving the audience questioning
its very existence and emptiness. Or why the inhabitants have become the monsters that now reside in the
tower.

If you are a fan of the classical tales of Van Helsing and his battle with the vampire Dracula, then I hope to try
and envoke those thoughts and feeling within my own artwork. To give people a nostalgic feeling.
The Influnce map for the exterior of Octavia draws
from a few different elements of my childhood.
Including the gothic castle's that were used in the
cartoon shows Count Duckula, a show that very few
remember these days but remains on of my favorite
to this day and Disney's Gargoyles. These shows had
a surprisingly dark tone for their target audience
which may have been why I enjoyed them so much. I
have also take ideas from the tim burton movie
Nightmare before Christmas for its painterly,
Halloween style.
The influences for the interior of Octavia come from
games and film franchise that were also part of my
childhood and still are part of my teen life. The
Dragur tombs from Skyrim are still fresh in my mind
and had a unique style. The classical feel of the halls
of Castlevania, the expanse that is the World of
Warcraft dungeons and the spider cult hideout in
Soul Eater. Each of these environments conveys a
little piece of what I want to show with my paintings
in different ways. The spider themes, dark tones and
color palette and a feeling of amazement and beauty
on top of an underlying feeling of dread and mystery.
Inspirational/Key Thumbnails
These thumbnails represent my ideas for the final designs of my city. The top two
are a variation of the same Idea, the first being at the start of the course when I was
heavily invested in Octavia. It shows the eeriness that I believe Octavia should be
and the mystery that surrounds it. The spider webs that cover the citadel are there
to influence the audience into thinking about what could lie within. The second
thumbnail is the one I made recently, displaying the blood moon which I added to
create a better atmosphere rather then the normal crystal white moon.
The left thumbnail is one of my perspective shots. I like
the way I have managed to show the scale of the
building, giving it a looming sensation and would love
to get this into my low angle shot of Octavia.
The bottom two thumbnails were taken from the original thumbnails that we completed at the start of
the course, as you can see the one on the right had a clear influence in the larger images that i
completed. This shot has been stuck in my mind since the start and frames the city perfectly in my
mind. The one on the left emphasizes one of the expansive bridges that span the gaps of the city, held
up by cobwebs. This aspect I hope to move into the low angle shot of my city and perhaps even the
interior.
Other Usefull Links
Movie Reviews
Maya Tutorials
http://lewismaddison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/le-voyage-dans-la-lune-review.html

http://lewismaddison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/metropolis-movie-review.html

http://lewismaddison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/maya-tutorial-polygons.html
http://lewismaddison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/maya-tutorial-1-nurbs.html
http://lewismaddison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/maya-tutorial-2-digital-sets.html
http://lewismaddison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/diglett-maya-tutorial.html
http://lewismaddison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/diglett-continued-mucking-around-in-maya.html