I have as my excerpt's H.P. Lovecraft's 'At the Mountains of Madness'.
At a first glance the imagery seems rather sparse, but on a second read, and after considerable thought
there are many layers of detail and complexity to explore.
The environment, whether internal or external will be largely comprised of large, stone carved,
geometric shapes that have been at the mercy of their wintry surroundings for an ice age. As such I
shall be concentrating on massive scale amidst a barren landscape with a suitably arctic palette.
Image 1
Here I am working with one of my external shots. The peaks in the rear were going to form part of the
surrounding mountain range that encloses the city. As the image evolved the peaks appear to give the
impression that they are in fact drifts of snow covering larger, unnatural structures. I am happy to let this
trompe l'oeil help shape the imagery in the mind of the viewer. To help me expand and work with an
image of this fashion I shall be looking at images of glacial formations, snowdrifts, arctic tundras to
replicate the 'feel' of the inhospitable frozen wastes.
Images 2, 3 & 4
Images 1 and 2 are essentially retouched versions of image 3. Image one is saturated with more blue
light, ice will be as dominant as the stone structures. It is fair to suppose that any light illuminating the
sub-ice structures will be filtered through the ice giving the environment it's chilly feel.
Image 2 was deliberately over exposed to highlight how sparse the environment would look with
hasher light. For a scale that will do the ancient city justice I shall be looking at Petra, ancient Egypt and
the greater South American ancient civilisations (Mayan, Aztec and Incan).
At a first glance the imagery seems rather sparse, but on a second read, and after considerable thought
there are many layers of detail and complexity to explore.
The environment, whether internal or external will be largely comprised of large, stone carved,
geometric shapes that have been at the mercy of their wintry surroundings for an ice age. As such I
shall be concentrating on massive scale amidst a barren landscape with a suitably arctic palette.
Image 1
surrounding mountain range that encloses the city. As the image evolved the peaks appear to give the
impression that they are in fact drifts of snow covering larger, unnatural structures. I am happy to let this
trompe l'oeil help shape the imagery in the mind of the viewer. To help me expand and work with an
image of this fashion I shall be looking at images of glacial formations, snowdrifts, arctic tundras to
replicate the 'feel' of the inhospitable frozen wastes.
Images 2, 3 & 4
Images 1 and 2 are essentially retouched versions of image 3. Image one is saturated with more blue
light, ice will be as dominant as the stone structures. It is fair to suppose that any light illuminating the
sub-ice structures will be filtered through the ice giving the environment it's chilly feel.
Image 2 was deliberately over exposed to highlight how sparse the environment would look with
hasher light. For a scale that will do the ancient city justice I shall be looking at Petra, ancient Egypt and
the greater South American ancient civilisations (Mayan, Aztec and Incan).
Hey man! Great first thoughts here. You work really reminds me of smoe of the design for the Norn (read Norse) race in the game "Guild Wars 2", check it out:
ReplyDeleteNorn Settlements
More Architecture
Hoelbrak
Hi Simon, sounds really interesting - just a formatting question really ... for me, your text seems to be coming in out in pairs of rows which is making it quite tricky to read. Is it just me??
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you have drawn image 1. The huge expanse is definitely conveyed and I like the puny indications of the ruin outposts. They really emphasizes the scale. Have you looked up any of the references to ruins and land formation Lovecraft describes? I checked out 'the Garden of Gods' in Colorado and that helped a lot! Honestly, I initially breezed over those descriptions he gave but now I'm realizing they're rather handy in picturing Lovecrafts imagined 'Mountains of Madness.'
ReplyDeleteOh P.S-thanks for all your help with Maya today. Massive help!