Wednesday 24 September 2014

Update: Impossible Cities sets 2 and 3


 Managed to get some work done on these thumbnails. I think I am really getting into this project, its clear that Calvino's attempting to express the beauty and magnificence of each city to Kublai Khan and the reader as both these cities are described to be inhabited by people who have all they need or all they desire to be satisfied. Its this sort of thing that drew me to this course, the idea of worldbuilding or crafting beautiful cities that may or may not be possible to build.

With Baucia I began to veer off the idea of houses on sticks and imagine fields of gigantic wheat stalks, perhaps reflecting the bounty that the citizens have and require in order to never return to the ground. perhaps the city is filled with gardens filled with delicious fruits and vegetables (something I could include another thumbnail set perhaps?) The trickiest thing so far is perhaps interiors as Calvino only gives vague hints as to what the interiors of homes and venues look like.

3 comments:

  1. Excellent stuff - I am liking 41 and 46.

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  2. Hey Mark,

    Okay I like that you are exploring with colour and sketches but you don't seem to be using another tool which you have in the arsenal. Silhouette (see a link from one of my earlier projects below).

    http://stitchshift.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/unit-2-space-thumbnails-101-silver-city_17.html

    It allows you to play with shapes to get a result, you are kind of doing that with your shaped colour versions but more is to be gained if you built it from a black vs. white canvas. Once you have a structural form you can then add/remove and details and easily transpose the idea, mirror it or adapt it into something different.

    This allows you to explore components of your scene as opposed to the entire scene. It breaks down the process a little and it can be handy.... I just think you should try exploring this method too.

    Okay GJ so far Mark!
    xXStItChXx

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    Replies
    1. I'll perhaps look into silhouettes for the thumbnail sets to be created after my next post. One of the other first years managed to create a character for the summer project by combining two silhouettes she had come up with and then performing tweaks to the outline.

      In some aspects I did like the way that 17-27 came out, there's a sense of artistic vagueness to the look as features are hidden. I guess a reduced indication of building scale, organisation or cohesion, that sort of thing that I could use as a layer to superimpose my ideas on.

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