That's one sensual, luxuriant city you describe - I was quite swept away by your lavish descriptions of this 'petal city'! I enjoyed your travelogue very much! You've given yourself a richness of detail there in terms of inspiring your next thumbnails - and it appears as if you're moving towards those dominant towers as being among your 'key assets' in terms of working in Maya. The only thing I'd say is be sure to go back to the works of Treacy as a touchstone even as you've identified 'petals' as a preoccupation of the designer, and as you move towards developing your key assets. Don't let this world of 'flower-like' forms as inspired by Treacy become a world of architectural flowers; look again at the essential organic shapes favoured by Treacy and ensure you maintain that same level of 'abstraction'; for example, the idea of having actual globe artichokes as architectural elements is too literal; and the idea of the city 'being' a lotus flower - is also too literal; for example, if you were to look at the Sidney Opera House, it's suggestive of lots of organic elements, but is not quite any of them either:
I can understand where I may have been a little too literal as some of Treacy's hats do appear like that and I think I became a little too preoccupied with mimicking these designs.
But true they are not his only forms, he is also known for abstract looping and folding designs as well as the usage of feathers. One idea I had earlier on was to take the shape and arrangement of the lotus petals but only as an outlining "sliced and laid out orange wedges" kind of shape. Some of his designs do appear as curved leaves, but they are also un-leaflike In terms of colour and pattern.
I will look into making my buildings organic, but abstract. Part of the reason was perhaps I did not want to wander too far into the designs of Zaha Hadid who uses plenty of organic shapes but not in the same way Treacy does.
OGR 06/11/2014
ReplyDeleteHi Mark,
That's one sensual, luxuriant city you describe - I was quite swept away by your lavish descriptions of this 'petal city'! I enjoyed your travelogue very much! You've given yourself a richness of detail there in terms of inspiring your next thumbnails - and it appears as if you're moving towards those dominant towers as being among your 'key assets' in terms of working in Maya. The only thing I'd say is be sure to go back to the works of Treacy as a touchstone even as you've identified 'petals' as a preoccupation of the designer, and as you move towards developing your key assets. Don't let this world of 'flower-like' forms as inspired by Treacy become a world of architectural flowers; look again at the essential organic shapes favoured by Treacy and ensure you maintain that same level of 'abstraction'; for example, the idea of having actual globe artichokes as architectural elements is too literal; and the idea of the city 'being' a lotus flower - is also too literal; for example, if you were to look at the Sidney Opera House, it's suggestive of lots of organic elements, but is not quite any of them either:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Sydney_Opera_House_Sails.jpg
So, just don't take your eye of Treacy as you seek to take your city to the next level of refinement.
Hello Phil
DeleteI can understand where I may have been a little too literal as some of Treacy's hats do appear like that and I think I became a little too preoccupied with mimicking these designs.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02871/treacy1_2871104b.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yeznGfyoP0s/UggumqA9AnI/AAAAAAAAXQA/eECN2vwfw4s/s1600/P1090730d.jpg
But true they are not his only forms, he is also known for abstract looping and folding designs as well as the usage of feathers. One idea I had earlier on was to take the shape and arrangement of the lotus petals but only as an outlining "sliced and laid out orange wedges" kind of shape. Some of his designs do appear as curved leaves, but they are also un-leaflike In terms of colour and pattern.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/05/04/article-1383648-0BD71EFB00000578-934_306x423.jpg
I will look into making my buildings organic, but abstract. Part of the reason was perhaps I did not want to wander too far into the designs of Zaha Hadid who uses plenty of organic shapes but not in the same way Treacy does.