Raygun Gothic

Lamia

‘It’s been many a year since I let my infatuations manifest in some artistic way, but so powerful was my reaction to the lamia - who I first learned of in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Circus of the Damned - that I thought I’d give photomanipulation a try. This is the result - two nights of dabbling with liquify filters, blending and lighting. It’s based entirely upon stock gleaned from DeviantART, with credits as follows:’

• Human: Art Nudes A7 by Marcus J. Ranum
• Snake: free use
• Background: Old Dark Room by Anne Willems

Shellworld Plains

‘I drew this a while ago while re-reading Iain M. Banks’ Matter, and I’d kept it in my map sketchbook until now. It’s a fanart piece, which I drew simply to interpret the Sursamen shellworld featured in Banks’ Culture novel.

I usually see my maps through to completion, or at least get some basic labelling down before I take a break, but this one got left since July and I’ve forgotten what I intended to use for labels and the like. I’ve decided to leave it as it is: a sketchbook entry.’

In’shari Venture Yacht “Bellen”

‘There we are - my completed ship plans. In summary of the “work in progress” posts which preceded this, I’ve submitted the map for a contest at The Cartographers’ Guild. It’s my first time drawing a complete map of a ship, though I’ve drawn a few conceptual outlines as part of my work on DarkConduit.

These plans are intentionally drawn in the raypunk style, mirroring the game project upon which this is based. I’ve also opted to write a novel set in this game world for National Novel-Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), entitled Median: Frontier. Its protagonist is a Tellerian explorer, and this is her vessel: a trimaran venture yacht which isn’t actually named until the end of the book.

The plans were drawn in Adobe Illustrator and edited for presentation in Photoshop.’

“Jo’feen’s Ship” [work in progress #3]

‘Yep, another update.. and a name this time! It’s a bit of a spoiler, which is strange given that I haven’t even written the bit of the novel where this spoiler is revealed…

I’ve tweaked a few colours, added some texture and some raypunk labelling which I hope puts the work into a much clearer context. Barring any further tweaks to the ship’s design or epiphanies on the colour scheme, I think all I have left to do is map the Bellen in profile, and come up with some sort of Ynsharr Industries emblem.’

“Jo’feen’s Ship” [work in progress #2]

‘This is the second update from a piece of work I explained in greater detail right here.

I’ve now added a colour scheme, much more in the way of furnishings, and some patterns. The scheme may appear a tad bold: this is part of the raypunk aesthetic I have in mind for the Median project. These colours are actually based on a pulp magazine cover, which I leaned on mostly because I’ve never actually used such a bold scheme before. As ever with this NaNoWriMo project, I’m learning at some pace!’

“Jo’feen’s Ship” [work in progress]

‘Further to my #NaNoWriMo project based on Median, here’s a map I hope to enter into the November challenge at the Cartographers’ Guild! Goodness, that’s a lot of layered projects and contests… To explain:

• Median is my raypunk-themed, pet MMO project. I write it not so much as a candidate for development, but for the practice and to help express some ideas for a game I feel I’d like to play.
• I decided to write a novel based on this world, entitled Median: Frontier, for my first attempt at National Novel Writing Month. It’s coming along nicely - 16000 words at this time - and has gotten me thinking afresh about this world I’ve created. Writing this has also gotten me drawing again, though I tackle this in a much more relaxed manner.
• I knew I would probably benefit from designing the interior of the lead character’s ship anyway, just to help ‘place’ a number of early scenes. This has turned out to be essential. There are all sorts of vivid imaginings spawning from my work on this book, but I lack the discipline to draw most of these. I can draw maps quite comfortably, though. So, seeing as how the Cartographers’ Guild is running a contest to map vehicles this month, I thought I’d try killing two birds with one stone.

.. and that’s the story of this image.’ :P

Jo’feen [Work in Progress]

‘I’m quite pleased with how character sketching has gone so far - though I can lay no claim to a sound anatomical knowledge, having somewhat lifted the upper body torso from reference. Still, the objective is not to practice anatomy or produce a truly original artwork, but merely to draw.

I’m deeply absorbed in my NaNoWriMo project at the moment, which is set in the world of Median, which I devised a couple of years ago. Jo’feen is the protagonist of a story I’m writing in this space, entitled Frontier. In the context of the game, she is a Tellerian explorer: human-basic, but clearly too human in this piece. I intend to bulk this up now with more alien nuances, and much more of a raypunk vibe, too.’

Tel’lar and Tethyll, from Median

‘I think my Median project predates this tumblelog ever so slightly, so it seems I’m actually missing some project work there. Here then, to make amends, are two incomplete maps I drew last year, depicting the Tellerian homeworld, Tel’lar.’ 

Compass Rose

‘I’ve been getting into My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic of late, and was particularly taken by an episode entitled “Call of the Cutie”. In it Applebloom, a young filly, is socially embarrassed by her lack of a cutie mark - the icons which adorn a pony’s flank. Pony mythology has it that the icon represents some aspect of your self, and it only appears when a pony is ready and has discovered who they are.

It’s a charming idea, and so I occupied a midnight drawing slot with drawing of my own pony avatar, using Adobe Illustrator. “Compass Rose” seemed too good a name to pass up on, representing both my love of maps and game design. The pose is based on stills from the show, and I’ve attempted to recreate the visual style too.’

Photographs from My Recent Trip to Arran; also up at my Flickr page and on deviantART.