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

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.’

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.’

Google Sketchup logo

‘I had to draw this up as I struggled to find the logo in vector or icon format, and yet I needed it for an icon pack of my own. The design is, of course, copyrighted to Google; I share it in the hopes it can be of benefit to other icon designers. The EPS file is available for download in my deviantART gallery.’

A Map of Brannstadt:

Completion at last! I tend to forget how long a non-digital piece can take - in this case, something like 25-30 hours in total. Most of my time was spent drawing the lineart in my brand-new, A3 sketchbook - an hour here and there, some nights spend drawing the thing until 2am… It’s been great fun, and a labour of love.

As mentioned earlier, this was a commission like the map of Saren before it. It has been some time since I took on a hand-drawn project like this, and I’m certainly not accustomed to drawing maps in this fashion, but I felt it would lend to the authenticity of this medieval/fantasy game.

Some notes on Brannstadt:

• As noted in the legend, Brannstadt is capital in the vampiric realm of Rimwald. It is positioned deep within the countryside on the island continent of Ingelvartz, comparatively near to the source of its longest river, the Ingelsfoll.
• Brannstadt is named after its current custodians, the ancient Brann dynasty. It is they who ensure the safe keeping of the vampires’ Maker - a powerful being who was left in Saren after the departure of the world’s Guardians. It is also home to the country’s most esteemed centres of culture and learning.
• Brannstadt is fortified, though not to the same extent as Rimwald’s coastal towns. Accessible only by foot through the river-side Brannstrass and Riverpoint Roads, and the hilly Zeppel and Karsten Passes - or by water up the Ingelsfoll - the city’s guardians have little cause to make more than basic defences. The city is surrounded to the north and west by the mountains of Luftridge, to the east by hills and dense forest, and to the south by rocky passes - not forgetting the river itself.
• Rarely amongst Saren’s settlements, Brannstadt is largely devoid of markets and farms; this is due to the unique lifestyle of the vampires, who have no need for livestock, grain or commerce in such things. As immortals of taste, they do consider a need for artisan wares; Brannstadt is also host to premium slave fairs. Many of its large manors also keep their own ‘livestock’.
• Much of the cities and towns of Rimwald are given over to churches, cemeteries and private crypts. As vampires bore of their lives, they may elect to return to the crypt for a set period of time; it is here that they place their trust in familiars, be they a lower caste of vampire or an enthralled family, chosen from the mortal races. Spiritual ceremonies of a sort are carried out at these churches - laying to rest those vampires who don’t own a private grave - but the churches are also heavily fortified. Indeed their custodians often sit on the verge of insanity as their eternal wards lay vulnerable, just as we might regard our hospitals or nurseries.

My first post to this Tumblelog is something of an amusement to me. It’s rare that I draw anything at all these days, although I’m not sure where my lack of incentive is. Still, drawing nothing at all for a few months is small fry compared to my lack of fanart, once drawn under the pseudonym of “SonicFanatic”. The most recent piece in my gallery there was drawn in July 2006.

I’m quite militant about dating each piece of work I draw within my sketchbook and my hard drive. So, when I scanned this, my second attempt at drawing Naomi the Mouse since yesterday, it was with some surprise that I read the last drawing was marked “20060816”. Naomi, my fancharacter-come-mascot and doubtless an entity which has seeped out into my other work since, has been in hibernation for nearly two and a half years. Time to let her out, I think.

I doubt I’ll see the time to colour her, but I felt I wanted to post this, partly as proof to myself and the world that… to my amazement, I’ve not forgotten how to draw her. I’d have scanned my first drawing, but the pencil work’s a bit unclear. This sketch of Naomi was drawn to a photographed pose by the shockingly attractive Mosh, which may explain her ballet shoes. Still, I love heels like that. No reason why Naomi can’t broaden her choice of fashion while in hibernation!