I had originally
wanted to progress further with Baucis as it had a strong narrative from the
start. Piercing white light that instead of making things live would kill
anything in it’s path. People were desperate to stay away from the beams. The
only thing I struggled with was how the city would have properly been supported, as it was
raised in the air.
“I imagine a clustered city sitting ontop of a cloud, but it is so silent
and still it seems dead. Underneath it, life, plants and living activity.
People on the cloud live in the houses and constantly fight the cloud
deteriorating. When a hole is created in the cloud a mysterious force shoots
beams of light downwards to "cover" the hole but ironically will
deteriorate anything else it touches. Number 15 and 16 are what I deem the most
successful because they show a sense of scale so removed from normality it
makes me think "Just how many people are living there and are they okay?"”
Continuing on with my
thumbnails I’d made smaller narratives throughout, but nothing clicked as much.
When I got to Moriana it stood out mainly because of the strong themes. – Or
opposing themes throughout, rather. Samurai and Fish. - An odd mix! Usually I
tend to swing more towards land-based cities. Grass, trees, rocks. It’s a lot
easier to layer up elements. So I just
had to do the opposite! It reminds of when you are younger and you get four
elements “Fire, Water, Earth and Air” and you try desperately to relate to one.
I want Moriana to
have a certain amount of comical value to it! Which means exaggerating and
being playful with it. I’d thought of pomegranates and bubbles. But so dense it
has the strength of concrete. As the city is contained in a massive fish bowl;
the culture should be too. Childish graffiti and bright coloured painted walls.
Tekkonkinkreet style. Even though it is a water-based city, blue, there would
still be red. As of writing this I’m not too certain if lineart would aide my
city or if I should keep it painterly. Just because it’s primarily water I do
not want it to be free and wishy-washy. Those are the qualities of water that
annoy me. Besides, it’s been done before! One of the key words for my version
of Moriana is “contained”.
The state of a city
seems like an important part to discuss. Moriana will not be derelict, though
it will be not kept pristine. Just like any other city. It will be grimy but
with the elements of childish playfulness should hopefully counter that! The
inhabitants of Moriana are fish people, who apart from being Fish do not have
much else going for them. There is a Fish Prince, whose existence does seem to
cement the city into a deeper narrative. Whilst this project is a landscape
based one, you cannot have a city without people, and as this isn’t an
abandoned city they are a major contributing factor to it.
Going back to the
water of my city, it’d be great to think of outsiders who come into the city.
(If they somehow get past the samurai fish at the main gate, though that’s
probably not too hard) Once they were in the city for long, they can only stay
in there for a short period of time before starting to become a fish-person
too! The city has a lot of commitment. Once you’ve become a fish-person you
can’t get back out, though the prince always wishes he could, just once.
I hope to capture the
essence of captive beauty masked by naïve childishness. The city will look
great from the outside, and maybe once you’re in it will look even more joyous,
but underneath it has a darker oblivious undertone.
-
“Moriana’s
hidden face”
(Thought I'd upload this separate to the OGR for better reading purposes!)
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