In Fall 2013 I took an online seminar with the very talented illustrator Sean Andrew Murray. The class was focused on "world building." We were to take a world we invented and visualize its geography, flora, fauna, inhabitants, means of transportation, scenes from daily life, etc. At the time I was very rusty with digital painting, so my execution of the artwork isn't my best, but I really enjoyed the exercises of giving visual life to my ideas.
My invented world is for a futuristic story I've had bouncing around my head for several months, and for this seminar I chose to flesh out the "opening scenes" world called Vigil.
I might show some of the finished work at a later point, but for now here are some of the process stages I enjoy the most.
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| Thumbnails for landmarks and geography for the settled verdant areas of the planet Vigil. |
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| Flying and Swimming Fauna concepts. The bird creature on the right did not make the final cut. |
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| Mammal fauna concepts - a rabbit-sized rodent and a giant flying "wolf" bat. |
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| A small crop of the "final" scene featuring my flora/fauna concepts. This bit features a predatory creature and the rodent. |
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| Concepts for Vigil's female elite / leaders |
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| Concepts for Vigil's male elite / leaders |
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| Concepts for Vigil's middle class / merchants |
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| Concepts for Vigil's security forces |
If you'd like to check out the other students' work from this seminar, check out
http://murray-worldbuilding-fall2013.blogspot.com/.
