"What makes Argia different from other cities is that it has earth instead of air. The streets are completely filled with dirt, clay packs the rooms to the ceiling, on every stair another staircase is set in negative, over the roofs of the houses hang layers of rocky terrain like skies with clouds. We do not know if the inhabitants can move about this city, widening the worm tunnels and the crevices where roots twist; the dampness destroys people's bodies and they have scant strength; everyone is better off remaining still, prone; anyway, it is dark."
— Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
I am loving your style of working! Great designs and I have to say very well contrasted. I rather like 82 and 91 as they remind me of a set in Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit movies. It would be great to see some of these redefined and maybe add a little colour to map out the foregrounds from the back ground? Other than that well done and keep it up! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm glad they were able remind you of such impressive sets. Ha! I tried coulours but they kind of take away the sinister and claustrophobic look of this city, in my opinion. :) Thanks for the suggestions though!
DeleteYey, excerpt from the book : D! That makes a lot of sense now!
ReplyDeleteI am really liking these, Julien, and I think that this inverted B&W really suits your drawing style (my imagination sees a very good and dark and scary comic book in the future..perhaps?).
I am really liking 79, it does feel a lot like what has been described in the book - it's rocky, the shapes aren't regular, seems all dusty and dirty to me. I would say the same about 77, 78 and 81, however the rest of them kinda don't carry the same feeling. In my opinion they are too sterile.
Anyways, it's all looking good! Keep going and keep drawing : ))
Well done!
I totally see your point. I must say I didn’t realise immediately that what the novel meant by “staircase set in negative” was actual dirt filling the space between the steps and the ceiling. I think I also misinterpreted how the streets looked at first. I guess I should have pictured all of them as being replaced with tunnels, dug into the rock that has set between the houses. So yeah, most of these thumbnails are indeed too spacious and cavernous to fit the book description. Thanks for putting me back on the right track! :)
DeleteThis is perhaps the toughest city to imagine: but, in technical terms, the inversion of the drawings is an intelligent signifier that this space is very different to the ones we've explored with you before: you might want to think about looking at the work of Rachel Whiteread for sense of how the 'air' might be replaced with solids:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/home/twamoran/urbanghostsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/rachel-whiteread-house-3.jpg
I looked up her up to see the rest of her work and it's indeed very helpful! Thank you, Phil :)
Delete