"Magician's Palace" - Designing Imaginary Architecture

Hi there! In snowy and cold winter days like these, there’s nothing better than warm tea near the burning fireplace. As I don’t have a burning fireplace (or any other fireplace for that matter), warm tea near the computer has to suffice.

So! Here is the last of the four “case studies” but just one of the whole mass of drawings made for a course in designing imaginaryarchitecture. The concept process behind this design has been described in the course and below you can see the drawing process. This illustration is called “The Magician’s Palace” and the form of the building is strongly influenced by gothic cathedrals.

1.      Well, an expression “concept sketch” may be too generous, but this tangle of lines really helped me to capture the idea.

2.      Just a few fine, accurate lines, which will determine the size of the building on a large piece of paper.

3.      Sketches of details, which I wanted to capture as soon as possible before I forget them (I avoid using reference photos while drawing architectural objects).

Repeating the previous step in ink with “copying” repeatable elements. I’ve been using here the same waterproof Faber-Castell pens, size S. Actually, if I could find size XS, it would be even better.

4.      Further delving into details… and a moment of doubt. It’s going to take a looooong time before…

5.      …finish!

Well, it’s not the real finish yet. Below you can take a look at a short video, where I’ve been painting it with watercolors in sepia tones.

Keep warm!

BLIGHTINGALES - music album illustrations

Based on my long and insightful researches (i.e. checking “likes” on Facebook and Behance and posting a one-question questionnaire on DeviantArt) I discovered, that my viewers/readers are most interested in my gothic illustrations.

Oddly enough, I don’t have too many opportunities to make such artworks. But today I can finally share with you a mysterious, ruined gothic cathedral painted as a cover illustration for a grey-metal (doom-death-symphonic black) band “Darken My Grief”.

So far I could only listen to a few demo fragments, but I hope I managed to capture an appropriate atmosphere. Luckily the band’s frontman – Duddu had quite a clear vision regarding the whole graphic design.  Considering this, the task may sound like a piece of cake, but in practice, it meant seemingly endless editions of the whole mass of tiny little elements. Apparently, that’s what happens, when two perfectionists meet. Anyway, the final result was worth the effort!

One of my ugly concept sketches – let’s call this phase “a necessary pain”. Probably at this stage the clients are seriously wondering whether they made the right choice when hiring me:

The final illustration – I had almost a total freedom here. The only requirement was to capture a woman and a flock of birds. So I decided to put them in a gothic environment (with cathedral’s ruins in a shade of whitened bones. Charming, I know):

The front cover design:

The back cover illustration (probably you can notice letters DMG hidden in the central symbol resembling an angel – this symbol is actually frontman’s brilliant idea):

Some of the lyrics backgrounds:

And now I’m waiting impatiently to listen to their music...  

Sketching, sketching...

"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery." 

Aldous Huxley "Brave New World"

"Faktyczna szczęśliwość zawsze wypada blado na tle spodziewanej nagrody za nędzę"

 Aldous Huxley "Nowy Wspaniały Świat"

"How did you draw the sketch?" - that's the question I was asked several times when I tried to explain "step by step"  how my illustrations were created. Already made sketch was usually the first step. So now I decided to present as precisely as possible how it's actually drawn. I just have to warn you that it's not a lesson about perspective (obviously one post wouldn't be enough for that).

 "Jak narysowałaś szkic?" - to pytanie, które kilkakrotnie mi zadawano, kiedy próbowałam wyjaśnić  krok po kroku jak powstawały moje ilustracje. Gotowy  szkic - podrys był bowiem zazwyczaj krokiem pierwszym. Dzisiaj postanowiłam więc możliwie dokładnie pokazać jak powstaje ów podrys cienkopisem. Uprzedzam tylko, że nie jest to lekcja perspektywy (jeden wpis z pewnością by na to nie wystarczył).

 0. A concept sketch made with just any pen on an accidentally found piece of paper. For me it's quite accurate and readable... but possibly only for me.   And here's the relevant drawing:

0. Szkic koncepcyjny zrobiony na przypadkowo znalezionym skrawku papieru byle jakim pisakiem. Dla mnie jest on całkiem dokładny i w pełni czytelny, ale możliwe, że tylko dla mnie. A teraz rysunek właściwy:

1. Just a few lines but they determine what will be displayed in the frame and define placement of vanishing points. At the beginning of drawing I use a very tired pen approaching to the end of its way to the dustbin. However it still leaves delicate lines on paper.

1.To zaledwie kilka kresek, ale pokazują one , co właściwie zmieści się w kadrze oraz określają, gdzie mniej więcej znajdują się punkty zbiegu. Na początku używam bardzo wysłużonego  cienkopisu, który zbliża się już do kresu swojej drogi na śmietnik, jednak zostawia jeszcze bardzo delikatne ślady na papierze.

2. Basic divisions of the block and general draft of most significant elements. At this stage lots of elements can be inadequate so it's better to draw poorly visible lines.

2. Podstawowe podziały bryły i ogólny zarys ważniejszych elementów. Na tym etapie sporo elementów może być "nietrafionych", więc bezpieczniej jest  rysować ledwo dostrzegalnymi liniami.

3. Finally it's time for brand new pen! We emphasize what's important in our previous sketch and ignore guide lines and marks drawn not where they are needed. By the way we add further divisions. To be honest that's probably the most challenging stage.

3. Wreszcie pora na nowiutki cienkopis! Wydobywamy to, co jest istotne w dotychczasowym szkicu ignorując pomocnicze linie konstrukcyjne i kreski postawione w nieodpowiednich miejscach. Przy okazji dodajemy kolejne podziały. Prawdę mówiąc to chyba najbardziej wymagający etap.

4. Drawing outlines of ornaments. Watching lots of references before that can be really helpful.

4. Zarysy ornamentów. Dobrze jest zapoznać się wcześniej z wieloma przykładami ornamentów.

5. Further detailing.

5. Dalsze zagłębianie się w detale. 

6. Materials, textures and ... oh ... plants.

6. Materiały, faktury i... o... roślinki.