Invisible Cities: Research

Pipe City:

I started researching into different ideas and concepts for the city full of pipes and porcelain and looked into different types of pipes. Finding references of different types of pipes and the typical cogs used for pipes and what not. As well as, blueprints for houses showing the plumbing behind them so if I could get a general idea as to how just the pipes in a home would look.

The more I looked into and gathered images of pipe work and read more into the description of the city, I noticed that the author said only porcelain was left with the pipe work. Then started looking into buildings made entirely of porcelain. Which lead to me discovering a couple buildings and structures in China. Which gave me ideas to make up some buildings made of porcelain and pipe work and build up a city  from that, which I think is an interesting concept. Then as I started to thumbnail those ideas it lead time to think about a place called Markarth in Skyrim which was of Dwarven origin and has these mechanised protectors and underground ruins filled with golden pipes. Then looking at the concepts in Skyrim made me remember an orb filled with power in the Warhammer franchise known as Astartes. Which I thought could be fun inspiration for a centre structure in the city keeping the water flowing in the pipes running through the city keeping it alive. Another known city I thought of whilst considering these options was Ba Sing Se from Avatar: The Last Airbender, as in this show Ba Sing Se has giant tube like structures for transporting goods across the city which I figured were kind of like pipes that could be in this city. The city Ba Sing Se was closely referenced to a city called Baghdad centuries ago which had these giant walls and domed buildings that I thought would be an interesting layout for the city made of pipes and porcelain. 

Water Canals:

I couldn't really come up with too much for the water canal city, I just figured the city would look like a water theme park. With some rides involving big drops and what not. I did think that they maybe had houses on boats since the water canals were described as roads.

Domed City:

This was another city that I didn't feel all that inspired for, I have recently been playing a game called Hades though, which involves the different Gods of Olympus and the designs are all really unique. So, if I tried this city I'd probably use them as references to make fun God designs for the statues.

Stone City with Globes:

I feel like this city would look something like Obidos in Portugal, I think the aspect of the city using models within globes depicting different versions of what the city could have been would be really interesting. But, the globes are inside the buildings so, if I chose this city I feel like I'd only have one cool piece of concept art (interior shot).

City on Stilts:

In terms of the city on stilts I feel like it wouldn't be that interesting to draw because it would most likely be a regular city really high in the sky. But, at the time when collaging a mood board for this I was listening the some music by the Gorillaz and the floating windmill from the music video "Feel Good inc", made me think about a city high above ground on giant stalactite/mites. Which I thought could be quite a fun idea.

String City:

This city I figured would either look wild and tangled or well governed and organised however, the author describes it as a sort of spider web of strings connected across beams where homes once stood. So I thought it would be interesting if the people that once lived here lived in tents (as they were travelers) and maybe left just the support systems to the tents when the string got too much. I also thought that maybe they used the string for more than just making a visible connection to another person, they may have also used the string as a means of delivering things to different people; by swinging it across things and using gears and string to deliver gifts or food to people in other tents with a tank wheel like construction. Another idea I had that I thought was interesting but never went anywhere was homes made or string, as though knitted or woven like a spider's thread.

City of Signposts:

I felt pretty inspired by tokyo for this city since there's signposts everywhere and there's so much information everywhere that its difficult to take things in. So I figured if all the mascots and signs where illustrated by animals and such I could create a super weird looking urban city, littered with bright misleading signs with animals on them.

Fish Tank City:

I looked into different wooden shacks and things trying to find some really gnarly references, because I feel as though this city would be dark and dirty. Though, I have to admit I really don't want to paint fish tanks and fish. I think drawing something with a really moody brown and green colour palette would be super fun but, again I really don't want to draw fish tanks.

Bamboo City: 

Honestly I don't feel that interested in this city whatsoever, I really couldn't find many interesting things to do with bamboo buildings. The structures themselves are cool but I can't see myself drawing up three paintings for them. I really like the way the support beams look though. 

Rollercoaster and Cement City:

I liked this city quite a lot I think it would be interesting to merge winding roller coasters and really square cement buildings. In the scripture the author said the city was in two halves but I thought it could be interesting to have the roller coasters go around and through the buildings themselves.

The City Under Constant Construction:

This one really interests me, I think drawing a night time scene would look great, especially with the intricate background that I could potentially draw. I had an idea that the people that live there could use the stars as a sort of dot to dot blueprint, since they use the stars as a blueprint to make sure their work never stops. 

City of Wells:

This city didn't interest me at all to begin with but, grew on me as I looked into it. I feel as though the idea of designing houses that are connected or go into the ground around the wells on the surface could be really interesting. Additionally, if I were to draw this city I could draw massive overground structures as the water vats and maybe even draw an underground water reserve surrounded by caves which interests me a ton.

The Clean City:

This city was one of the cities that interested me at first because I was looking forward to maybe drawing an environment with giant piles of waste behind fresh buildings and what not. However, I don't feel as though I found anything particularly interesting in terms of reference and my thumbnails for this city aren't all that inspiring either.