This is a project that I’m working on at the moment. I’ve been thinking for some time now about making an illustration with horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines that sometimes take off in unexpected directions, so I thought it made sense to use the page grid for this. This is just how far I’ve come at the moment, the whole thing is going to be a bit smaller than A3 format so what you see here is just a fraction of that.
Sources of inspiration: M.C. Escher drawings and Eboy’s pixel art.
Thank you ML! Yes it did take a lot of time. I can be very patient with time-consuming projects like this, but for some reason I never finished it. Some buildings in the upper right corner are missing). Here is the almost finished version:
It looks pretty complete to me, with a nice soccer field at the top right, but I guess maybe you're going for a mega city, with buildings everywhere. :)
Thanks for sharing the bigger view. After I saw the smaller image, I was really curious to see more of your city.
It sure is interesting how the different colors and lines and angles lead my eye around the canvas. I really like the color palette. I was looking at your city from different zoom levels and noticing the different elements of color and spacing. Would you be able to share any insights about how you went about the process of composition?
Yes, the effect that I was going for was that this city sort of goes on forever. In a perfect world I think I would have made it into a seamless pattern, but in reality I don’t think I could pull that off.
Thank you for these reflections. The general idea was to test the grid feature in Inkscape. If I the grid lines were too far apart for some detail, I would use subdivisions of the grid. Besides that there was some other ”rules”, for example:
Use black contour lines with the same width
Lines can take off in unexpected directions (although I sort wandered off from this idea after a while)
Use Inkscapes default color palette (which I find very useful in many cases)
Buildings should generally be inspired from architecture in the Stockholm area (there are a couple of exceptions though)
The rules are fairly rigid but there was still room for a lot of craziness and improvisation within these limitations. I remember I felt like I was in a certain mood (or mode?) while working. It was a nice feeling, sort of like dreaming, but also laborious for some reason. And as the illustration became more complex, my old computer started running slow. There were too many layers, groups and objects I guess, and that sort of put a limit on the project. A few weeks later I tried resuming the work process, but I wasn't in the same mindset anymore, hence the football field in the upper right corner :)
Wow, that is very interesting to hear about the composition rules/principles, as well as the history of the piece. I think it's weird how using a "limited palette", or a limited set of options, sometimes opens up the creative process, rather than restricting it. It's sort of a paradox. The Grid City definitely has a sense of visual purpose, and I wonder if some of those rules contributed to the feeling of a consistent style and sense of meaning. When I saw that Stockholm is the inspiration, I was like, "Ah-ha! Makes sense!" but I was originally thinking that it looks a lot like Buenos Aires, even featuring the "Casa Rosada," and with a soccer field too!
When you say "seamless," I guess you mean like something that you could tile, without seeing any edges, and turn it into wallpaper for a bedroom or that sort of thing? I think you could easily accomplish that, especially if you were to have unlimited RAM.
I can see how hardware issues could change both the mood and the mode of any project, as I have experienced that sort of thing many times myself. Not sure if you've updated to a state-of-the-art gaming computer since you last worked on the project, but here's one idea for dealing with memory/hardware limitations -- you could work in sections, with separate files for the top and bottom, or for each corner, or that sort of thing, and just include the edge-most buildings in each adjacent frame. Then you could work at a steady pace without all the crash interruptions, and then stitch together the different sections later. Just a thought. I also wonder (and I have no idea as to what the answer might be) if using stamp clones, instead of copied shapes, for things like identical windows, would help with ram consumption? I'm not sure if something like that would help or not... I've definitely run into RAM limitations with Inkscape in the recent past. ----Moreover-- I also find it very true, what they say -- that taking some time away from a project, and then returning to it later, sometimes re-invigorates the artistic process.
I additionally wonder if the top-right corner could be turned into a Stockholm-themed park? I would love to see more of the multi-circle tree canopies. Thank you for sharing the details about your composition guidelines -- I find this to be very insightful. I feel especially enlightened to learn about how you chose your color palette.
Work in Progress Grid city
Inkscape.org
This is a project that I’m working on at the moment. I’ve been thinking for some time now about making an illustration with horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines that sometimes take off in unexpected directions, so I thought it made sense to use the page grid for this. This is just how far I’ve come at the moment, the whole thing is going to be a bit smaller than A3 format so what you see here is just a fraction of that.
Sources of inspiration: M.C. Escher drawings and Eboy’s pixel art.
Nice!
Thanks!
Looks great! I especially like the style of the tree canopy composed of multiple circles. This must have taken a ton of work! It is very detailed.
Thank you ML! Yes it did take a lot of time. I can be very patient with time-consuming projects like this, but for some reason I never finished it. Some buildings in the upper right corner are missing). Here is the almost finished version:
It looks pretty complete to me, with a nice soccer field at the top right, but I guess maybe you're going for a mega city, with buildings everywhere. :)
Thanks for sharing the bigger view. After I saw the smaller image, I was really curious to see more of your city.
It sure is interesting how the different colors and lines and angles lead my eye around the canvas. I really like the color palette. I was looking at your city from different zoom levels and noticing the different elements of color and spacing. Would you be able to share any insights about how you went about the process of composition?
Yes, the effect that I was going for was that this city sort of goes on forever. In a perfect world I think I would have made it into a seamless pattern, but in reality I don’t think I could pull that off.
Thank you for these reflections. The general idea was to test the grid feature in Inkscape. If I the grid lines were too far apart for some detail, I would use subdivisions of the grid. Besides that there was some other ”rules”, for example:
The rules are fairly rigid but there was still room for a lot of craziness and improvisation within these limitations. I remember I felt like I was in a certain mood (or mode?) while working. It was a nice feeling, sort of like dreaming, but also laborious for some reason. And as the illustration became more complex, my old computer started running slow. There were too many layers, groups and objects I guess, and that sort of put a limit on the project. A few weeks later I tried resuming the work process, but I wasn't in the same mindset anymore, hence the football field in the upper right corner :)
Wow, that is very interesting to hear about the composition rules/principles, as well as the history of the piece. I think it's weird how using a "limited palette", or a limited set of options, sometimes opens up the creative process, rather than restricting it. It's sort of a paradox. The Grid City definitely has a sense of visual purpose, and I wonder if some of those rules contributed to the feeling of a consistent style and sense of meaning. When I saw that Stockholm is the inspiration, I was like, "Ah-ha! Makes sense!" but I was originally thinking that it looks a lot like Buenos Aires, even featuring the "Casa Rosada," and with a soccer field too!
When you say "seamless," I guess you mean like something that you could tile, without seeing any edges, and turn it into wallpaper for a bedroom or that sort of thing? I think you could easily accomplish that, especially if you were to have unlimited RAM.
I can see how hardware issues could change both the mood and the mode of any project, as I have experienced that sort of thing many times myself. Not sure if you've updated to a state-of-the-art gaming computer since you last worked on the project, but here's one idea for dealing with memory/hardware limitations -- you could work in sections, with separate files for the top and bottom, or for each corner, or that sort of thing, and just include the edge-most buildings in each adjacent frame. Then you could work at a steady pace without all the crash interruptions, and then stitch together the different sections later. Just a thought. I also wonder (and I have no idea as to what the answer might be) if using stamp clones, instead of copied shapes, for things like identical windows, would help with ram consumption? I'm not sure if something like that would help or not... I've definitely run into RAM limitations with Inkscape in the recent past. ----Moreover-- I also find it very true, what they say -- that taking some time away from a project, and then returning to it later, sometimes re-invigorates the artistic process.
I additionally wonder if the top-right corner could be turned into a Stockholm-themed park? I would love to see more of the multi-circle tree canopies. Thank you for sharing the details about your composition guidelines -- I find this to be very insightful. I feel especially enlightened to learn about how you chose your color palette.