Floral Cottage

Full cottage landscape
A better view of the plants growing out of the hatched roof, as well as the chimneys
The windows on the side of the cottage, open to the view the flowery fields beyond
Pathway and flowers/grass
A closer look at the flowers making up the front yard
A closer view of the flowers at the back of the house
The front door, front window, and pathway
The smoke, moss-covered chimneys, and yard around the cottage

The Inspiration

My inspiration was in creating a safe place. For me, safety is always the beginning of the adventure, so I wanted to create a structure that could function as a haven. I used the cottage from Disney's 1959 Sleeping Beauty as inspiration, the cottage from 1985's Legend, as well as the Shire from Lord of the Rings. From there I looked at medieval architecture as well as other fantasy-based games like The Witcher and Legend of Zelda (specifically Breath of the Wild). I wanted to use lots of bright colors and really emphasis warmth and comfort and nature.

What it does

The Floral Cottage serves to establish a period of rest and reprieve for the hero of the story. It's a place of peace for anyone that needs it. I wanted the cottage to represent the earliest part of a fantasy adventure, before the call to adventure, or perhaps a found safe-space later in the story when the hero needs it most. It's in an idyllic meadow of flowers, with flowers and moss growing into and out of the roof, as if it could slowly become part of nature itself.

How I built it

I used Maya to build a rudimentary box and added a triangle on top for the roof. I usually do this sort of rough building to get a sense for the angles in a background. I used it as a reference when drawing the layout of the cottage. I drew the actual piece in Procreate, the exported it to Photoshop to check the levels (hue, saturation, contrast etc). In the earliest stages, it was a box with a slightly rounded rooftop but that didn't seem visually interesting enough to me so I added a couple dormers on the far side of the cottage and a slight extension that later became a place for an open window facing out into the yard. From there, I was able to add some wooden beams to further add to that medieval fantasy feeling, as well as adding more warm wood colors to the palette. The flowers on the roof were originally going to be a reddish-orange but I changed them to the bright blue they currently are, in order to break up the colors and add more interest to the rooftop. The plants especially are more like stacks of different colors, added drops of bright green and yellow and blue. I tried to keep a more loose and natural feeling to them, which was a challenge because I like to almost over-render everything!

The Challenge

The main challenges I ran into was making this fantasy concept feel unique. Every game has some iteration of the safe village, the hero's home etc. Making my cottage feel like mine and not just a version that's been seen and done before was important. Ultimately, I decided to lean into what I'd want to find if I were a weary adventurer. Someplace that was safe and warm and lived in, cozy and inviting. The chimneys with smoke add to the home. I wanted it to be beautiful, so I added lots of flowers. I had them growing out of and on top of the roof. Like I mentioned earlier, it was tricky to not add too much detail to every plant. I like to really focus on tiny details and keeping the plants loose and mostly bright colors was hard for me, but ultimately saved me so much time! I think it also added to that sort of dreamy/fantastical atmosphere too. I also added a stained glass flower to the window on the door, keeping that motif consistent. Drawing stained glass was very difficult, it was the first time I'd tried to create that effect.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm proud of myself for creating this piece in time for the contest, and that it looks the way I'd imagined it would. I'm really glad I was able to create that many flowers, and the grass beneath them. I'm proud of myself for all of the little details, like the shine on the metal of the doorknob, the grass-and-dirt-stained bottom of the cottage walls. It has a slight brown/green tint to it toward the ground. I'm proud of the lighting, particularly the shadows under the eaves on the cottage. Mostly I'm proud for submitting to the contest in the first place, I was really nervous! Getting over that first hurdle is the biggest accomplishment in my mind, because it led to all the rest of this.

What I learned

I learned to just start putting my work out there. I'm pretty new to trying to be a professional artist and I was really intimidated. Beside that, I learned quite a bit about various styles of architecture and ways to draw plants. I also learned a lot about lighting, the shadows under the thatched roof and on the flowers/grass nearest the cottage walls, and ways to enhance materials, like the plaster walls of the cottage covered in the dirt/moss residue from staying in one place for so long. I'd really love to continue exploring this in the future!

What's next for Floral Cottage

I think next, I'm going to create a few more buildings in the same style. I've already started looking into churches and other steepled buildings. I can see in my mind's eye, that the Floral Cottage is part of a bigger picture. I can see it on the fringes of a village, maybe that's where the dirt path leads. I think I'd also like to expand the landscape of the floral cottage too. I'll probably do a few passes at some environments, different types of trees and boulders and shrubbery that might be in the area. Maybe add a well or a paddock for some sheep or horses. Someday, maybe I'll even add a floral castle! Who knows!