Puppet Palace: Post-Ruin

Inspiration

Another part of the cityscape collection, I wanted this place to have a more sinister and somber aesthetic, while still being peaceful in its solitude. The design of the Spites and their masked shadowy figures are based on design aspects of No Face, since Studio Ghibli was a large part of my childhood.

What it does

It’s meant to represent a scene of an escape from a ruined land, and demonstrate the effects of the Spites and their havoc. It also alludes to the castle area in the distance.

How we built it

Like others environments, I prioritize a stark color scheme and build off of the shades and values. This time I wanted to use red, to give a feeling of intensity and woe, and blue, to show a peaceful atmosphere. I layered geometrical shapes on top of each other using a grid tool, starting with the castle in the background and moving forward up to the foreground, where the characters would be placed to act as a focal point. The effects, characters, and textures would be added as a final touch to give each surface more depth.

Challenges we ran into

The middle ground of the piece was the hardest to contextualize. I didn’t want it to seem too empty, but I also wanted to add unique shapes and architecture. Eventually I’d add foreground elements to compliment the less interesting main path.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I’m proud to have been able to take a overall bland concept and continuously add on top as I went along until it became something visually interesting and unique.

Built With

• art