Location, Location, Location!!

So we've started to really plan out Issue #2: Bad Seeds. One thing we are doing to build on the culture, and continuity of The Underground is to research themes to be used in every key location. By using this theme to illustrate the area, and flush out it's history, we add a new level of complexity to this world in progress. Walt Disney once said when producing 'Bambi'...

"We're not trying to make the impossible possible. We're trying to make the impossible plausible."

I think this holds true to our efforts with re-envisioning The Underground. By no means can I expect anyone to believe that bugs can walk around upright, speak with one another, fire and build weapons...but I can put enough work, and research into the world that these fantastic things happen. Then maybe....you (the reader), may be able to suspend your disbelief long enough to get lost in my world.

The first two locations we're really diving into in the series are; Coryn (home of the ants), and The Fly Federation. Both are going to be alot of fun to work with, for drastically different reasons. The two locations are so glaringly opposite from one another that it should prove a good test in design to make them feel this way. Enter the themes. Coryn, being a defensive stronghold and powerful icon, will be following a Romanesque theme. We've started researching architecture, and banners/heraldry. Already I can see a more realistic ant colony forming.

The Fly Federation on the other hand is built in a trash heap. It's a dark, dirty, filthy place...perfect for flies, and many other insects. One constant peril of working on The Underground is forgetting the perspective of the characters. Where a trash can is gross and disgusting to us, this can be a sprawling metropolis to bugs! Thus I set out in search of images that could mix both the resource facility, and filth which comprises the Federation. Admittedly most of my images can from just over the creek in Detroit, Michigan. I also found some old factory images from Germany.

Photo references are a great tool when designing anything. I've used them when drawing complicated positions of humans, and animals, but never to develop a them such as this. I look forward to where this new research, and the continued efforts of my Creative Development team is going to lead.

Thanks all, and keep checking out this, and the other supporting sites.