Looking for Inspiration 2004-02-21 - By Kris Krieger
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At 11:32 PM 20-02-04, Dave Angelini wrote:
>I am currently working on a my longest WIP ever (yes...we are talking
>years here). It is a sci-fi architecture scene and I am about 80% done.
>
>I am a bit stuck for some sci-fi spire type of architecture...preferrably
>with a walkway between towers....
Ravenn's list of links was good, but I also like Valgar's idea. Also good
are micrographs of Diatomes/Foraminifera, which have some spectacular
shapes. X-ray crystallography, electron miscropy of insects and other
natural structures, even molecular structures, might bring some unusual
things to mind. Insect wings, leaf "skeletons", cocoons - the universe
hold more marvels than the human mind can think of. And since the
sturctures exist, you know thay have to work on at least some scale and
with some materials. Your job is to then extrapolate the sructures to
different materials etc. and try to think whether they might be possible.
Oh, also, depending upon the style you're doing, pics of places like Arches
Nat.l Park, and ice caves, lava tubes, and other geological structures
might be useful.
The hard part IMO of SF architecture is having a sense of the possible
capabilities of materials. My personal gripe with many SF-scapes is that
the materials look/"feel" like familiar materials, but they're doing things
that familiar materials simply don't do, because the person just drew
shapes with no thought re: whether they'd be possible or practical/workable
as human spaces (for those that are supposed to be human spaces). And for
non-human species, too many of the buildings look the same as the human
ones. IOW, if you looking to create spaces/structures in your image for
non-human beings, look to nature for analogs, look into the biology (to get
a better sense of their perceptive processes, which in turn helps one to
think of an appropriate Aesthetic), and that sort of thing.
HTH!
- Kris K.
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