FMP - Palace

In today's session I wanted to experiment with photoshop in a different sense to my other drawings by instead combining real-life imagery to create a realistic interpretation of the drawing and then age it with further photoshop effects to create a photo of my fictional palace. The first step was to gather the imagery that I will be using for this photoshop experiment and making sure to pick the sort of architecture that I wish to be influenced by so I can create a unique style. Some of the various assets that I used in this palace construction was a japanese pagoda, various bonsai trees, african palace exteriors, and the roofs from the blue mosque.Then I cut out the architectural features of the various building that I wish to be featured within my palace architecture. Then I created the towers from the various tools in photoshop which included a sandstone texture filter to create the the stones texture, and then using the skew feature to make it look like it curves all the way round to the top tower. Finally I colour-corrected and altered the brightness and contrast of each individual asset so that they could all sync together.

For the photographic aging effects to make the image look like it came straight from the late 19th century I added a variety of effects that achieved said look. The first effect was to blur the image slightly so that it looked more primitive and to negate the look of photoshop. The second effect was to grab a texture of an old photograph that has gone under some high-stress and wear and overlaying on top of my original image so it looks damaged and further aged. Finally I added on more photo a layer below my original image and added my original image as a overlay for that layer so that it looked further aged. If I was going to make any improvements to this image it would be to add more original elements and details to the image as a lot of it is just borrowed assets from other images and little original imagery. However I think this image overall was a success as it really captured an arabian palace feel but with some unique twists.

FMP - Portrait

In today's session, I developed my portrait sketch in photoshop because I felt it would look far more effective in colour rather in black and white, and because I need more practice in the art of digital painting. I started off by importing the sketch into photoshop and editing its levels so that I got a sharper looking sketch and to clear the white background in preparation for my new aged paper texture. I started off with a white background for initial painting, just so I could nail the regular look, and began painting in between the lines of sketch adding tonal elements when necessary to enhance the image. I played with the colours quite a bit in this particular project as I wanted a unique look and feel to the piece so it could replicate those portraits of old. I made sure to select two textures for this piece; one for the general feel of he paint, and one decrepit texture to make the portrait look more cracked and water-damaged lie it actually has got a few years on its back.

The next part was to layer these images together so that it would look as convincing as possible to the audience watching but still retain its uniqueness. After experimenting with a variety of textures and photoshop effects to perfect this image, I finally managed to get a refined, aged look that was aesthetically pleasing but surprisingly colourful. I think the hardest part of this image to get right was the painted effect and the aged effects as I needed to find a balance of what is realistic and what is aesthetically pleasing. I think I've managed to achieve a mildly convincing effect but I'll look into other practical and digital techniques to improve this images realism in future. However I think the overall design is eye-pleasing enough and manages to be historically appropriate for this time period but still keep its unique style.

FMP - Further Sketching

In today's session I drew up my designs for my fictional empire's palaces and Sultana portraits. The first one that I drew which was of the the large palace was based upon multiple existing eastern palaces and architectural designs. The biggest influence for this one however was the Taj Mahal, which you can tell by the large dome and general shape of the palace, in India as it is considered to be a wonder of the modern world. however another notable architectural inspiration was the Blue Mosque in turkey,which you can see in the rounded roofs and additional towers design, which was designed by one of my artistic inspiration, Mimar Sinan, who also did work on the Taj Mahal. What I like about the palace is the way it captures the idealised look of Eastern Culture, since its a mix of Indian, Arabian, Turkish, Chinese, and Japanese design, but yet still feels somewhat unique thanks to my own personal and western interpretation of these elements. However I wish I could have sketched in a more unique way as its design at the moment is a bit bland.

The second part of this particular sketching stage was to create a series of drawings that related to the look of my Sultana dynasty but still mixes in those other themes that I have explored in my research. I have created four so far and have two left to make for my little collection of images to be complete and so far I have created a a print of the first Sultana, a portrait of the second Sultana, a historical moment of the third Sultana, and finally a sketch of the fourth Sultana's assassination. The first one was based upon 16th century ink sketches prints of famous historical people, the second one was based upon on portraits of saints and royalty and will be coloured in to be more aesthetically pleasing, The third one was based upon wood-cut prints and their simplified nature, and finally the fourth one was somewhat inspired by the painting of Jean-Paul Marat as this Sultana was become a martyr of Onlum's because of her brutal assassination. These sketches have been interesting so far as they allowed me to develop a significant style for the rest of my work with major credit going to the second one as it really accumulates the sort of style I wanted to achieve for my artistic practices.

FMP - Drawing Concepts

In today's session I started to design the core concept for my fictional empire, starting with the religious iconography that will be included in all of the art, architecture, and scripture which I'll be designing after these initial concepts. The first god that I designed is the main female one called Amalurra who promotes order and feminist ideals. The sketchy design was based upon old Arabian murals and painting that I found while searching for research material. Her pose is reminiscent of Hindu paintings and even has multiple hands like most Hindu deities. The artefacts in her hands are supposed to symbolise an ideal of the Talam religion; the key represents how Onlums have a responsibility to teach the unenlightened the truths of Amalurra, the scroll represents the written truths of the Talam way of life, the sword represents the discipline and dominance that one must have to become a true Onlum, and the flower represents both the importance of keeping purity and the mamu plant which Onlums smoke to bring them closer to God. Aitagerra is a pig-headed God of destruction and the ruler of Synd. The mural depicts doomed lost souls in Synd searching for salvation while Amalurra sits at the centre of earth and the universe in Mirakel.

In this page of sketches I designed the white minority group within my fictional empire, who were originally a Christian crusade group, Die Gottliche Waffen, of Germans and Englishmen attempting to spread the bible in the typical Talamic countries of the Bicamerkezi Isles but were ultimately driven out and crash landed in the Fanar region, other wise known as "The Trade-man's Foil". They managed to ultimately adapt and grow in this treacherous region and developed primitive flying technology for easier transportation in a high altitude area. The drawings themselves were based upon ancient drawings of peasantry in the 17th century and were designed to look like rough, mountain people with a European twist. The clothes were based upon both typical dress in Europe and a bit of Indian and Arabian influences thrown in to give it a unique look. The balloon design was based upon the Montgolfier brother's hot air balloon designs and gypsy caravans (the original concept was inspired by the animated film "Up"). I think overall today has been a overall success but I would like to produce more refined sketches next time as they have looked quite rough in these earlier designs.

FMP - Mythos Development

Today, I started to develop my lore and mythos for my fictional empire that I call the Pamundur empire. This involved developing the society, the religion, the technology, the architecture, and the fictional history through text so I can get down my initial ideas. In my empire we have a matriarchal society led by women, fought by men with a mostly black and arabic population. There is also a dynasty within this empire of Sultanas, under the name of Pamu, with harems of men to harvest daughters for the eventual throne. It's also worth noting that only the special forces are made of women while the men make the most of the expendable grunts. The religion within this society has two gods named Amalurra (female) and Aitagerra (male) who created man and woman separately to see if they could settle their arguments through a truce race. Unfortunately they just waged wars on each other and in the end the women were proven superior to men, so Aitagerra was banished to the outer realms of Synd (hell), while Amalurra ruled over Earth in the centre realm of Mirakel (heaven). As such, burials are the common ritual while open air cremations and burnings are only saved for those who betray their empire and religion.

Their are a total of six Sultanas during the age of the Pamundur empire, all with varying personalities and achievements. The basic history starts with Chekia tribe who were led by the first Sultana named Umut Pamu started taking over other tribe territories in the Bicamerkezi Isles in the Arabian sea. After taking over 3 territories, she was succeeded by her daughter Faithiyya who conquered all of the other occupied areas of the isles during her short reign of 33 years and was marked as a legend in history as one of the most successful military leaders and rulers of all time. Her successor, Yeter, marked a time of social change and the time of construction. She also discovers the existence of white inhabitants on the previously thought abandoned region of Fanar, who are failed crusaders who mastered early flight technology due to the highly treacherous mountain region. After a brutal attack that left the Fanarians damaged and desperate, Sultana Ritsika rose to power and pushed a religious agenda that caused a lot of controversy over the previously accepting empire. After she ordered a brutal massacre, she was assassinated by a unknown assailant who was rumored to be a bitter Fanarian. After a ten year period of relative peace reigned by Ritsika's brother and the female council, Kali the Grim rose to power with a vicious agenda against all Fanarians. The Fanarians abandoned their homeland, on their newly invented hot air balloons, to live as travellers but were oppressed by Kali's racist empire. The new Sultana Adiya rose after Kali was deemed unfit for rule for massacring a random Fanarian settlement, with a new modern agenda to takeover more land. She ordered a bulk of new technology to be developed from stolen schematics from both the outside world and the Fanarians to help mobilize her country into a fit state for modern conquest. It failed however as a Fanarian rebellion was rising in power and the surrounding countries started to push on them. Eventually she was killed by the Fanarian rebel leader and, after a failed conspiracy by the remaining council members to obtain rule, the empire was disbanded.

FMP - Artists Research

In today's session I looked at two artistic influences that I would like to take into account when creating my empire. These two two influences being Punch magazine, which I have looked at before in my past projects, and Mimar Sinan, a famous Islamic architect that designed many famous buildings and structures for the Ottoman empire. But first lets talk about Punch magazine; originally a blatant copy of a French satirical magazine called "Le Charivari" the influence of this little political, social satire comic had a huge influence over the graphic industry and even pegged the name of cartoon. What I found to be interesting about this one political satire magazine is how much of a product of its time it is, for example it makes, what was, early pop cultural references to the rising martial arts of jiu jitsu that was spreading throughout western culture at the time. Plus, it has certain racial stereotypes that have not aged well such as calling all their black characters "Sambo" and having them only speak in Ebonics, which wasn't considered racist at the time and in fact I think this magazine was slightly more progressive then others since it didn't embrace all stereotypes and even had some sympathy for the slaves at the time but, like Mr Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany's, some of the stuff displayed here can be quite uncomfortable for a modern politically-correct audience, which is why I specifically chose it.

My second artistic influence was a Islamic architect known as Mimar Sinan, or Great Sinan by admirers, who created mosques and other impressive structures in the favour of the Ottoman empire. It should also be noted he assisted in the design of the Taj Mahal in India which is considered to be one the most famous buildings in the world. What I to be interesting about his particular work was the sheer amount of dedication and commitment that went into every building that he made. He would create religiously significant foundations because of his commitment to Allah rather then for his own sensibilities, he reimagined the Golden Proportion in a new and exciting way by making it applicable to a three-dimensional plain rather then just a two-dimensional plain like other architects at the time, and he even built in airways, drainpipes, and sewers into his building that seemed invisible just so it wouldn't intrude on your personal experience of the building. What I would like to take away from him is particular grand and epic style that was clean and intricate making it almost like the building appeared naturally into the world.

FMP - Architecture, Clothing, and Religion

In today's session I looked at the individual aspects of empires that I found to be interesting in more detail so that I could accurately recreate them for my fictional empire, which started with my studies on propaganda and racism. The first subject that I looked at toady was architecture which I studied in a broad sense to get more inspiration and inspire potential features that I might desire in my new empirical structures. I mainly looked at eastern architecture then western architecture because that is the sort of area I want my fictional empire to be based on and I really don't want to walk into a generic steampunk setting which I would probably do if I looked at western culture. I found that a lot of eastern architecture, especially Turkish, love to put intricate and layered patterns into their structures as well as a affinity for stone rather then wooden structures. The aim for my architectural design is not to be realistic but to but tell the story of the empire through symbolism and other types of imagery.

The second subject I researched toady was clothing worn by various cultures such as armor, citizen clothing, police/guard clothing, and garbs worn by monarchs/leaders. What I found interesting about the eastern style of clothing is their affinity for long flowing fabrics like silks and their assortment of headgear which could vary from turbans, fezzes, and even skullcaps with floral decoration. The clothing was also quite colourful, no doubt from the assortment of dyes available to them and the motivation to impress onlookers. I want my clothing to be just as extravagant but I also want some poorer looking clothes for the assortment of peasants. The last thing I researched today was religion and the impacts it has had over certain empires. ~What I found interesting is that some empires are motivated by religion and the cause to spread it to "uncivilized" countries and nations. Also religious imagery is everywhere in their art and architecture so I should keep a close eye to incorporate such symbols in my architecture.

FMP - Further Research

In today's session I decided that I would jump into the darker side of Empirical rule and the two subjects being propaganda and institutional racism. Now racism does not appear in all empires and some even are open to multi-cultural societies but often its only in the later developments of the empires and do still often restrict individuals who do not follow their qualifications or cultural norms. The propaganda side of it I am no stranger to as I have already explored this theme before in the past and in depth but I still decided to look at propaganda techniques used to coerce those who read it into following the indoctrination of the propagandist. What I found interesting about propaganda is that it is almost universal that the enemy is portrayed as stupid, ugly, and something to be mocked and the representatives of the society as beautiful, angelic, and often the ones being victimised by the violent enemy. Consequently this can lead to stereotypes and then racism. I wish I could find older remnants of propaganda but they are quite rare and are often murals rather then paper handouts like the ones I want to create.

Now we reach the sensitive issue of racism within media and within a empirical society. This is often a sensitive subject as it can bring up a lot of old wounds and controversies that are still happening today. Often with empires it is used to make the opposition look uncivilized and by reaffirming paranoid thoughts like "they are going to corrupt my heritage" and "they could kill me at any minute" to incite those to take action like in the case of the British Empire or in cases of a already taken over territory not to interfere when the authorities take extreme action against the enemy "race" which was heavily used during WW2 by Germany when occupying countries. Due to my current state of living i a modern more accepting society and being a white male myself I am not aware of how other ethnicities perceive me and I often wonder what they consider the quintessential stereotypes of a white person. I sent out a questionnaire and did some research to find out this and I found out that white people are often thought as being hooked-nosed, thin-lipped, wide-eyed, ignorant, rich, bigots and the slurs used against white people are not limited to the English language. What I want to find out next is how empirical architecture is designed so that I cam employ the same philosophies for my own designs.