When I first designed Waterfall City (detail, above) I hadn’t dreamed up the idea of Dinotopia yet, with its partnership of humans and saurians. The logical way to travel across the chasm was by a giant pterosaur, but at the time I was thinking of hang gliders.
These design sketches imagine configurations for hang gliders a little different from the ones Otto Lilienthal and the Wright Brothers came up with.
I think this was the first image I'd ever seen from you. It had my head spinning of how convincing your world was.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely redefined what fantasy art could and should be for me.
I just finished reading a really excellent book on Hal Foster last night. He set such a high standard for the comic strip that barely anyone could touch him.
I certainly hope you continue storytelling. It's yet another keen lesson in the persistance of vision.
=s=
Cool painting. What were the actual dimensions of it (i.e. height and width)?
ReplyDeleteIt is fun to create and draw an imaginary world with technology, science and the world interacting. Have you built any 3d models of the gliders and tested them out? It is fun to see bird inspired designs. Did the Leoarndo DaVinci sketches of flying machines inspire your imagination for your creative sketches? As always thanks for what you share. I look forward to it daily.
ReplyDeleteShawn, What's the name of the Foster book?
ReplyDeleteJim, amazing story. When did the idea for Dinotopia first materialize? Maybe that's a topic for a future post -- or a past one I missed.
You might like to visit my local "big" city of Spokane, if you never have. It is truly the "waterfall city"!
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