Concept!Despina can be reached in two ways: by ship or by camel. The city displays one face to the traveler arriving by overland and a different one to him who arrives by sea.!When the camel driver sees, at the horizon of the tableland, the pinnacles of the skyscrapers come into view, the radar antennae, the white and red windsocks flapping, the chimneys belching out smoke, he thinks of a ship; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a vessel that will take him away from the desert, a windjammer about to cast off, with the breeze already swelling at the sails, not yet unfurled, or a steamboat with its boiler vibrating in the iron keel; and he thinks of all the ports, the foreign merchandise the cranes unload on the docks, the taverns where crews of different flags break bottles over one another’s heads, the lighted, ground-floor windows, each with a woman combing her hair.!

In the coastline’s haze, the sailor discerns the form of a camel’s withers, an embroidered with glittering fringe between two humps, advancing and swaying; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a camel from whose pack hangs wineskins and bags of candied fruit, date wine, tobacco leaves, and already he sees himself at the head of a long caravan taking him away from the desert of the sea, towards oases of fresh water in the palm trees’ jagged shade, toward places of thick, whitewashed walls, tiled courts where girls are dancing barefoot, moving their arms, half-hidden by the veils, and half- revealed.!Each city receives its form from the desert it opposes; and so the camel driver and the sailor see Despina, a border city between two deserts.!

For the project, Invisible Cities, I had to create three pieces of concept art of my chosen city, Despina, using the description given from the book “Invisible Cities” by the Italian author Italo Calvino. The three shots are an exterior establishing shot, an external low angle shot inside of the city and an internal city that depicts the culture of the city and its people.!!

Influences !I wanted to make Despina a port city with business in both trading and tourism. I based the main form of the city on the Portuguese Algarve city of Monte Gordo, a big tourist destination by the coast. I wanted to base the illusions of the city from the camel riders and the sailors point of view on a tanker ship and a Bactrian camel.!For the interior, I wanted to portray the market aspect of the city. To fulfill this I wanted to find large hall like rooms, researched into hotels in hot countries as they have the correct lighting and structures that I wanted.!

Initial Thumbnails !

Digital Thumbnails: Colour Comps !

Building Collaging!

Exterior Establishing Shot!

To  begin  with  I  started  with  basic  outlines  and  colours  to  show  where  the  city  will  be  and  the  sand  dunes.  I  then  added  to  it  by  including  the  sea,  and  drawing  in  the  main  part  of  the  city.  From  there  I  con;nued  to  add  shade  and  addi;onal  details  like  trees,  rocks  and  begun  to  outline  the  buildings  of  Despina.  

Next I outlined the buildings so that I could be more precise when I coloured them in. Brightening up the image to turn it from a stormy day to a bright sunny one, shading into the chimneys to give them more depth.!

Adding in more details and colours, as well as overlay layers to brighten up the city more. Increasing the intensity of sand to make it more orange to liven it up. Finally I fiddled with the colour balance and hue and saturation, as well as trying to fix the perspective slightly on the buildings.!

External Low Angle Shot!

I started with the central building and worked on the perspective for the front row of buildings. Then I added more of them in the background, dulling out the colours the further they go. I then started to detail the piece, adding in the road and the tree in the foreground.!

Using overlay and colour balance to sort out the brightness and using a texture brush and noise to add to the piece and to give it more of a paint like feel. I then blurred out the foreground to give the midground, especially the market hall building, more focus as well as adding people to insinuate that this was a busy area.!

Interior Shot!

To start on the interior I began with the foreground and worked inwards. To start with I worked with the shape tool to make squares and then edited them to form the stalls. I added shading to the ceiling and greens and purples to brighten the image from all the browns and oranges. As well as making a mermaid stature and the floor of the market hall.!

I  decided  that  I  disliked  the  way  the  stalls  looked  and  preferred  the  way  I  drew  them  on  the  colour  comp,  so  I  re  did  them  only  using  the  brush  tool  and  I  much  prefer  the  results.  A?erwards  I  added  details  to  the  flags  as  well  as  people,  before  fiddling  with  the  colour  balance,  textures  and  noise.  

Finally  I  added  a  blue  hue  to  the  stalls  in  the  background  to  give  more  focus  to  the  midground.  I  also  shaded  the  people  and  the  statue  so  that  they  didn’t  stand  out  so  much  against  the  browns  of  the  floor  and  the  stalls.