March 2016 Challenge: Underground City of the Anasazi Tribe

[Southern Crane]

I thought I'd post an entry here as practice for my workflow. While I am not an artist, I do have a major passion for world building. This entry represents a cross section of part of the underground city of the Anasazi tribe that is part of my wuxia Native American setting.


I really like the posts that detail a workflow from concept to completion so I will try to document my process here as rough as it is. Thank you for these challenges to help us develop our skillset. Inspiration is coming from cross sections of Cappadocia and Derinkuyu as well as photos of Zuni, Navajo and Hopi cliff cities.

s4ybR23.jpg

[Greg]

Hi Southern Crane, good to see you going for the challenge and I look forwards to where you take this!

[ChickPea]

Welcome to the challenges, SC! Glad you decided to take the plunge and join in.

Remember to put ### Latest WIP ### just above your image so that the thumbnail scraper picks it up.

[Southern Crane]

Thanks for the info. I did some rough line sketch for map elements and put this together. Still need to make some more elements to finish out the structure. No brushes were close to what I wanted (except for the two pueblo) so I had to draw for the first time in a long time. Haven't hand drawn a sketch in well over 10 years since I was a GM. I've never taken an art class so I know my shading is inconsistent as heck. It looks better from a distance than up close

I'll try this:

### Latest WIP ###

qNI0vn8.jpg

[Tonnichiwa]

This....This is extremely cool!

Thanks for the little tidbit about the Anasazi. I had no idea they operated like that. Very cool (unless you are an unfortunate member of a raiding party in Anasazi territory)

[Bogie]

Great idea.

[Ilanthar]

Yep, great idea and a very good start!

[Lingon]

It looks really cool! One of those that are just fascinating to look at, finding all the details. One tip when you're drawing, try to use as few lines as possible, and don't go back and forth when shading large areas, let all lines go in the same direction, and leave a bit of white between them, and your drawing will look cleaner

[Southern Crane]

It looks really cool! One of those that are just fascinating to look at, finding all the details. One tip when you're drawing, try to use as few lines as possible, and don't go back and forth when shading large areas, let all lines go in the same direction, and leave a bit of white between them, and your drawing will look cleaner

This makes a lot of sense. Thank you. I know my way around design apps from taking some CAD/architecture classes but I don't know useful little tips like that for hand drawing. I did discover my favorite pen right now is the 'Velocity Gel' tip though

This....This is extremely cool!

Thanks for the little tidbit about the Anasazi. I had no idea they operated like that. Very cool (unless you are an unfortunate member of a raiding party in Anasazi territory)

I am taking a bit of fictional liberty. I don't think things like motivation or tactics have ever been established to a factual extent. What is known is several native Americans like the Navajo called the Anasazi the "ancient people" and they seemed to have a mysterious veneer and they did have underground cities in some Zuni, Navajo and IIRC Hopi and Ute lands.

So I am extrapolating a bit on the myths to fit it with a wuxia vibe. But I really appreciate the feedback.

Great thanks to Ilanthar and Bogie as well.

[Chashio]

This is really cool! I wish the corn stalks were drawn in the same style as the rest of it (reminiscent of some sketchbook artists I like) but that's no biggie. Nice work.