Frankie Sutton

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What If
Metropolis: OGR
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What If Collaborator: Rene Lalique

City Name: Vasudha

 Travelogue
When entering the city of Vasudha, you will already have come to terms with the fact that you are far from home. When venturing this deeply into the exotic mass of jungle, you
must either be lost and stunned to stumble across the natural beauty that is Vasudha, or searching for this city and ecstatically relieved to finally locate it. Once in close enough
proximity, the erected glass statues of female figures on plinths cannot be missed by the eye. There are all different shapes of thick glass buildings, scattered around throughout
the superfluity of trees that have declared and enforced themselves to form from the ground wherever they please. Stained glass structures emit bright coloured beams of light,
as the sun transfuses itself through the variety of exuberant coloured sections of glass. The curves and crescents of the organic glass buildings almost seems impossible, but stand
defiantly strong shot into the sky, rooted to ground like the clustered nature that adjoins them innately. They look nearly as elegant and powerful as the gracefully arched female
figures that are positioned customarily in the city. The buildings and structures are predominantly engulfed in roots, vines and moss, like they have been decorated in an
overabundance of nature. The patina on the floral stained glass patterns is worn and aged, pierced through by chunky tree branches that invade the interiors of these buildings
insensitively. If you look closely at some of the solid gold framework, you may see diamonds and gems encrusted deeply into the crevices. There is no doubt about the allure that
this grandeur of glass structuring possesses, while it also provides chilling waves of serenity when inside of the interior. Whether inside or outside of these sturdy glass buildings,
the vast open spaces bestowed upon any visitor will engender them to feel diminutive to their surroundings, and perceive a brief feeling of powerlessness. The scale of not only
the structures and monuments, but the ocean of wilderness that makes up Vasudha is too colossal for anybody to feel truly worthy of its virtue. No humans can be found in the
nature filled city, only the cackling monkeys leaping from branch to branch, the warbling birds that prevent a constant silence, the high-pitched screeching of tapirs, and the
occasional but certain conniving cobras that linger strategically or feral tigers that prowl across the land. The land is full of thousands of different animals that reveal themselves at
one point or another, forcing any adventurer to feel like an outcast in this territory. With all of this wildlife and untamed jungle that continuously evolves and enlarges, it can be
bewildering that a lot of the obscure shaped buildings resemble what appears to look like animals and the earth's nature, with their unorthodox forms. The structures usually
crafted for one's domain, privacy and safety mirror the exact thing it is supposed to shelter them from; the outside nature. Perhaps these things were not a priority to the
inhabitants, having no doors or even any sign of hinges ever on the buildings, just curved arched doorways with no barrier to shut off the outside from the inside. The fanciful
architecture embraces nothing but curves and nature through its appearance, and is also enveloped in flowers, verdure and luscious greenery. A sky-scraping tower shaped like a
dragonfly stands vertically, with a huge reflective glass sphere perched at the top, and a gigantic set of stained glass wings full of immense colour spread out widely from the
outside of the smoothly curved column. There's an arch shaped building that bridges itself over the ground, from one part to the other, covered completely in stained glass over
the entire circumference of the incredibly flexible looking tubed cylinder. A giant egg-shaped glass building, supports a beautiful sculpted glass lady that lays across the top of it.
The delicate arch in her spine moulds perfectly onto the shape, her head laid back and both arms bent relaxed, leaving her looking carelessly defenceless as the vines and nature
expandingly wrap around, like she has been seduced by the perfectly ravishing greenery. All contorted buildings, whether shaped like animals or leaves, even though they are
partially coated in relentless weeds and shrubs, their appearance remains intensely prepossessing. The unbelievably magnificent constructions leave radiant sparkles as
the smouldering beams of the sun hit the glass surfaces, whether it be the mountainous architectural creations towering over the stretched jungles, or the small-scale glass
spheres that are sat side by side over the overgrown grass. An overpoweringly crushing waterfall leads off to rivers and streams that span out in different directions
across Vasudha, radiating the sound of trickling water travelling gently that can be heard at any place in the city. While the beguiling landscape cherishes its beauty every day that
passes, the cracks and rifts in the speckled glass expand over time leaving curiosity about the fate of this abandoned utopia. Will Vasudha drown into the earth that swallows it
and be hidden away forever eventually? Or will the feeble cracks at some point, cause these breath-taking structures to destructively cave in on themselves, leaving nothing but a
broken and shattered wasteland, completely demolished and then forgotten? Like the nature has been responsible for clothing this city, nature will likely be the thing that
subdues this city once and for all when the time comes, but until then it will boldly remain limitlessly gorgeous. So whatever you plan to do in the city of glass, just remember that
your visit may end up being much briefer than you think, for this city is far beyond reach to be claimed. No person is worthy nor capable of controlling this peaceful territory, the
only option in this city is to embrace the flourishing surroundings like the city did, or leave. And as you decide to finally depart, your heart will likely be filled with despair, after
becoming so attached to Vasudha just like the evolving vines have done so themselves. Only a wise man can produce the exertion to willingly abandon Vasudha, as this truly is no
man's land. This is only Earth's land.
Since writing my Travelogue, I have made quite a
few changes visually to the city, so I will go back
and make the appropriate alterations. I have
added more details to the buildings and more
structural architecture. I looked more at Art
Nouveau architecture and it influenced me to
create new key buildings in my city, and changed
some of the current ones that I kept. Despite the
changes, I have left the concept roughly the
same, but I am going to upgrade the architecture
and give everything a more exquisite and
smoothly flowing look. My Digital Painting is still in
progress, and I have a lot more to do to it. Im
going to remove the outlines once all the colour is
added, change the background colours to express
a more meaningful mood, and add more
buildings/environment/vegetation once everything
else is done.
Orthographic Views

So far, these are the two buildings I have drawn orthographic vies for, although I do feel I may need to
tidy them up. I am planning to model the other two buildings and the road that are currently in my
digital painting so far, but was not too sure if I will have time to do all of them, considering I was going
to add vines and moss to all the models as well. If it is possible though, I will model all four buildings
and start to model these two while producing orthographic drawings for the other two. In this project
so far I have made a lot of idea and design changes, but I think I am pretty much ready to proceed to
Maya, once I have tidied up the orthographic drawings and produced the rest.