For the current art jam over at #fantasy-xchange.
The challenge was to draw where your characters live with more emphasis on the background. This is something that I've been wanting to work on. Especially the Ultimarian capitol city of Trides as well as the homes/apartments that my characters live in. So I was more than happy to participate.

This was waaaay out of my comfort zone since I'm usually not as interested in drawing backgrounds/landscapes as much as I am drawing characters coupled with the fact that I rarely draw architecture and it's probably my weakest point as an artist.

Hoo boy... how to describe the Trides that I have in my head so that it makes sense to others...

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Nestled into the southern foothills of the plateau-like cliffs known as "The Diamond Heights" is the Imperial City of Trides. This sprawling cityscape is about twice to three times of our New York city that reach all the way to the golden sand beaches that border the Eris Ocean. The city itself is almost pentagon shaped with six separate boroughs that surround one singe center point; a massive park known as Rames-Kama, which serves as a lush green beacon of the natural world in the center of the urban jungle (Think of it as a larger version of Central Park).

The skyscrapes found in much of Trides are art-deco inspired in aesthetic design, but many older areas of the city have stone buildings with a certain old world charm. Much like those found in Naboo of the Star Wars Universe or Earth's own Vienna or Florence.

Since Trides is the base of the Ultimarian Government, it is a hub for politicians as well as tourists (think of it as chopping up the city Washington DC and scattering those pieces all throughout New York so that they seamlessly fit together as one city.)

Perched on top of areas Diamond Heights that directly overlook the city is the Imperial Apex, which is a small city in its own right. The Apex houses many buildings of significant political importance including Embassy Row, Crestloft Manor (mansion where the Ultimarian Emperor and his family lives), the Imperial Gardens, The Pinnacle (the capitol building) as well as the headquarters for the Imperial Navy. While the Apex is a hotspot for tourism, only alien ambassadors and high ranking political leaders and their families are allowed to actually live there.

The City of Trides as well as the Imperial Apex have existed in one form or another for about 10,000 years. Since the founding of the Galactic Alliance.

Shown in the picture is the Pinnacle building that overlooks the actual city. Two mounted guards patrol the bridges that separate the different sections of the Apex. The animals they ride are large horselike creatures called Acerir, which have been ridden by Ultimarians since prehistoric times.




Tools Used: Photoshop version CS4, Paint Tool Sai
Time Taken: Unrecorded
Soundtrack: "Jardin de Cecile" - Juno Reactor

Image © 2013 Traci Vermeesch-Vezina
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