Pylon of the Paraclete - Process

Concept Phase

Drafting Phase

This setting in particular is called The Caldera and can be described as a volcano that houses a central tower— and that people lived in it. Looking at pictures of Taal Lake (the Philippine’s famous lake within an island— within a lake within an island).

Task was to make the sixth illustration of my narrative thesis project. To tell the story as efficiently as possible I had to represent a location while also depicting what life is like within it.

I decided to focus more into how I might depict the location if I had to tell a story within the same image. The pylon at the center works as a religious object in the story, the idea of gods that lived alongside men was in my mind.

The aim now was to show how the people inside interact with the tower in the center in order to show what the culture inside was like.

Painting Phase

I also wanted to make something that looked big to further push the divine aspect of it.

I still wanted it to look like a missile silo so I took some free 3D models and stock photos to bash together the majority of the background. For lighting reference, I put an empty toilet roll in a larger cup and aimed a flashlight.

I also felt the composition looked a little empty on the side so getting reflected light to that corner would help balance it out.

Then I made a color comp…

Painting Process GIF

Just having the one guy there led to me adding the houses all around, with wires supplying power to them.

The idea of adding the houses came from a time when I visited Mt. Pinatubo as a child and saw that some people lived inside the crater.

Final Phase

Mockup for how the image may be used.