jettpack:

A piece i did a little over a year ago, Never had any good images of it. I wish the quality of there were better. This is an old derelict ship in which people live. Think of it in terms of a large neighborhood. Its all graphite and was made in 3 parts. The idea was that each part should work on its own as well as work together as a whole. The left most part was only ever blocked out and never finished, a new semester started so i had to move onto other projects. 

My reference was a ship i photographed here in Providence. 

This was the first real step into the world building project I’d been kicking around for a while. It revolves around a dystopian port city with a cancerous, tumor-like slum, The Iron Reef that has become the home for any and all migrant workers and immigrants. The city is build around a series of canals in which thousands of barges turned housing constantly move and shift. There is a massive population of orphaned street urchins (do to population limits, people just discard their children instead of suffering the harsh tax penalty). These children (called “Barge Rats”) organize themselves into gangs. There are floating brothels, a weird, extra folksy branch of Catholicism and Giant derelict ships people live in…. All things i find interesting. 

…I could go on for dozens more pages about the City’s economy, the class system and how all of the derelict ships are named after martyred Mexican saints, etc…. But i will not bore you. There’s a lot already, but there’s still more work to do. 

I’m building this world using places I’ve lived/been to. Notable inspirations are New Orleans, Amsterdam, Houston, Providence and a bunch of little fishing port towns on the gulf in Texas (REPRESENT).

I really need to get around to posting all of those maps i drew. 

holy balls