The Mana World Forums

I had spoken to Rotonen, and he assigned me the task of creating concept art for the jungle. And when I read up on the wiki, the only jungle it described was called "Gaeas Hearth" which sounds like it's going to have thriving life and gigantic trees and possibly fruit. That the flora should be so florishing can only mean that the fauna will look colourful and adapted.

Most of the buildings will have an overgrowth of plants, vines, flowers, fruits, and anything else that represents life interwined within and all over the structures.

My first thought was "Mayan" but now it's sort of changing into a kind of fairy like people (but still completely human, just cultural wise). I'm probably going to stray from the culture a bit, but it's being built off of.

Here's a quick sketch I did after I talked with Rotonen of an idea for what I was thinking about. I won't actually draw anything until I get an "ok" on a sketch.



For those of you that don't know me, I'm an illustrator that used to work for a publishing company. Here are some examples of my work so you can get a bit more aquainted with my style.






I'm learning how to program c++ (which is actually how I came across the project) but until I can help the Open Source community with that, I decided I'd help with art.

Well, that's that! I'll post up in this thread with updates and discussion about the concept art. I'd like to end up drawing an epic depiction of the jungle with the mana empowered heart at one point.

Edit: Ok! I just thought of something neat. Hope it's an ok idea. I was thinking the area is so overgrown, that the city there has to live underneath an overgrowth of plants and gigantic trees roots putting them in darkness. But, the vegitation in the area underneath need sun of course, so plants will grow vines to the top and redirect and create a new source of light at the bottom via it's own chemiluminescence which helps everything recieve light underneath. It would create a sort of permanent state of night lit up by plants that shine light like lamps all over the place. Good idea? Bad idea?

Usually I don't use smilies but

You have a go from me for the sketch and the PS idea.

Cool drawing and ideas!! I can't see the four example pics you posted though, am I just too late, have the links "expired"?

Madcap, I don't think that Deviant Art allows hot linking.
If you want to view them then just copy the image location and paste in a new tab. It seems after you have managed to view the pictures then they will display properly in this thread, which is nice.

I suggest http://imageshack.us for hosting pictures.

Quiche_on_a_leash wrote:Madcap, I don't think that Deviant Art allows hot linking.
If you want to view them then just copy the image location and paste in a new tab. It seems after you have managed to view the pictures then they will display properly in this thread, which is nice.

Thanks Quiche! I just right-clicked on the "broken" icon and was able to view them individually......and I am glad I did! Nice work shiroi!! I really like that mystical and haunting feel you put into your drawings. I hope you stick around and are put to work!!

Ah, nice drawings indeed.

I'll draw some pics of the "Ramora Root" in it's natural state later. But that's some flora/Clothing concept sketch for now.

I don't mind that it doesn't show the DA pics, because they're not really relevant to the thread anyway. I'm using http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q310/shiroi_kuro/ as the place where I'll dump all my tmw stuff.

The next pic I'll draw will probably be some "Hearth Basilisk" (I love drawing scales) which feeds off of the mana in the Hearth. I was thinking of other creatures that are using mana from the hearth, and it brought me to the question "Can creatures ever use magic spells?"

And thanks for all the positive feedback! I work over 90 hours a week, so I might end up only having only like one pic to show per week . I'll do what I can to make sure the project will benifit from efforts of quality and consistancy.

Just take your time. Although i like your work and your ideas a lot and there are already some ideas in my head how some of your designs could be converted to pixel art (and i am sure i am not the only one), currently we are all busy with finishing other stuff. So you got time to create your concepts.

As a concept art for map tiles it would be good when you could create a picture of the jungle landscape from the usual game perspective (seen from 45° up and from a wide distance).

New tiles! New tiles! New tiles!! I am a mapper starved for work!

I think it sounds like I should draw an illustration like Crush was talking about. A 45 degree angle BEV of the town/city. That's another thing, should it be a town, or city? I'm guessing a town is a lot easier to map and program, but a city can look very impressive with large buildings and many sculptures and other artforms. I'll draw it including the inhabitants and some animals. I plan on having some playing music, while others do chores of some sort. I think I'll start with a pic of town, and work that into a city if you like.

I can't imagine more than just zealot druids, natives, and creatures live in the area; it is quite overgrown in favour of the flora afterall.

A city, a few towns and a few outposts? Or perhaps if a city doesn't fit there, one or two towns and a few outposts?

Yet another great drawing.
About this remora root and it being still alive in cloth form... if we will implement durability some day remora items would repair themselves. In other words regain durability after they are damaged. They'd probably be vulnerable to flame like all cloth would be.
Although this is another topic it might be something to think about. Certain items may protect the wearer from a certain element yet be vulnerable to it or another element. Or (like metal for instance) it could increase fire damage to the palyer eventhough the armor itself would be resistant to that element.

Anyway... it's ok to do a town concept in another angle. Just know it should be convertable to tiles, and maybe even think about how you would fit the architecture into a set of tiles. Although you may pass this job on to the pixel-artist drawing the tileset. Looking forward to the next drawings.
Maybe the boots could be carved from wood like classic clogs? To form a boot this should consist of multiple pieces of wood ofcourse tied together with... remora root?
I did a concept drawing of wooden armor a long time ago btw that may fit in this region:

This is what I call "The Conservatory of the Abandoned Sun".

I'll explain all the plants later, but I have to get to work now.

ok here's the low down on the picture of "The Conservatory of the Abandoned Sun".

The palm tree looking things are called "Nomad Palms".
The shining lighting plants are called "Lazuli Stardrops"
The large fruit plant is called a "Pompulo Fruit"
Most of the other plants are either covered, or are just plain vines.

Nomad Palm:
A Nomad Palm distinguishes itself in the way that it actually uproots itself after a number of years and moves to another area to ensure widespread seeding. The Nomad Palm is also unique because as it ages, it gets wider and not taller. Some very old Nomad Palms are much wider than they are tall!

Lazuli Stardrops:
The Lazuli Stardrops had evolved in such a way that it provides light for other plants that still depend on the sun's light. It is unknown as to why a plant would evolve to help other plants, but the legend behind it suggests that the God of Earth felt a love for the plants that thrived on the glorious soil, and decided that no plant should be subjected to Natural Selection; and it goes on to say that he brought the stars from the sky and underneath the soil to grow little suns for all the plants. The Lazuli Stardrop, is the most common, but is a cousin to the original Stardrop Flower (which shines orange). The original Stardrop Flower is growing increasingly rare because the Lazuli Stardrop's influence actually changes the budding "Stardroplets" into Lazuli's. In one vine of Lazuli Stardrops, there are a number of Stardroplets that will not blossom until the Lazuli Stardrop dies.

Pompulo Fruit:
The large Pompulo Fruit stalk grows straight up until the Fruit blossoms. The amount of energy it takes to blossom the fruit is too much, and the stalk usually weakens and shrivels forcing the fruit towards the ground over time. The Pompulo Fruit is said to be very good tasting, but around %03 of the fruits come out extremely poisoness in what seems to be a random occurance. So those who have tasted the fruit, have risked much in doing so!

The Conservatory of the Abandoned Sun:
I have not actually figured out the practical function of this building, I just thought that would be a neat name and theme for a building. Some of my ideas are:
It is a library that keeps the history of the proud culture and history of the people of Gaea's Hearth. And teaches of the needlessness of the Sun.
It is Magic learning centre for druids, and those who want to learn Life and Earth magic.
It is a town hall. (a tad small for this though..)
It is an actual conservatory for specific plants that are dying off.