ANASTASIA

CONCEPT

Anastasia is a unique and alluring city that comes with a warning. According to Marco Polo, it's a city of desires, tempting yet cautionary. I chose this city for its intrigue and its depiction as a thrilling dream. Anastasia fascinates me because it mirrors the human mind, offering the possibility of a successful life where everything is within reach. Yet, the mystery lies in whether this is a reality or a comforting lie we've woven for ourselves. If I were to depict the full desires the city had come to provide, as described by Marco Polo, I would mix visuals from the Renaissance era with modern-day characteristics, creating an image of a Utopia.

STORY

Anastasia was a city Marco Polo visited, with concentric canals and kite-flying people. It had mineral jewel rocks and culinary feasts with golden pheasant meat. However, he warned about the dangers of desire and how it could make people forget reality. He heard stories of women inviting strangers to bathe with them and miners losing themselves to the desire for wealth.

REFERENCE INSPIRATIONS

World building from collages and photo bashing

I find creators who combine different images, drawings, and materials to tell a cohesive story very inspiring. Some collages are more detailed and seamless, but I find the visibly cut-out ones more interesting as they play with asymmetrical composition and harmony using high-contrast colors and exaggerated shapes, similar to Marco Polo's story of the city of Anastasia.

Inspired by Ariel Costa (aka BlinkMyBrain)

I found inspiration in the work of Ariel Costa, specifically his project for Ernie Ball. His use of simple shapes and distortion puppet looks to create characters mesmerizes me. I'm particularly impressed by the seamless transitions between scenes in his 2.5D animations and illustrations. His unique treatment gives his animations a nostalgic feel, which inspired me to create my own elements for my Anastasia collage.

Inspired by Alex Knowles’ Good Omens

Upon reading the interview and watching the title sequence of Good Omens, I was impressed by the intricate and chaotic world-building done by Alex Knowles. His mixing of 2D, 3D, illustrations, and photographs to create diverse elements and characters was particularly inspiring. It made me want to build the look of the city of Anastasia in a similar mixed media style.