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emera β Sampo: the city
Published: 2007-01-09 03:58:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 3841; Favourites: 73; Downloads: 80
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Description
I have a shameful secret... I started this whole big cyberpunk epic in my head (called Sampo for now). ;_; And since cyberpunk epics need Big Glowy Cities, I needed to paint a Big Glowy City. This was partly a good thing, since I've never done ANYTHING of the sort, and was a bad thing for the same reason. holy gosh. Things I can't paint: trees, cities, techy stuff... all of which this involved, vaguely.I'm most pleased with the glowy bits of the tree, which, while inaccurate so far as the story goes, look purty.
This Big Glowy City is tentatively named Vala, and is built around a massive, semi-petrified tree, much of which has been hollowed out and converted into a mass of circuitry. The actual surfaces of and the channels left by its roots have become roadways. Stuff like that.
*RAMBLING*
About an hour in openCanvas, then some texturing and fixing in Photoshop. It looks really bad up close, but I like admiring it from afar.
Edit 8/25/11: Some minor edits to color and contrast, since this keeps getting attention (thank you!) despite being ancientttt.
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Comments: 30
"Sampo"; A magic mill described in Finnish epic known "Kalevala", described to mill infinite amounts of salt, flour and gold.
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Yes!! The world and atmosphere were very hazily based on the Kalevala, and Scandinavian landscapes generally.
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Interesting!
It's rare to see/find any Kalevala related/inspired in the world nowadays! (If J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR and [possibly] Hobbit are not counted...)
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I feel lucky to have had excerpts from the Kalevala in one of my beloved world mythology books when I was little! I must sit down one day and read the whole thing, though. : ) I loved the weirdness ofΒ VΓ€inΓ€mΓΆinen's birth (how did the duck do THAT?), and could never get the combined image of salt, flour, and gold out of my head. (I love what it says about what resources constituted wealth at the time.)
For my cyberpunk story, I riffed on the idea of a mysterious source of wealth and fortune, which became the Tree in the city here (obviously also influenced by the Norse Yggdrasil).
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The Kalevala indeed has lots of things what may give some sort of "wtf" moment. 
And the story of Kullervo, the tragic story of a child who grew without love of a mother and yet being true in psychologically.
And your Kalevala themed cyberpunk is interesting! You're not the only one filling Kalevala with Norse/Viking influence. I have a Kalevala book with illustrations of a respected Swedish illustrator/painter, and his illustrations have woken up Kalevala stories with amazing way.
The illustrator wasΒ BjΓΆrn LandstrΓΆm.
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Thank you so much! My (sketchy) development of the world and storyline was strongly rooted in what it might feel like to live in and pledge your allegiance to a city that, well, creepy and enthralling.
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Awesome!
Can I use it for a game, granting you credits, and an annual percentage as it turns commercial?
Please consider my offer
to the following link:---> [link]
Have a nice day!
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This piece has just been faved and featured here: [link]
Enjoy!
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Oh, wow, thank you for that link - I feel rather inadequate now myself, haha, but that's exactly the look that I was going for with this.
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Oh don't feel inadequate--just the look of it was extremely well done. Good for attempting such a work!
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Thank you - that really makes me happy to hear! And thanks for the fave, as well. :3
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EGADS this looks so cool! You stfu with your negativity and silliness, 'cause this is clearly awesome-in-a-box. ^___^ The story tidbits sound mighty interesting, too. You should..uh..share more!
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Dawr Ame, thank yous. ;_; *squish* Haha, it's hard not to be super critical!
and I shall try to post more... nyar nyar nyar.
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mm cyberpunk is quite t3h awesomeness. interesting idea too, good luck on it!
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Sankyuu! God, I have no idea what I'm doing with sci-fi, though. XD
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cyberpunk is mad fun to write/draw...it's just all-around depressing though
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Cyberpunk doesn't HAVE to be depressing! XD It has plenty of potential for just plain good fun.
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oooh, glowy. =0 I really like this, although at first I thought it was a graveyard. I think the only thing I'd try to fix is maybe make the buildings more lit up...kind of like the glowies on the tree.
I want to draw cyberpunks now.
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GO FORTH AND DRAW CYBERPUNKS. srsly. Because it's probably going to take me ages to get around to doing it myself. XD
You know, I never noticed the graveyard thing... that's an interesting point. I'm definitely going to be working this over later, though, and hopefully it'll be easier to figure out scale from that. And will have more glowies. XD
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