Monday 3 March 2014

A Town Called Helix

Helix is a small dead-end, one horse, three goats kind of town, on the edges of dark forest and dismal bog. Well, there's a pub, and a merchants caravan and a few other locations and oddball characters who live there too.
Helix / Barrowmaze Original Art / ZHU 2014

The drawing is on A3 paper (11"x16"), and sized to fit 1/5 letter page (I'm in the habit of doing original artwork roughly 1/3 the size of final print, working in 3rds makes more sense and feels more natural than 2-up, as does doing things in inches for some reason. There are some differences in the final production piece as Greg made some alterations to make sure the place had the right kind of down-at-heel  ambience, and also adjusted the text to suit the drawing a little, as the little town developed from sketch to final artwork.

Helix / Sketch / ZHU 2014
  
As you can see from the first sketch the things got moved around a little, went for a windmill rather than a watermill - locations outside of town as we defined where Helix fitted into the wider world.

There are a couple of easter-eggs hidden away in there for eagle-eyed gamer types, and a big no-prize if you catch them all (not a clue by the way!) and some vague fantasy art references that served as inspiration.

The campaign funded a few days ago, and with one day left there is still chance to get in on it at... Barrowmaze Complete Indiegogo Campaign

3 comments:

  1. I was watching the 80s D&D Cartoon with my kids this morning (my DVD but their choice) and noticed that the village from the classic episode The Eye of the Beholder is called Helix. A coincidence, or yet another brilliantly knowing homage?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes, that was definitely a hommage from Greg Gillespie's pen! Barrowmaze has a few motifs from the D&D cartoon.

      Delete
    2. Excellent! I shall award myself some nerd points for that spot. Sadly, the Barrowmaze Complete Hardback is not within my budget at the moment, but it is on the list thanks to these posts whetting my appetite.

      Delete