My piece for the chao zine I was part of a while ago. I never got around to posting the piece but it actually looks different from what is in the magazine. I thought this was a pretty good environment piece and decided to touch it up more for portfolio stuff.
I’ve been trying to take zines that push me to do more environments because they’ve always been a weakness. While this certainly isnt perfect its definitely a big step for me I think. At the very least I’ll continue to try and push myself!
Also, can we talk about how the 3rd Age in LOTR reflects not only Italy (and Western Europe as a whole) after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, but also the anxiety of traveling through the crumbling ruins of European cities during WW1?
Imagine all those scene in LOTR where the fellowship passes by some crumbling, abandoned stone fortress, has to creep through the corpse of an abandoned city, forgotten stone statues littering the near empty countryside.
Like, after the Fall of Rome, Italians, and Europeans in the former Roman Empire, basically lived among the crumbling ruins Roman cities, unable to repair the massive stone structures, the loss of infrastructure leading to the general decline in the quality of life and sense of culture until the Renaissance (The Reign of Men in the 4th Age, anyone?)
But also, to travel through the bombed out ruins of cities and towns during the war. To camp near the smoking husks of places you knew, cities that were on the map but barely exist anymore, wondering how anyone would ever rebuild.
Lord Kib 