World Building | drawing it in

Think about the last movie you watched or book you read where you said to yourself: 'I want to live there.'

When we were small wonder | wander | women, we often pretended to be space knights or Bene Gesserit. Harry Potter or Game of Thrones seem so magnetic because the creators are masters of world-building. But how does someone build a world that doesn't exist?

Creating a world that your readers would want to live in requires an intense imagination, a lot of research, and attention to detail.

from James Gurney's Journey to Chandara, preview on Amazon

James Gurney is one of our favourite creators. His Dinotopia series is a masterpiece of world-building, imagining an island where dinosaurs survived and built a civilisation alongside humans. This video is a great example of how skill and patience create a scene that feels real enough to live in.

In Black Panther, the visual development crew imagined an African country whose people were never enslaved, free to develop their own technology and society. 

Image copyright: Till Nowak and Marvel Studios, from slashfilm.com

Artists from many different countries added their own native influences. Filipino concept artist Anthony Francisco used Ifugao elements in his designs for the Dora Milaje.

Image copyright: Anthony Francisco and Marvel Studios, from slashfilm.com

In our own work we like to balance our wild imaginations with thorough research. We consult and collaborate, whittling down a look we can be completely happy with drawing over and over again.

Our creative energy spikes when we are confident in our skills and practice. Perspective and draftsmanship help us expand our horizons.

When we look closer at our influences we understand our own work better. We learn what we want to do and how we do it. The strong foundations of good world-building help feed the power of storytelling!