Today we have a character piece. It looks and tastes like a commercial, but it breaks many of the conventions in that genre as its basically a character piece set in a fictional future. The fictional future you might well say? So why does this piece exist? Its creative bling. I will explain.
Creative bling are the assorted materials which creatives keep around them to inspire their art production.
When doing illustrations, this bling takes the form of reference photos or art. When I have to write creatively for copy, or for stories, I find that hearing a character talk back to me helps ground me in the material further. It’s like a positive creative ricochet effect.
Every extra sense that is engaged enhances the experience, making it easier to imagine a living and breathing albeit fictional environment. The written description, visuals, and sounds together can really evoke a scene in vivid detail, and when the imagery starts to coalesce in the mind’s eye the other senses engage too.
This was all part of a discussion topic which I had with Nathaniel Henderson. He is both a friend and a sci-fi novelist. He is currently involved with his Centricity series, which is set in a cyberpunk themed dystopian future. Our discussion turned to collaboration (bonus materials, audiobooks, etc).
Friends with creative synergy is a good thing to have, and his piece is one part of that process.
As for this piece itself, it might help to understand the vibe that is being sought:
If you will, imagine a hectic city of the dystopian future. Massive city skylines, smog, and a mix of sketchy characters that have places where they know to go in order to get new pieces of technology. They have these modifications attached to themselves to enhance their abilities. Cyberware.
As installation is part of the process it doesn’t usually come in a box. Its a visit. Enter Bobby Beeze and his “Boltshaque” chain.
In a future post I plan to go over a behind the scenes discussion on the process. (Recording Foley /Finding FX, REAPER).
If you are interested in tales of science fiction, dystopia, or cyberware, then please have a peek at Nathaniel Henderson’s website (AKA “The Dread Orange”) at http://nathanielhenderson.com/blog.html
Nathaniel Henderson says
It was a lot of fun working with John on this one. He brought the energy, the ideas, and of course, the voice–he brought the sleazy professional of Bobby to life. I’m looking forward to further collaboration on our cyberpunk (and other) projects.