Monday, November 16, 2009

octavia

My homework was to illustrate one of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities.
I did Octavia:

"If you choose to believe me, good. Now I will tell how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open spaces, or you cling to the hempen strands. Below there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse the chasm's bed.

This is the foundation of the city: a net which serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks, houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits, baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers, pots with trailing plants.

Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants is less uncertain than in other cities. They know the net will last only so long."


We didn't have to illustrate everything and we could interpret it anyway we wanted to so...yeah...... Um, I didn't really finish cause I procrastinated too much and I worked on it on the day or before it was due again.....Why does this keep happening.....

There's actually a cable car (the aerial kind) but you can't really notice it much. Sigh I was rushing so badly.....I did like nothing for hours....Why.....



close-ups:




progress (backwards)





other junk:


2 comments:

  1. I LOVE ITALO CALVINO'S INVISIBLE CITIES. and I got all excited seeing this too, your class assignments are too cool T 3 T
    I love the way you drew Octavia all intricate and dreamlike :) heheh I think I should finish the rest of that book...

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  2. O_O i'm jealous of your class assignments too haha i really likeeee how your drawing turned out? :) the one i had dreams of... sigh bb :) your amazingness haunts me in my sleep sigh can i be you O_O

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