Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Baroque Doodle


The Baroque cultural era flourished about 1600 CE in Europe. Inspired by the triumphant Catholic Church and the imagery of the Later Roman Empire, it produced loads of overblown, wildly elaborate, detail-massed art, architecture, sculpture, and theater, as well as mathematically perfect music that cranks along like the sound of gears and brass spheres. It's a great place to mine ideas for fantasy worlds. The recent "goth" movement as well as Steampunk go excellently with Baroque material. 

I spent a lot of my younger years in Rome, where Baroque style dominates. I never get tired of using these decadent 17th century detailfests as background for fantasy characters. This doodle, produced over a few days when I had time in my recent New England stay and finished in my studio, is a mashup of Baroque architectural features without any actual structure involved.

Pitt technical pen and marker on sketchbook page, about 8" x 2 1/4", May 2013.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

Good to see you back and posting!