Environment development

In developing the worlds for my narrative, I explored the homeworlds of the alien species of the series - the Cryp'lar. By designing these planets, I was able to better understand their culture, history, and personality as a species, which resulted in me solidifying the backgrounds for the main characters from these worlds.

The first location I designed for my story was the city of Varos from the Cryp'lar homeworld of Vanquard. As the city is built vertically, it represents the numerous rocky mountains of the planet that the aliens have adapted to climb over the years. Varos is shown to be a centre of learning for warriors of the Cryp'lar, lit by twin suns. This location hints at the muscular proportions of these aliens and shows a part of their culture as a species. The symbols in this illustration represent letters from the Cryp'lar alphabet which share iconography with the sharp and rounded architecture of the city.

The next location I developed was the city of Neos from the Chron'lar colony world of Thodox. The architecture and layout of this city differs from Varos because it was built by a similar species to the Cryp'lar who were driven from Vanquard before my narrative takes place. In finding a new home, the Chron'lar were better able to represent their more rounded and sprawling visual design. The city of Neos is set against the Great Scar - a miles long crater that acts as a reminder of the end of their war with the Cryp'lar.

The final location I designed was the metropolis on Earth that is featured in my final graphic novel. While it is not made clear exactly where this city is on the planet, this sketch shows a clear seperation between the man-made structures of the mega-city and the bountiful forests of nature on the outskirts. This hints at a deeper theme of machines versus nature that runs throughout the narrative.


I believe these environmental designs are effective because they are able to portray the history and culture of the species of my story, as well as represent some of the ideas and motivations throughout the narrative, while offering a look at the visual design of these locations and worlds. While these are small, detailed illustrations that focus on singular areas, I would have liked to explore more of each planet to not only see how other areas of these worlds differ, but what kinds of creatures would live there. However, there will always be an opportunity for further development into these and other worlds as I continue this project into the future.