the Guides

We all have our sense of direction and visualization in our brain that showcases those directions. While working on this project, I tried to highlight my ideas of the four directions of our planet Earth and accompany them with a guide character. Each corner of our planet has its unique environment and characteristics. By combining all the associations of those corners in my head, I came up with these four illustrations.

North

Probably North is my favorite direction. There is something mythical in those crystal ices and extraordinary shapes of terra. I love the cold and the tones of blue, grey, and green, so this one is the direction closest to my soul.

In the process of creating this illustration, I’ve been listening to Scandinavian music and diving deep into the tunes of coldness. I ended up listening to different styles of music while working on each of the directions, and it helped me create an environment I imagined correctly.

Inspiration board

visual development

East

When I think of the East, the first thing to pop up in my head is Japanese nature and art. I have a lot of influence in my thinking and artistic taste from Japanese culture. While creating the direction of East, I got inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away scene where the railways go underwater. Those scenes are very sentimental and soft, and I had the idea to try and transfer that feeling to the East illustration.

Another source of inspiration for this piece was from the game Sky: Children of the light, the Daylight Prairie realm. You can find soft and curvy hills there, which I also used as an idea for my illustration.

And as the east is where the sun comes up, I wanted to also express the feeling of morning calmness and foggy air.

Inspiration board

visual development

South

For the South illustration, I didn’t go too far to the south, so I’ve decided to use tropical elements and environment design. As an inspiration, I took references from African deserts and island nature. I’ve tried to use a number of plants and trees that are typical for tropical landscapes.

For the character design, I took a reference from Water Clan of the animated series of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and a little bit more inspiration from Sky: Children of The Light game.

Inspiration board

visual development

West

The West was the first of the directions I started illustrating, so my inspiration level and energy were at their highest. The West reminds me of wild west scenes with deserted rocky landscapes, red sunsets, and of course, country music.

I have used many references for cactus designs and rocky surroundings and created a color palette based on real-life west sunset photos.