How does someone accurately represent and paint a place that only exists in fantasy? This was my main question and goal: I wanted to paint an epic, detailed, and accurate painting of Urithuru that would bring the city to life on canvas and show the massive scale and character of both the city itself and the world of Roshar.
Research:
Designing the painting as accurately as possible began with research. I read any and all information I could find about the city from the “Stormlight Archive Books” and “The Coppermind-17th Shard” community posts. From these sources, I was able to find the official dimensions/scale of the city as well as many detailed descriptions of Urithuru’s appearance and position in Roshar to help me accurately depict the city. This quote from Szeth inspired me to paint Urithuru above the Highstorm with moonlight casting onto the city from a clear night sky:
“There were no clouds here to bring the darkness. This place was above them all. Urithiru ruled even the clouds.”
—Szeth musing on the tower
Planning:
Building a 3D model of Urithuru out of clay helped with many aspects of the design process. I was able to see what the city would look like under different lighting situations and find an interesting, dynamic composition of light and shadow. With the model in front of me, I was better equipped to create depth and form in my value sketches. I even used the model to set up scenes of my thumbnail sketches using cardboard for mountains and torn up paper towels for clouds. Doing this let me see what my designs looked like in 3D, and settle on a composition for the painting. I took a picture of the scene and used it as a reference guide while painting.
Finally Painting:
After months of research, planning, and painting I was finally able to answer my own question: How does someone accurately paint something that only exists in fantasy? Hard work, research, determination, and time. As challenging as it was to venture into the art of fantasy, I look forward to creating many more fantasy paintings!
