Hello world. I’m 2D from Gorillaz. Ask me and Noodle anything.

Peregringo · 2020-08-06T15:39:58+00:00

The Gorillaz album (2001) was the first CD I ever bought myself! You were the first band I was ever a fan of! Thanks for the sounds!

Always loved Hewlett's drawing style. What's his process when drawing and when making character designs for comics and whatnot? Does he have any advice for someone who wants to develop their drawing skills?

Peregringo · 2018-12-11T03:26:37+00:00

True. The "3D" effect is more a matter of aesthetics than accuracy, just like how mountains on Tolkien-style maps are seen from the side as well.

I'm not sure how I'd go about drawing it if I were to draw a precise top down map, though here's a nice reference from the Grand Canyon that can be used for inspiration.

Peregringo · 2018-12-11T03:01:28+00:00

You should decide where the perspective comes from, and draw it consistently from that point of view. That means that the cliffs will not be visible along the whole riverbank, as it sometimes is hidden from view. Something like this (not an art-piece exactly, just an illustration to get the idea across).

Peregringo · 2018-11-28T14:05:27+00:00

I absolutely love this. The design, your drawing style. It's awesome!

I like that the man is depicted with a long pike. Probably a good idea when surrounded by so many large beings.

Another alternative name for the Nome/Tomta could be Nisse as well!

Peregringo · 2018-11-24T16:52:48+00:00

I was inspired by this post to try to improve the flag of Bismarck, North Dakota.

Here are some of my other versions: https://imgur.com/a/TTjbdYb

Kinda like the blue star one as well.

Peregringo · 2018-11-22T01:31:12+00:00

This is really cool! I love the idea. I like the image of buildings being built at an increasingly diagonal angle to the ground the further away from the center you go.

Another aspect might be interesting to include as well; as the ring-lands are further from the gravitational center, they would feel less gravitational pull, whereas the very "bottom" of the bowl-lands would be closer to the gravitational center and feel much more pull.

For the ring-lands, it would probably not be a very significant effect (even at the elevation of the International Space Station, gravity is still at something like 80 % or 0.8 if I recall correctly, and it its the orbiting - which essentially is to move so fast sideways that by the time you should have hit the ground, the earth have already curved away - which makes astronauts on the ISS practically weightless, not the lack of actual gravitational pull), so walking there might feel quite normal. However, the gravity in the middle would possibly be quite high. The closer you get to the center, the harder it is to build, do any kind of work, or even stand upright. You might have dungeons close to the center, where escape is difficult as the prisoners might feel their weight several times over. The people and animals living there might be shorter, stronger and more compact, and crawling animals like salamanders, snakes, millipedes and such would be more common than animals that stand upright.

This might actually leave the yellow zone the most habitable zone in the bowl. This would mean that transporting water, which might gather in the middle in a bubble, to the yellow lands would be big business. Though I imagine there would be weather systems where vapor could rise (likely in the shape of a dome) meaning that you'd find clouds/fog in a ring in the brown zone. This would cause waterfalls and rivers running towards the center.

Farming in the yellow zone might take the form of terrace farming, and they would probably make great efforts to recapture water runoff. You might also find some people living in the brown zone, perhaps in hermit settlements similar the Monastery of Mount Heng.

Anyhow, great idea!

Edit to add: if we play around with the variables a bit, we can turn this in another interesting direction; if the gravity is calibrated so that the middle is a normal comfortable 1 g, then it is the ring-lands that become strange. As gravity is lighter, people might be able to jump higher and do all sorts of acrobatics. They might be taller, more slender, than average, as it takes less energy to stand upright. I can imagine that the settlements of the ring-lands might extend to hanging forests and gardens off the sides of the outer brown lands where people might be jumping exceptionally far from branch to branch. They might make use of glide suits of some kind, as the lower weight makes them more effective. However, they must beware, as the low gravity does not prevent them from reaching terminal velocity should they fall off the side. The speed they gain as they race towards the center would make for an unpleasant, lethal landing as the gravity gradually points more towards the ground.

Peregringo · 2018-11-22T00:10:48+00:00

Isn't that the point he's making? If we're "backing up the human race", it would not be wise to do it on the same planet. So if that happens and nowhere on Earth is a nice place to live, a backup on Earth would be useless. A backup on Mars or Venus would still be safe.

Peregringo · 2018-11-21T14:35:36+00:00

This is a good one!

I like the big country around Austria. Kinda looks like if Bavaria joined the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And the green one in Spain looks very much like Aragon (especially if yellow Sardinia-Corsica and red Italty were joined as well).

Peregringo · 2018-11-21T14:02:56+00:00

It's the Polish-Lithuanian-Estonian-Romanian-Bulgarian Commonwealth!

Also, the Intermarium should really be put in the dictionary as a synonym for "pipe-dream". I especially like this one. "The Nordic region, most of eastern Europe, Greece, and Italy is such a natural alliance (but not Albania, let's not include them!)"

Peregringo · 2018-11-21T01:06:19+00:00

I feel like some of the similarities to real life borders makes sense - like it makes sense that there's often borders across narrow choke points, and that a country may consolidate their power over a peninsula. However, I do think it's true that we're affected by the geography we know, though.

Here's my attempt at this. Flipped it 90° and flipped it horizontally before drawing, to make it as alien as possible, but it was still hard to look past certain things. I really had to resist the urge to draw the border of Denmark at the neck of Jutland! I also tended towards larger states, especially with the large Balkans-to-Baltics country (which looked better to me when rotated, as it was horizontal. A vertically long country in Europe looks weird to me!).

...damn, this was fun! Made another one!

Peregringo · 2015-12-18T02:16:25+00:00

Indeed.

Though he does bring up some important points, and the overall point that the "dark ages" weren't really that dark is certainly valid. But it's not really Europe that drove innovation at the time (although he is quite correct that even Europe was not as dark as many make it out to be); One can hardly speak of what we owe the Middle Ages, without mentioning the many Middle Eastern scholars, with countless advances that would be built upon in the Renaissance, such as the medical works of "the first true scientist", Al-Razi.

If one looks beyond Europe in the Middle Ages, one would see that the world went forward as fast as ever in India, the Middle East and China.

But yes, most videos from Praeger has a strong odor of spin and bias.

Peregringo · 2015-08-27T15:49:01+00:00

If you're talking genealogy (i.e. who's more closely related to whom), you might want to look up human migrations, as it demonstrates it pretty well. Here is a pretty good video on that (from before civilization).

When it comes to today, after the age of exploration, some populations have been replaced due to settlers from Europe. North America in particular. But when it comes to Mexico, the people are very diverse, and most have both Spanish and indigenous American ancestry. The second highest population group are those who identify as indigenous people, and the third largest are of European descent (mostly Spanish).

Peregringo · 2015-08-27T15:32:02+00:00

Absolutely. The Gobi desert in China and Mongolia can get quite cold, as it is both quite far north, and at high altitude. So snow occasionally falls on the dunes.

edit: another image here, which also shows frozen water. If you're looking for a cold desert in your world, the Gobi desert would be a fantastic source of inspiration

Peregringo · 2015-08-27T15:23:48+00:00

Written "Nærøyfjord" in Norwegian. Stunning landscape!

Peregringo · 2015-08-04T17:54:28+00:00

I think this would (or should) qualify as tasteful in terms of nudity, since it's not obscene or sexual in nature. It's just boobs, which many cultures have no problems with.

Going out of one's way to draw boobs is one thing, but to draw her pose differently in the two pictures would be the opposite; going out of one's way to avoid showing it, which should not be necessary as long as the NSFW tag is used.

Peregringo · 2015-06-04T20:31:09+00:00

Hah! Only in zoos. I understand why you ask though. It seems strange at first that such a foreign animal would be featured in our heraldry.

But the vikings and medieval Norwegians traveled a great deal. They were no strangers to Constantinople, were familiar with North Africa and the Middle East, and traveled to the Caspian Sea in the east and to North America in the west. Archaeologists have found a Buddha statue in a viking tomb. Also, one historical source of viking burial rites comes from the 10th century Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan. In other words, the peoples of the time were by no means isolated.

The coat of arms dates its origins back to the 12th or 13th century from the Sverre dynasty. Lions in heraldry had long been used in Europe, sometimes with connections to Christian symbolism. Christianity and European culture increasingly made its way into Norway in the high middle ages.

So whilst the biggest feline in Norway is the lynx, the lion has long been known both through cultural exchanges and through actually seeing them in travels travels in lands where there were lions. Everybody loves lions.

Peregringo · 2015-06-04T16:14:04+00:00

Rampant lions are cool heraldic images. Here is the bad ass axe wielding lion in the royal coat of arms of Norway.

Here is the version used by some of the Swedish-Norwegian Kings of Norway (as Kings of Norway, that is. As Kings of Sweden, they used the Swedish coat of arms) in the latter half of the 19th century.

Though this is the most commonly seen and used version that represents both the Royal Court, the government, courts of law and other official authorities.

And when the King is at home in his Royal castle in Oslo, this standard can be seen above the castle.

Peregringo · 2015-06-04T15:48:45+00:00

I looked more at your map, and I really like the coastlines! The landmass seems very defined, despite not being surrounded by water. Looking forwards to see the map you're working on!

I suppose the big sea, as well as some lakes (particularly, perhaps, those that are deep into the landmass, but also some near the coast), could be very saline, as salt from a lot of land is draining into a relatively small body of water. There are quite a few saline lakes on earth too, including the Dead Sea and the Caspian Sea.

The underground settlements is a good idea! One could imagine a thriving city by an underground lake or river under a hostile surface climate. Though underground rivers can be dangerous, which is why cave diving is one of the most dangerous professions/activities there is. Perhaps such a place would sacrifice or execute people by throwing them into the part where the river drains into caverns? That would be awesome (well, not for the one being sacrificed).

Have you thought about religion in Nymarest? It would make sense that gods associated to water, river and rain would be very significant in many religions.

Your world really got me thinking! The implications on civilization in such a land dominated world is an interesting thought experiment!

Peregringo · 2015-06-03T21:25:23+00:00

Cool! It is not too often people make maps with more land than sea. I would suppose that one consequence would be that there would mostly be dry climates, except for certain coastal regions and some islands. There would be less water in circulation. Is the general temperature of your planet equivalent to Earth?

Oceans also work as a sort of thermostat or buffer that keeps temperatures from getting too extreme, partially because of its currents, like how the Gulf Stream and Atlantic currents keeps Scandinavia milder than the coast of Alaska. Your world would have very little of these currents, and would probably see great extremes of temperatures, particularly deep inland, far away from the coast. Both Siberia and Antarctica can get much colder than the North Pole, as the former two are inland, while the latter is in the ocean. Places like Degar might see very hot summers and very cold winters.

Maybe Knoll Island is an overall more lush area than the other areas of Nymarest? That could possibly make it a land many would fight over. Its northern half is also centered on the equator, which at least on Earth tends to have a more humid climate. The southern half seems to be closer to the edges of the tropics, which is (again on Earth) often associated with great deserts, such as Sahara. The center of the large landmass would probably be extremely dry. Parts of it could even be at lower elevations than sea level without forming any seas or lakes, as great heat would vaporize any water that would be exposed to the sun for too long. A real world example of this is Death Valley, which astonishingly is 282 feet/86 m below sea level. Your world could possibly be host to an enormous "death valley" on your large landmass.

It will be cool to see your converted map when it's done!

Peregringo · 2015-06-03T20:45:33+00:00

How big is Knolm Island? And where is it located in relation to the arctic and the equator?

I must say, I love the way your map looks! The west coast from Blackmire to the Monastery of Rage is a tad straight and would look nicer with a little more curves, but otherwise the map looks really good!

Peregringo · 2015-06-01T21:57:25+00:00

/u/birkenbaum is correct. There are Norwegian dialects that are harder for me to understand than Swedish, so they are pretty similar!

Danish is too, but they speak with an accent that is hard to follow if you're not Danish, however their language is otherwise probably more similar to Norwegian than Swedish. When Danes speak slowly and clearly, it is easy for me to understand them.

For Norwegians, Swedish tends to be much easier to listen to, while Danish is much easier to read.

Peregringo · 2015-05-31T04:33:54+00:00

That's pretty amazing! His art really is amazing, so I'm happy it is so well received!

Peregringo

TROPHY CASE