Thanks for being patient. Okay, so Anastasia is challenging choice, because it's actually quite hard to grasp; not only is it a city that appears to enslave it's workers, it also appears to be superficially a nice place (those kites flying above it...) As I was reading over its description I was put in mind of gold rush towns, settlements that grew up really quickly because of the discovery of gold, which brought sudden growth, business, profit, and the promise of fortunes to be made. The other trade that grew up quickly in gold rush communities was prostitution - so I was thinking too about those women who might be inviting men into those pools of water:
The point about gold rush towns is that they sprang up very quickly - houses and buildings springing up like mushrooms. I wonder if Anastasia might be a city like that?
Meanwhile, I did a quick bit of research re. from what kind of terrain you might expect to mine agate and onyx etc: http://www.atilganchalcedony.com/web/en/content/chalcedony-our-region-and-formation-deposits
So a bit more research suggests that your city might be of Turkish influence... http://medya.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/2009/01/21/architecture-01.jpg
This might be useful, simply in terms of giving your city some actual reference, both in terms of architecture, but also colour palette etc.
It does sort of seem as if there's a whiff of Metropolis about this city... a city built upon the slave labour of its miners, who are dragging up the precious stones from under the earth, so that merchants can sell it to those who come to the city with money in their pockets: if you look at the kind of things that onyx, agate and chalcedony are used in, you'll soon get a sense of the gap between the people digging up the raw material, and the people trading in it:
Maybe Anastasia is a beautifully decorative city, and below it the sweltering mines and a trapped workforce? Certainly, this would give you lots of options in terms of your interior shot, for example...
OGR 09/10/2015
ReplyDeleteHey Beckie,
Thanks for being patient. Okay, so Anastasia is challenging choice, because it's actually quite hard to grasp; not only is it a city that appears to enslave it's workers, it also appears to be superficially a nice place (those kites flying above it...) As I was reading over its description I was put in mind of gold rush towns, settlements that grew up really quickly because of the discovery of gold, which brought sudden growth, business, profit, and the promise of fortunes to be made. The other trade that grew up quickly in gold rush communities was prostitution - so I was thinking too about those women who might be inviting men into those pools of water:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/SanFrancisco1851a.jpg
https://artblart.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/short-street-scene-hill-end-1872-web.jpg
The point about gold rush towns is that they sprang up very quickly - houses and buildings springing up like mushrooms. I wonder if Anastasia might be a city like that?
Meanwhile, I did a quick bit of research re. from what kind of terrain you might expect to mine agate and onyx etc: http://www.atilganchalcedony.com/web/en/content/chalcedony-our-region-and-formation-deposits
So a bit more research suggests that your city might be of Turkish influence...
http://medya.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/2009/01/21/architecture-01.jpg
This might be useful, simply in terms of giving your city some actual reference, both in terms of architecture, but also colour palette etc.
It does sort of seem as if there's a whiff of Metropolis about this city... a city built upon the slave labour of its miners, who are dragging up the precious stones from under the earth, so that merchants can sell it to those who come to the city with money in their pockets: if you look at the kind of things that onyx, agate and chalcedony are used in, you'll soon get a sense of the gap between the people digging up the raw material, and the people trading in it:
http://www.jchapahernandez.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/0f396e8a55728e79b48334e699243c07/j/c/jch-jewelry-01.jpg
https://bigskiesjewellery.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/different-sized-black-onyx-strings1.jpg
http://direct.silverrushstyle.com/media/mod_products/products/5/0/1/2/6/pr_image_50126.jpg
Maybe Anastasia is a beautifully decorative city, and below it the sweltering mines and a trapped workforce? Certainly, this would give you lots of options in terms of your interior shot, for example...
https://blackdiamondhistory.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/morganwmorgan.jpg
and you might just be interested in this as a reference - this is what a diamond mine looks like from the air...
http://i.imgur.com/M5kL71b.jpg