Mondo - 1 (Patreon)

Welcome to Lucky River

Without further ado, I’m proud to present the first complete artwork of the Mondo series. I’d say I dropped about 50 to 60 hours in this thing, but I’m just starting to have fun! I’ve really enjoyed sharing the process with you over the month and it’s helped me stay motivated. Normally, if I spend 50+ hours on the same artwork I can’t stand looking at it anymore, but with this I‘m ready to spend another 50 hours if I have to. I won’t do that though. I will probably find more details to polish up over the week, but this thing is done and I have to say I’m very happy with how it turned out.
 

As I mentioned before, this piece depicts the small Japanese city I lived and worked in for several years. By Japan standards it’s an ordinary, somewhat boring Tokyo suburb. But coming from a rural town in mid-west America I felt the town was bustling with life and excitement. With this piece I want to capture the exuberant feeling I had when I first arrived in town. I had a new world to explore, and the possibilities felt endless. In time, I would learn the whole city like the back of my hand and develop a fondness for every neighborhood.
 

This image combines several elements of the city into one scene modeled after the area around the train station. Everything in the Mondo universe is a parody of Japan so I’m not concerned with exact accuracy of details. While it’s obvious we’re in Japan, brands and even the language are abstracted to create a more original world.
 

As far as the process, I’m getting more and more comfortable with the isometric style and sorting out the best techniques as I go along. I'm using a lot more colors than usual so color management is taking some getting used to. Appropriately, I'm using the Mondo palette and I'm freely selecting from the entire 128 colors. I originally designed the palette with this series in mind (hence the name) and the dynamic range of color is working quite nicely.

When making a complex city scene like this I find it best to first draw a rough plan of the streets than populate it with buildings. I’m using a ton of layers and pretty much every element is fully realized regardless of where it is placed in the scene. Therefore, many details end up being hidden behind other layers. This may seem like busy work, but it ends up looking much more natural if you fully visualize something even if part of it gets cropped or covered. Also, this gives me the freedom to rearrange the elements anyway I want until satisfied. I add cast shadows very last.
 

I’ve been very inspired making this and have so many ideas. Where to go next?

Prints & Merch