Behind The Scenes: Wasteland Outpost (Patreon)

If you read my articles, you already know I maintain a list of things to do for years. If you don't, let me clarify. I made it a habit to keep a list of things I want to create and slowly built it into a subconscious method. If I see or get an idea, I immediately write it down. This can be sudden thing while hanging out with friends, or a suggestion in the YouTube comment section. 

Because I know, that if I don't write it down, it's probably gone forever. That makes it easier to sit down and create something new. I refer to the list and pick something I like in that moment.

But what the note represent is actually very far from anything tangible. Here for example, I had a note to do a textured post-apocalyptic house. Easy right? So how does that house look like? Is it a single structure or some kind of hand-built fort?

Visit the full Pinboard here

That's why I always go and look around. As you know, Pinterest and Google images are very good to dive into some topic and follow a thread. But sometimes it's not enough. You get all of these different pieces, but somehow it doesn't lead you to a coherent idea.

In cases like that, I use a visualization technique. First of all, you need to get away from your PC sometimes. There is is this half-built house in our neighborhood, so I made a fun little exercise and thought about how I would upgrade that house to help as a base in desperate times. I imagined what I would need to survive and how it could be defended.

And only after that I went to my Pinboard again, and picked elements that would help me achieve it. Suddenly, a thing like the old trailer home looked like a great asset, that could be attached to the house.

I jumped right into the sketching, while the idea was hot and blocked out a simple building with a shorter version of the caravan trailer attached. And it immediately created a space, that could be filled with hand-build wooden appendage with a classic shingle roof, creating a contrast and Frankenstein flavor to the building.

And suddenly I had the core composition. Original brick house with attached trailer and wooden structure appended, partially sitting on the trailer. I went back to the board and found some interesting details, that would help to reinforce the original idea. Wind powered water pump with roof reservoir looked like a great match and added a bit of a wild west flavor too.

The rest, like sofa on the porch, fence with a barrel, sign post, or ivy are simple elements observed in other references. And then you can give it one more look and come up with your own upgrades. The trailer looked like a good place to do a cooking, so I placed the chimney there. But at the same time, separate door created a good spot for posting a guard along with the sofa, so I hand a little bell on the porch, in case some gruel thing is approaching.

As you can see, the road from initial idea to something you can actually see and imagine can be a bit bumpy, but it's always enjoyable creative process.

You can watch the process video on Youtube