I started taking a Sci Fi & Fantasy illustration class to give myself permission to explore some creative ideas unrelated to my current work. In this first assignment, I built a map of a fictional world revolving around a city called Meridian. The concept came from an idea I’ve had for a long time; of an isolationist city, walled off from the world, existing in a state of homeostasis. In this adaptation, the city sustains itself by diverting the nearby river to its own inhabitants. The world brings to mind themes of resource hoarding, classism, and what happens to isolationist societies when they begin to crack at the seams. I’ll be continuing to flesh out this concept as the class progresses.
