I was watching the extended edition appendices of LOTR and got greatly inspired (once again..) by the amazing concept art by John Howe and Alan Lee. In particular these isometric and bird’s view sketches of Osgiliath and Riddermark. Obviously I cannot reach the same level of detail and harmony but still I wanted to try and start from the top corner, work my way down to the bottom and see what comes out from my brains. I used a little reference on the mountains, to see how they are formed. But still just a ’stream of consciousness’(?) or smthng.. :P

Now post-mortem as I look these houses I notice that there are some factual errors in the architecture. All of them are quite medieval and that’s good. The church is clearly Norwegian, as are some of the peasant huts, while the lord’s manor is definitely English. And there are few log barns which I’m not sure if those have been seen outside Finland… oh well.. too lazy to correct anything.. anyways, this could be located anywhere around southern Scandinavia and western Europe. 

Medieval village

Modern Hobitt dwelling. I’d like to live there 8)

This morning I killed time in Café Saara in Kirkkokatu, Oulu. It’s right next to the city hall, and I recommend it for everyone. I’ve got to say they make the most excellent coffee and Reindeer Croissant was delicious too. This view wasn’t too good but all the seats with clear vision to city hall where taken. Shame, I’d have liked to draw it but some another time then.

No vanishing points whatsoever, I tried to draw looking at the paper as little as possible, so perspective is quite off.

Kirkkokatu.

Theme:No Time. This is based on photography of Oulu from 1920’s. But I’m fairly sure this is exactly how it looked like in 1939 too. None of these buildings exist anymore, though the second block from left looks very similar. There’s Marimekko boutique there nowadays if I remember right. It’s a terrible shame they wrecked the beautiful Kansallis-Osake-Pankki-building. The one with the tower. :(
original: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Postcard_Pakkahuoneenkatu_Oulu_1920.jpg

No time

I decided to draw how it would look like if there was a huge office building in the middle of the Oulu centrum.  Like Technopolis. Then I thought it would be cool to have the existing shopping mall in downstairs. Stockmann, Vima, Akateeminen Kirjakauppa and whatever there are.. And this cool restaurant with a balcony.  View from Saaristonkatu to west. Reference: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Saaristonkatu_Oulu_2007_09_02.JPG