The planning process went smoothly. At first I took the brief of a perfect holiday destination too literally, I was brainstorming places I’d like to visit such as forests and gardens. However on second thought I realised how restricting this was, it meant I had to come up with a realistic place and not take the opportunity to be imaginative and original. After coming to this conclusion I was back to the drawing board, I realised I didn’t have to stray too far from my original idea while also being experimental. The eventual choice I made was to model an Alien garden. I quite liked the challenge of making things appear otherworldly yet recognisable in terms of their functionality. I had some initial thoughts of using deformers and unconventional textures to allude to the alien theme, but I thought it too simple. This led me to imagine things Aliens might have in their garden, And I eventually came up with a backstory in which to model my environment around.
The beings that pace these lands value peace and tranquility. This is a result of them being a far more ancient civilisation than earth, and therefore are significantly more evolved, mentally and spiritually. I felt like reflecting this was my priority. I liked the idea of water features and to reflect the feeling of harmony, and impressive energy harvesting totems to reflect themes of common good and interconnectedness. The society in which the inhabitants live is a collectivist culture with a strong emphasis on community, leading me to add group spaces in which the beings could congregate as well as solitary spaces to promote meditation and contemplation. The planet in which the garden is located had previously plagued by war during decades of totalitarian control, having such an effect, that the society that it is now decidedly politically peaceful, having many allyships and bilateral trade agreements with neighbouring planets, therefore there’s plenty of interplanetary tourism. To hint at this I added spacecraft, however I had reservations about adding them as I felt as if they might disturb the visual harmony but eventually decided their presence would add depth to the narrative.
