'non-derivative' fantasy architecture/aesthetic?

[Anonymous No.4720868]

alright, retard with a retard question here. can anybody find some good examples of 'non-derivative' fantasy artwork with a focus on architecture? I need some inspiration, but pretty much all fantasy artwork always follows the same tolkien motifs and medieval europe aesthetic with very little visually interesting changes.

pretty much every fantasy world today is bland and unoriginal, because it doesn't attempt to change the same visuals and style that is used for basically all fantasy media, i.e. medieval castles/wattle-daub houses/decrepit ruins of gray stone/etc. etc.

the elder scrolls world has done pretty good in this regard, morrowind especially, and skyrim and eso in particular also have very original feeling worlds visually, seemingly because of the amount of thought put into their world's visual design.

anyway, any help or inspiration or concept art for this retard that maintains the same fantasy feeling (nothing excessively alien or unidentifiable as fantasy) but is visually unique would be helpful. discussion on what exactly makes a fantasy world visually interesting/unique/stand-out would be nice as well.

(pic-related is first result on google images for "fantasy house". literally the antithesis of what i want)

[Anonymous No.4720874]

gonna post some interesting concept art i've found to get the ball rolling

[Anonymous No.4720879]

>>4720874
forgot to mention- dark souls does a really good job as well in this regard.

despite having a decidedly medieval-european aesthetic as a baseline, it has very interesting environments that supplement it as well as the whole fire/darkness motif that makes the world pop visually, and seem unique (dark souls 3 is cool especially)

[Anonymous No.4721015]

>>4720868
>non-derivative architecture

Of all the things that could possibly be "non-derivative", architecture is not one of them. Architecture in any given location is derived from history, religion and essentially everything else that could possibly affect it because buildings are reflections of the values and judgements of those who erected it; for your original architecture to be good, it must grow out of context and be placed in that context before being removed from context. A well-written description (yours or someone else's) is also a good place to start because it helps you form an image in your head - just check out this description of the pre-retcon Imperial City.

>From the shore it is hard to tell what is city and what is Palace, for it all rises from the islands of the lake towards the sky in a stretch of gold. Whole neighborhoods rest on the jeweled bridges that connect the islands together. Gondolas and river-ships sail along the watery avenues of its flooded lower dwellings. Moth-priests walk by in a cloud of ancestors; House Guards hold exceptionally long daikatanas crossed at intersections, adorned with ribbons and dragon-flags; and the newly arrived Western legionnaires sweat in the humid air. The river mouth is tainted red from the tinmi soil of the shore, and river dragons rust their hides in its waters. Across the lake the Imperial City continues, merging into the villages of the southern red river and ruins left from the Interregnum.
>The Emperor's Palace is a crown of sun rays, surrounded by his magical gardens. One garden path is known as Green Emperor Road-here, topiaries of the heads of past Emperors have been shaped by sorcery and can speak. When one must advise Tiber Septim, birds are drawn to the hedgery head, using their songs as its voice and moving its branches for the needed expressions.

1/?

[Anonymous No.4721058]

>>4720868
Damn, a thread about architecture, that's neat. Here's a more retarded question, how do I get good at it and how should I properly practice it? any reliable resources and ways to get there without wasting time? I want to learn about it but seems quite hard to get my hand into it.
How do you guys do it? Sorry to hijack your thread, is just I barely see discussions like this. As for the designs, I'd suggest looking to older movies/ animations (japs are very good at it), they somehow capture another aesthetic that has been lost in time for some reason.

[Anonymous No.4721069]

>>4721015
>[...] it is hard to tell what is city and what is Palace,for it all rises from the islands of the lake towards the sky in a stretch of gold.
The city is tightly packed and ornate

>Whole neighborhoods rest on the jeweled bridges that connect the islands together.
Maybe the poorer citizens live here.

>Gondolas and river-ships [...] watery avenues of its flooded lower dwellings.
Hmm, does that sound like any IRL place that you could look to for rerefence? Protip: it does.

>House Guards hold exceptionally long daikatanas crossed at intersections, adorned with ribbons and dragon-flags;
Any family with enough money to have their own blinged out private guards probably has a large and interesting residence, or even compound.

>and the newly arrived Western legionnaires
With a military element, it's very likely that you'll find plenty of bars and whorehouses near the barracks/base, and what should the barracks itself look like?

>sweat in the humid air.
Information about climate, an important element in building design

>The river mouth is tainted red from the tinmi soil of the shore, and river dragons rust their hides in its waters.
Flavor for doing a landscape as well as anything the water touches.

>Across the lake the Imperial City continues, merging into the villages of the southern red river and ruins left from the Interregnum.
Ruin-strewn suburbs across the water.

>>The Emperor's Palace is a crown of sun rays, surrounded by his magical gardens. One garden path is known as Green Emperor Road-here, topiaries of the heads of past Emperors have been shaped by sorcery and can speak. When one must advise Tiber Septim, birds are drawn to the hedgery head, using their songs as its voice and moving its branches for the needed expressions.
Self-explanatory.

You have a lot to work with in a description like this one. It gives you a lot to work with directly and there are a huge number of inferences that could reasonably be made. Connect those dots.

[Anonymous No.4723493]

>>4720868
>'non-derivative' fantasy architecture
architecture is always derivative as it adheres to physics and well tested building techniques. You will always see columns, butresses, arcs, support beams etc. If you are tired of western medieval architecture, maybe take a look at asian roofs or castles.
If you want something truly non-derivative, try to reinvent the wheel and come up with your own solutions for structures.