You never really give up on your old loves. While rebuilding my website recently I came across a lot of old drawings and research material from past projects that made my heart flutter. For the series ‘Sanctuary’, a Canadian Sci-Fi/fantasy romp among vampires and lizard-men, I had the chance to get completely immersed in the world of the Gothic and the Neo-Gothic architectural styles. There’s so much to chose from. I’ve always been a fan of 19th century masters Violet-le-Duc and Pierre Cuypers. And in Britain is such a rich depository of Victorian fantasies about medieval architecture and culture.I studied it all in detail. Most of the project’s scenes —both the interiors and exteriors— were filmed in front of a green screen. The sets all had to be made in the computer. All the principles of tracery and verticalism had to first be set out to the young CG artists, most of whom had just left school without ever even having heard of an arch or a column. So Details had to be elucidated with research and a fair amount of pedantry, and the building blocks moved with cursors and mouse clicks..
The pictures below give an idea of the various phases of the project. There are hand sketches, computer sketches, CG renderings, and atmospheric visualisations. Those last ones are from hand of the brilliant Younger Ge. Below is a video of animated walk-throughs that I made for the director and cameraman.
Also check out my previous posts over the project Sanctuary and a scanned book of Gothic ornaments in my collection.
