Index Picture, left
Index Picture, right

Fantasy Genesis

Intro

These are some drawings I made using the system presented in the book "Fantasy Genesis" by Chuck Lukacs. The idea is you randomly select a theme for the overal shape, and then randomly select a different theme for the detailing. It forces you to keep the 'structure' and 'detailing' steps seperate.

I've written a couple of python scripts to help automate this process so there isn't so much dice rolling. One is the normal fantasy genesis, and the other I added a bunch more categories, since the computer program isn't constrained by standard polyhedral dice.

Most of these were done in plain pencil, though I added color to a few later ones with crayon and colored pencil. These aren't intended to be finished pieces, just excercises in creative design under unusual constraints.

The Drawings

Paul did these alone

Elephant/giraffe, with detailing of Wave.

Turned out surprisingly well, in a kind of Seussian way.

Electricity/lightning, with detailing of Deer/pronghorn.

I got carried away with drawing lines for the lightning, so it was really hard to change gears for the deer antler styling that I went for in the detail phase.

Stalactige/stalagmite, with detailing of Crater/asteroid.

The mushroom-looking things was my attempt at portraying an asteroid crater at the moment of impact.

Stalactige/stalagmite, with detailing of Palm tree.

More stalactites! I'm really pleased with how these turned out.

Glass and crystal, with detailing of Ski and sled.

I wish I'd added a bit more dimensionality to this.

Ax, with detailing of Orange tree.

I was able to draw the detailing for this one directly from the orange tree in our back yard.

Bull, with detailing of ferral cat.

Unnerving? Yes. Really getting the hang of the loose large scale pass. It's surprisingly difficult to not add details right away!

Beans, with detailing of Pinecone.

Not so tasty looking.

Clouds, with detailing of Fire.

I was going for negative-space fire, with the clouds being "holes" in the fire. I don't think it worked too well.

Domestic flowers, with detailing of Banyan tree.

I was real happy with flowers, and then stimyed when "Banyan" came up. This was the only thing I could think of, but it seems to have worked alright.

Pumkin/Gourd, with detailing of a saw.

This basically drew itself. The kids scribbled on it a bit, but I've managed to salvage the main idea.

Planets/Saturn's Rings, with detailing of Domestic Flowers.

This also turned out fairly well. I really love the rose planet in the background. I guess the flowered rings are okay too.

I don't know what even.

Turned out well enough that I thought it was worth coloring though.

Paul and Luke did these together

Sparrow/Raven and City (warmup).

We warmed up the session with a single-topic drawing. Or, at least I thought we did. Luke did a city, and then a sparrow as a detail element. I did a raven in a city.

Telephone with moth/butterfly detail.


The next one was at least an attempt to follow the excercise. I feel like neither of us really nailed it, but the themes are at least coming through.

Crystal/Glass, with Axe/Hammer detail.


I think this pair really demonstrates the breadth of possible interperetations available.

Stalactite/Stalagmite, with Tank Tread detail.


A fitting bookend to our session.

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