Assignment #1 - Map of the Mainspring world

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I recently took a great Portland Community College class on Drawing Sci-Fi and Fantasy. One of our assignments was to map a world, place or area.

I chose the clockwork world of Jay Lake's Mainspring series. I'm not a raging steampunk fan, but this is a well-fleshed out, epic world - one with a literal clockwork universe. The Earth has a gigantic gear around the equator, interlocking with an orbital gear track, leading back to the Sun. The entire solar system (nay universe!) was designed this way by a very visible 'clockmaker' God. 

This equatorial gear cuts off the north and south hemispheres, forcing parallel, but separate geopolitical areas, cultures, and history. Not to mention the 100 mile tall gear has fostered the evolution of separate cultures on its terraces and mountains. Leading, in some cases, to very advanced civilizations (like the Brass Men.)

But God allows for special, attuned individuals to directly affect the world, via their mental tie to the workings. Such people can create a 'gleam' as a focal point for their power. In the second book, Paolina, is an outcast even amongst an island of shipwrecked outcasts at the base of the gear. She discovers her abilities and creates such a gleam.

Obviously this project is growing in my mind as a potential painting, so the sketchbook exercises allowed me to flesh-out concepts for the world, character and technology.

Exercise 1: Design the map

A view of the action in Escapement, where a British expedition attempts to tunnel through the gear, simultaneously with Paolina discovers her abilities.

Sketches:

Trying to puzzle out how the gearing might work. Still working on this, but it's been an interesting intellectual exercise!


Playing around with British drilling machine design and a potential painting composition:



The Gleam

How might it look? The book description makes it sound like an oversized pocket-watch. I was imagining it somewhat like a mechanical orrery allowing Paolina to tweak the cosmic gears...




Finally, a first attempt at a painting composition. It's difficult to envision all I want to show here, esp. the magnitude of the gear itself. Our instructor, Nate, had a great idea to revise it more as a 70's style book montage, focusing on individual elements in addition to the main scene.