Caleb Tinsley | Environment and Prop Concept Artist

Ahlumedia

Welcome to Ahlumedia, the shining jewel of a plagued land; or so they'd have you believe. While the Blight may not reach inside its walls, the "city of splendor" is far from bright. Corruption, drugs, and secret masquerades are the lifeblood of this place, and strange powers lurk in the shadows. Take a step into this world if you dare, but you have been warned. 

Above are some simple ideation images of Ahlumedia's Gatehouse. I was playing around with architecture choices and whether I wanted the Blight refugee camp to be right at the gate, or if the city would do everything to keep the gate clean and presentable.

Below, the primary drug of the nobility, Devil's Paradise. I knew I wanted to create a blighted plant, one that had mutated, that the drug could be extracted from. Ultimately, I decided to make it look like a page from a botany study, and present a otherworldly plant in a familiar format.

Above: Of course, nobility aren't going to smoke Devil's Paradise out of just any old pipe, so I decided to show an example of an ornate wood and silver pipe. This design was inspired by historic pipes from around the world, including European tobacco and Chinese opium pipes.

Below is a list of rules and orders issued by the government of Ahlumedia in regards to regulations against the spread of the Blight. I used my background as a historian a lot here, drawing from similar edicts issued in the 17th century at the new outbreak of the plague. I wanted to use this as a posting at the front gate of Ahlumedia, in order to tell more of the world's story through indirect means.

I also wanted to create a world where the nobility had secret gatherings (regardless of the issued regulations above), and I wanted them to be a sort of dark masquerade. In these parties, everyone likely knew each other, but pretended not to. It was a place of debauchery and wealth. Above is a concept for what the masks might look like, focusing on elegant filigree, and in this case, the theme of a raven, the symbol of one of the High Council members.

Laelia's Bow

Laelia's Bow was created for a moth humanoid character, and thus was designed with the idea of it appearing moth-like itself. I played with the idea of having eye motifs, or wing-like projections. Some parts were even inspired by antennae. The secondary request was that it be Celtic influenced, so I included an ancient practice of using evil-eye beads to ward of bad spirits. Everything from the wood to the shape was influenced by one of those two requirements.

Space Concepts

Ship Designs

I love to build stories off of small things. Stuff that would otherwise be ignored or glossed over can be used as a way to build universal lore without writing a grand narrative. So while I was practicing Blender and using greebles, I started to explain my artistic choices based on in-world lore. Soon, I had a federation of planets, massive industrial corporations designing different ship parts, ship names and weapon systems. In order to share those, I made something akin to car posters, but for spaceships!

Other Space Concepts

I hope you enjoyed seeing my art and reading through my thoughts. I look forward to hearing everyone's feedback and seeing all the other amazing work being posted! Thanks for checking out my work.

Caleb Tinsley