Art Notes

Outline

This document begins by describing the basic idea of the setting. It lists the desired styles of art and lists some possible inspirational material. It then explains how to draw Nobilis---the main characters of the setting. Finally, it lists specific requests.

All this is pretty much required reading, but it's also the shortest part of the document.

Appendix A describes how to draw all the individual elements of the setting. Skim this and come back to it when your drawings feature the relevant element. Appendix B describes the art I'd like for individual chapters. You can skim this, too, looking for things you'd like to draw.

Please read this document and the following files:

In addition, please read whatever chapter(s) you choose to illustrate.

I would really like it if you read the whole book, but I don't know whether it's appropriate to ask.

---R. Sean Borgstrom

The Basic Idea

In the beginning, the Creator built an giant ash tree, hung worlds among its leaves, and set that tree in a cup of blue flame. Hell crouched at that tree's roots. Heaven sat atop its uppermost branches.

The Creator did not use a palette of matter and energy. The first substance of Creation was a different kind of thing altogether---the divine substance, the spiritus Dei, the stuff of pure platonic concepts and elemental ideals. It forms the living essence of all ideas. Hell is a place, but---since the Creator built it of this substance---it is also made of concepts. It is suffering and corruption, and neither suffering or corruption could exist if there was no Hell. Heaven is a place, but it is also beauty, and all beauty derives from Heaven. The world ash is simultaneously a giant tree and the concept of life.

In Nobilis, everything built of the spiritus Dei is alive. Hell and Heaven are alive, in a way. So is the world ash. Every manifestation of the divine substance created since---including the angels, divine monsters, and the serpent-like children of the world ash---is a living creature in one way or another.

Half the point of Nobilis is exploring the idea of "concept made flesh". Since green things exist in this world, there is something---someone---out there who embodies Green. Without them, the color could not exist. Since glory exists, there is someone made of the substance of Glory. The angel Parasiel is the concepts of Conspiracy, Debate, Festivals, and Trade. If Parasiel died, these ideas would simply cease to be. The monster Ambrolam is Chaos, Borders, and Strife. The serpent Sakhrat, child of the world ash, is Mazes, Records, Trails, and Bureaucracy. This is a world where Conspiracy is not just an idea applied retroactively to the world---Conspiracy is a person, and, by existing, that person gives rise to conspiracies everywhere.

The other half of Nobilis is exploring a world where literally everything is alive. Not only are the major concepts alive, but so are individual cars, rivers, mailboxes, and storms. Everything in the world has a spirit, and makes its own choices. The orderly scientific reality that we have in the real world exists in Nobilis---but it's only half the truth. Behind the scenes, the world is lush with spirits and monsters, every tree still has its dryad, and the moods of the moon set it to waxing or waning.

The main characters of Nobilis are humans chosen by a divine creature and invested with a portion of its soul. This gives them influence over and responsibility for one of the basic elements of Creation---something like Time, Cats, Caves, Mountains, Earthquakes, Magnetism, Storms, Tea, or Glory. This makes them the Power of that thing (e.g., the Power of Time). These Powers are also called Nobles, or, collectively, the Nobilis.

Art Requests

I want to see four kinds of art.

Daily Life

I want a set of pictures that cover the day-to-day events in a Power's life. These would ideally look matter-of-fact as well as wondrous. For example, a Power might check their appearance in a hand mirror before approaching an angel's throne. Or they might duel an enemy in a setting where they clearly weren't expecting conflict---in a sushi shop, parking lot, or dressed in muddy finery just outside a banquet hall. More important than the mundane touch is giving the reader something to anchor their imagination on---a very strong sense of "this is really happening" and enough detail and clarity so that they can see what is really happening. These pictures show what it's like to live in the Nobles' world.

Visions

It's also important to capture the mythic element of the game. This means idealized, mythological visions of the setting. Basically, the characters in the game are half-divine. Each has a strong tie to a given concept---like storms, or computers, or imagination. If you represent the characters as incarnations of their concept, you should aim more for a striking image, and use whatever level of detail and vigor you're comfortable with. Here I mean things like the Power of Storms disporting in the clouds, any Power reclining in their temple, the Power of Electricity casting lightning at the warded Power of Armor, and so forth. Don't ignore detail and dynamism, but focus your attention on grabbing the reader by the throat with the image. If the other things slip, don't sweat it.

I really dislike the tendency towards exploitative images in gaming art. Don't have visions of underdressed nymphs unless you know the image is going to stun the reader for other reasons.

Symbolic

Taking things one step further, I wouldn't mind a handful of images that really play up the characters' tie to the relevant concepts. In a "portrait" image, the Power of Genetics might participate in a collage with a double helix, images of infants and evolutionary patterns, and whatnot.

Inspiration: Arcimbolo.

In Nobilis, this could depict the Power of Books as an artfully arranged pile of books. James Wallis can probably point you to more Arcimbolo. Extending this style, you could draw the Power of Rain as an extremely dense cluster of raindrops in a storm, the Power of Blood as a spreading stain from a corpse, and so forth.

Classical Styles

"I mean by a picture, a beautiful romantic dream of something that never was, never will be---in a better light than any light that ever shone---in a land that no-one can define or remember, only desire---and the forms divinely beautiful"
-- Edward Coley Burne-Jones
In particular, I am fond of classical illustration, as seen in the 19th and early 20th century. One of the neatest things about these illustrations is that they're not really supplements to the text, like a lot of modern illustration---they're very much designed to draw the reader into their little world, all on their own. Your goal here is to stay true to the spirit of the text, not the details of the setting.

Some good influences:

I really like "paneled" images, with a central portrait surrounded by various other related scenes. There's one of these on a page of George Cruikshank's work. If you understand Nobilis well enough to do this kind of thing with the activities of characters in the setting, please think about doing so. :)

I do not want anthropomorphic animals, children gathering flowers, or fairies. However, these artists had a brilliant way of making the picture its own world. These are savory pictures, pictures like spice on a food. They suck you in. Can you do this kind of thing with less childish subjects?

I would love the occasional picture patterned after an old-fashioned botanical print. I don't think the readers would want just ordinary prints of chamomile. However, I bet they'd eat up prints with notes handwritten by an alchemist ("use this portion to quell heated tempers," "petal over 5/4 the size of the others---useful for elixirs of wealth"). Similarly, a classic botanical print of the World Ash would be great. Finally, I imagine that prints of one or two flowers not found on Earth, with peculiar and distinctive physical qualities, would rock.

Drawing Nobilis

The main characters of the game are the Nobilis, also referred to as Nobles, Powers, and Domini. About 80% of the art should feature Nobilis, and 70% should focus on them. (This is a guideline, not a quota.)

Nobilis are born mortal. Then an Imperator, a creature of spiritus Dei, puts a shard of divine power in their soul. This shard controls a single concept---something like Time, Fire, Automobiles, Maps, Trees, Colors, the Moon, or whatnot. This concept is the character's "Estate". Thus, a given Noble might be "the Power of Maps".

General Appearance

Nobilis have something divine inside their souls and bodies. They should never look ordinary. Some good possibilities for their general appearance include:

A Noble female's breasts are invariably smaller than her head. Even if you think of an exception, don't draw her. :)

The Mortal Part

Almost every Noble was born human. The rest started out as animals, ghosts, monsters, spirits, or machines. There are only two reasons to depict a Noble who "started out" as a non-human:

In other words, I respect artistic inspiration. It's okay if you have a vision of a born-animal Noble and want to depict it. However, don't do it just to provide variety.

The Divine Part

In addition, about 2/3 of the Nobilis should have an appearance that reflects their Estate. You can do this in many ways:

Impressions

Nobilis should, in almost every case, give an impression of power and competence.

Nobilis occasionally appear in "submissive" poses---as when conceding to a rival or interacting with their Imperator. They should retain their dignity and power in such scenes.

Sex appeal is not a big part of the Noble image. It's okay to draw a Noble as dead sexy, but this should be because they are majestic, striking, or powerful---not instead of being majestic, striking, or powerful.

Clothes, Hair, and Makeup

There are about three standard "looks" for a Noble. They appear in the same distribution across both sexes, as well as in androgynes.

Activities

The third Ianthe section (07-ianthe-03) discusses typical Noble activities. It's not very long, and is a very solid introduction to what they spend their time doing.

Powers have various "miraculous" abilities. These include supernaturally enhanced physical, mental, and artistic abilities; the ability to protect, create, destroy, or alter manifestations of the concept they control; and supernatural power over their Chancel. One Power might be strong enough to wrestle down the lightning. Another, the Power of Time, could bring two time zones into synchrony---putting Tokyo and London in the same time frame. (I'm not requesting that particular image, but it would probably involve the hour hand for the Tokyo clock in a bank of clocks at a major hotel moving in synchrony with the Power's hand.)

In addition, Powers can have miscellaneous supernatural abilities, including shapeshifting, flight, inhuman beauty, and resistance to damage.

Appendix A: Other Setting Elements

Drawing Imperators

Before there was emotion, there was Emotion---the abstract, platonic substance of emotion. Before there was fire, there was Fire. Where ordinary things are made of matter or thought, Emotion and Fire are made of the spiritus Dei, the first substance, the breath of God.

Imperators are creatures made from this spiritus Dei. The birth of an Imperator brings new concepts to the world. For example, the birth of Cedron, a now-fallen angel, created Growth, Mistrust, Parasites, and Passivity.

Imperators come in seven kinds. There's more detail on them in the Book of Beasts (18-book-of-beasts-1-imperators).

Aaron's Serpents

Aaron's Serpents are the children of the World Ash, the tree that rises from Hell to Heaven and holds the other worlds in its branches. They grow inside the wood and then emerge as Imperial creatures.

Anatomy

Aaron's Serpents resemble ordinary snakes, anatomically. Choose whatever form of snake suits your fancy. They differ in two respects:

Themes

You can use Aaron's Serpents to evoke strength and power. You can draw them as borders, wrapping around a city or region, either once or in Celtic knotwork fashion.

If you can, draw Aaron's Serpents in connection with vegetation and trees. They are, after all, the children of the greatest tree of all. If you bristle their tendrils into a ruff, consider crooking them like tree branches. Or draw a slumbering serpent with trees growing all around it. Or whatever.

Angels

Angels are the children of Heaven. They seek a world defined by beauty and justice. Heaven is the template for all the worlds below. The angels work continuously to refine the beauty of Heaven, and in so doing create new wonders and concepts on lesser worlds. Many set aside this duty, however, to participate in the war to protect the universe against the Excrucians (below).

Anatomy

The standard model of "winged human" fits most angels.

If necessary, you can create variant angels of your own. You can also raid the classic angelic visions, e.g.

  1. And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
  2. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
  3. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
  4. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
  5. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
  6. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
  7. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
  8. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
  9. And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
  10. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
  11. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

Themes

Angels are beautiful and terrible. They are not cute, sultry, or gritty. They should look gorgeous, but you shouldn't want to bump into one.

Fallen Angels

Lucifer preached to the angels the gospel of Hell, arguing that corruption and suffering were the highest virtues. This led to the war in Heaven that cast him and his servants down to the Hell he honored. The wounds the fallen angels suffered in their war never healed, and the corruption of Hell itself has caused many to degenerate.

Anatomy

The standard model of "winged human" fits most fallen angels, too. Most have unhealed wounds, and the general tone of their appearance is darker.

Themes

Fallen angels are simply terrible. They are not directly opposed to beauty, but few still possess it. Don't draw them as cute or seductive. If they did want to seduce someone, they'd do it through sheer presence, not a Chippendales outfit or translucent Elvira garb. The images they appear in should generally be extremely dark: these are avatars of pain and corruption, and they damage the world with their presence in it.

Magisters of the Dark

Once, humans were destined to be Imperial. The fall of Eden changed that. As humanity devolved towards a bestial state, the divine power that would have been theirs took form as the Magisters of the Light and the Dark. The Dark embodies the human capacity for self-destruction; the Light embodies its hope for survival.

Magisters of the Dark seek to push humans and humanity to suicide. They tend to embody the most destructive concepts created by human works---Biological Weapons, Pollution, Genocide, and so forth.

Anatomy

Magisters of the Dark look basically human. However, their appearance should reflect their nature. Surround them with darkness and shadow. Sometimes, this obscures their features; sometimes, they are the only thing within ten feet not obscured by their own darkness.

Themes

Never hesitate to indicate a Dark Magister's malice. Torture instruments might dangle from their belt. In symbolic depictions, tie them to nasty and unpleasant things that humans do or create---from everyday themes like Depersonalization to more obviously criminal things like Infanticide. Naturally, this need not be graphic.

Magisters of the Light

Magisters of the Light seek to protect humanity at all costs. They tend to embody the most useful concepts created by human works---the Forge, Computers, Economics, and so forth.

Anatomy

Magisters of the Light also look basically human, and, again, their appearance reflects their nature. Surround them with light. Some of them glow; others just naturally stand in the most sunlit/firelit/halogenlit place in the picture. A Light Magister standing in sunlight-through-a-stained-glass-window would be great, although of course we can't actually put color in this book.

Themes

Light Magisters are concerned with human survival. Even a tiny background detail that reflects this---someone in the background bandaging their wrist or stepping back out of the way of an oncoming car---would be great. I realize that this may involve more detail than you like---it's just the kind of subtle touch that would make me love you. :)

Magisters of the Wild

Wild Magisters aren't tied to humanity. They come from somewhere outside Creation, and they can't seem to leave again. Their highest virtue is freedom. (This is not a particularly subtle irony.)

Anatomy

Magisters of the Wild have no fixed appearance. If drawn as human, they shouldn't look terribly sane or kempt.

Themes

Wild Magisters are thematically tied to freedom. Choice is the most precious quality to them, and they go to great lengths to preserve free will. They're also somewhat chaotic, and may leave ruin and disorder in their wake.

True Gods

True Gods are children of the Earth and life. They derive some of their nature from humanity---humans are Earthly life, after all---but most of it comes from plants, insects, algae, and so forth. Think of them as quarter-amoeba, quarter-plant, and half-god, and you're getting close.

Anatomy

True Gods are deeply alien. They should look like amorphous nightmares, but not bestial---they should be glorious monsters. If they were embarrassed with how they looked, they'd change it. In the movies, there are two kinds of monsters---the ones that squick you and the ones that make your jaw drop. The True Gods are the latter kind. They are not icky. They are majestically awful. This is where it would be useful if I could actually draw, so I could convey this concept better. :)

Themes

True Gods have very individual themes. One embodies perception and the difference between vision and reality; another embodied the primal forest. You have a free hand.

Drawing Chancels

Imperators often build pocket worlds known as Chancels---city- or state-sized universes tailored to their specific desires. You have a free hand here---a Chancel can be a Victorian town, a space opera starport, a fairyland, a city of rocket cars or zeppelins, or a great sprawling forest with giant dragonflies humming among its branches.

Since you do have fairly huge discretion when drawing a Chancel, I recommend against making a Chancel the center of a piece. Unless illustrating a Chancel description in the book, don't just draw some weird setting---pick a Chancel background to highlight the coolness of some other piece you have in mind. For example, a city with zeppelins isn't particularly Nobilis. However, if you're drawing a group of Powers kicking back on a cloud playing poker with miniature humans as chips, a zeppelin floating among the city towers below is kind of a cool touch.

Drawing Lord Entropy

Lord Entropy is the effective head of the Council of Four, the Imperators most responsible for affairs on Earth. He is the Estates of Desecration, Destruction, and Scorn. Draw him as human. His hands are dark (in color, they would be red), and may optionally drip with blood.

Lord Entropy is a creature of corruption, and he does not apologize for this. He is not redeemable and he is not sympathetic. However, he is malign by nature and not by purpose. In other words, though he is evil, he does not go out of his way to be evil. He does not carry around thumbscrews or dig up graves for fun. His ultimate goals are reasonably benevolent, and if it occurs to him that saving someone's soul is more useful than damning it, he'll have one of his people save it.

Drawing Ananda

Ananda is another member of the Council of Four. He's the most jaw-droppingly beautiful thing on this world or near it; his countenance tends to drive humans mad with joy. Don't try and draw him in a realistic style. Instead, show him in mythic/symbolic pictures, representing him as a human silhouette containing a city skyline. (I'm envisioning the lower body as black, up to the skyline's edge; above it, the upper body is blank white, bordered in a thick black line.)

Drawing Excrucians

Excrucians are creatures from outside Creation. They seek to unmake existence. The threat they pose serves to unify the Imperators, who would otherwise be at one anothers' throats. Most Nobilis were created (in part) to defend against the Excrucians. The Imperators and Excrucians are engaged in a vigorous struggle in the Spirit World, a level of reality that few Nobilis visit. On occasion, an Excrucian or a few "shards" of an Excrucian makes it past the blockade and into normal reality, where they become the Nobilis' problem.

Excrucians come in four kinds. The Book of Beasts (20-book-of-beasts-2-excrucians) covers them in more depth.

Warmains

Warmains are the most straightforward Excrucians. Their plans can be subtle, but their tools are ultimately violent.

Anatomy

When a Warmain kills someone they respect, they sometimes take on that person's appearance. This means that most Warmains look like Powers or Imperators. However, they tend to have a more violent edge and their eyes are black and filled with falling stars. Many Warmains ride pale horses.

Themes

Warmains represent the death of ideas and ideals through violence. Their swords can kill a crowd's spirit or the perfection of a symphony.

Mimics

Mimics are built from the life force of dead Imperators. Except for their allegiance---to the cause of the Excrucians---they resemble Imperators in all respects.

Deceivers

Deceivers subvert Creation through treachery and, well, deceit. They can take on the spiritual nature of any Noble or Imperator they have met.

Anatomy

Deceivers possess an unholy beauty. Their eyes, like a Warmain's, show black filled with falling stars. They resemble humans, physically. Symbolically, they resemble a twisted version of the Power they spiritually impersonate. A Deceiver wearing the skin of the Power of Night should have symbolic fillips indicative of the night.

Themes

Deceivers represent the death of ideas and ideals through deception and willful ignorance. Their lies can reshape the world in the lie's image.

Strategists

Strategists plan out the Excrucian assault on existence. They also create the various weapons and mystical tools used by the Excrucians. The dark energies they weave into themselves outside of Creation lets them destroy any reasonably small mortal thing with a wave of their hand.

Anatomy

Strategists are impossibly elegant. Their eyes, like a Warmain's or Deceiver's, show black pierced with falling stars. They tend to have more trinkets and mystical items than their peers.

Themes

Strategists represent willful malice and destruction. Their plans and devices are brilliant but ultimately exist only to unmake things of greater worth.

Abhorrent Weapons

The Abhorrent Weapons of the Excrucians are capable of killing even Imperators. Many are monstrous. Others are starkly beautiful. The major Abhorrent Weapons named in the text are:

Minor Abhorrent Weapons named in the text are:

Drawing the World Ash

"Yggdrasil is a tree---but what a tree! Its branches hold worlds, dozens upon dozens of them: each suspended at once in an infinity of empty space and the sheltering embrace of the World Ash's branches. The other planets, though they are little like what we know of them, hang near the Earth; farther out are worlds populated by intelligent beings, like and unlike humanity. The whole of the Ash is cupped inside the Weirding Wall, whose crackling energies define the boundaries of Creation; above it shine the stars."

The World Ash roots in Hell, whose flames spread out around its sides and eventually rise to become the Weirding Wall. Heaven sits in its topmost branches. A botanical print style picture could also point out Earth and the other worlds detailed in the Atlas of Creation (04-atlas-of-creation).

Feel free to interpret from there.

The Prosaic and Mythic Worlds

"The Earth, as the Nobles know it, is a place defined by an essential contradiction. On the one hand, the world is alive with spirits, night comes with the moods of the angel of the sun, and the stars sometimes drift down from its darkness to speak. On the other, there is a huge body of human experimental data showing that all of this is nonsense: that everything in the world follows strict laws, that the humans are barely better than the animals, the animals are utterly unintelligent, the plants are sessile, and nothing else lives."

I would like at least a few pictures that show this dichotomy. The Nobilis live in two worlds at once, and can see either with a simple shift in perception: the world of spirits and myths, where cars drive in the right direction because they're loyal to their owners, and the world of science, where cars drive in the right direction because they have no will of their own. It's very important to the setting that these are ultimately the same reality---that every event has both a scientific and a mythic explanation. Showing some parking meters gloating happily over their collection of coins would not be amiss, for example.

Appendix B: Chapters

Please read the appropriate chapter and the relevant part of this section before doing illustrations for that chapter.

General Notes

I have deleted almost all of this section as irrelevant now that the book is at press. :)

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Certain characters could have character portraits. These pictures do not so much illustrate the world as give a strong visual impression of that character. These are:

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