Geist Maschine Vol.01 takes place in a post human Rome sometime in a not too distant future and tells the beginning of Sol’s and Len’s story, two little brothers in search of that legendary city where civilized life survived the “multitenebrae”.
A world to (re) discover, a family dismembered by an impending danger, the dream of reaching a city, Otan. Maybe it’s just a legend, maybe it’s real, it means salvation anyway.
A Journey in an unrecognizable yet familiar environment, where relationships become more and more burdensome as the emotions become more intense.
Sol and Len will found shelter in a weird human shaped structure that comes from the past. They will soon discover that it’s way more than that.
Geist Maschine Vol.1 describes a world that it’s a deliberate blend of science fiction substance and fantasy narrative: it takes on the sci fi elements as they are pure magic for those primitive kids who still don’t have any idea of basic human culture, let alone technology.
Custom 10 step hybrid production process
240 hand drawn, hand painted and digitally composited full colour pages printed on lush satin paper. Geist Maschine was made using a complex pipeline involving digital and traditional media to achieve a special balance between calligraphic, lively lineart drawings like the ones in the anime world and more slow painterly visual mediums.
Each page is storyboarded (1) and layed out digitally (2) with the use of 3d modelling and rigging where necessary (3).
Then a pencil and ink lineart drawing is defined (4). Once the final drawing is done, it is scanned and shaded with a graphite pass (5). The second scan of the page will ensure that the graphite render pass can be adjusted, tinted or deleted while keeping the line art drawing intact. Flat colours are defined (6) and then I digitally paint cast shadows and lights (7).
Every item in the distance (skies, and everything far away) is rendered on a separate medium using a special japanese gouache (8).
Once the final compositing pass is done,
the page is ready for final color correction (9), and lettering on traditional media (10).
First print run sold out in just one week.
After Golem and Astrogamma, Geist Maschine is my third book published by
Bao Publishing.
Geist Maschine Vol.01
Credits:
Story, art and design: LRNZ
Flat color assistants: Tonia Nappo, Valentina Napolitano
3D Modelling and rigging: Lino Grandi
Marco Caizzi: Neologist
Management: Rulez
Published by Bao Publishing
