Compass Design for the world of Midgard

[torstan]

The Midgard iPad Atlas was released this week (see the News story here). I thought I'd show the final compass art, as well as a quick behind the scenes of the process that led up to the final version. Check out the app on the App store (search Midgard Atlas, or go here).

Here's the final version of the compass:


Here's a breakdown of the iterations that led to the final version:


I wanted to create a compass that was evocative of the setting whilst also working on an iPad. The setting has old Eastern European themes, some hefty norse influences (no surprises given the name) and a liberally seasoning of steampunk with some gnome automata makers and a couple of airships. So there's a wide spectrum of influences to draw from. I started by creating three rough draft compasses - 1 to 3 above.

1. Very abstract - with a slight hint of a curling dragon.
2. Again some hints of dragon in the head and tail, with some features reminiscent of stylistic elven design from the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies.
3. Straightforward Victoriana pocketwatch compass - harking towards the steampunk elements.

The guys at Open Design went with 2. but wanted to go more explicit with the dragon motif, ideally mimicking the dragon in the Midgard logo. I worked up a version which was 70% complete with detailed line art and some basic shading - 4.

They were pretty happy with 4, but concerned that the aspect ratio would cause it to take up too much space on the screen, or that it would need to be shrunken down so small that the detail would be lost. I shrunk down the tail and worked up the metal finish to create the final piece.

All images are © Kobold Press, 2012, used with permission.