This project started as a concept from a friend of mine: Creating a livery using only lines and straight-edge geometric shapes to create a livery with a deeper connotation. And... here is my attempt.
The livery is a sequal to the first dragon-themed livery I designed 6 months ago. Though, instead of just the general magical fantasy world, this livery is inspired by a real literature - "Inheritance Cycle" by well-known author Christopher Paolini.
The livery utilizes the same sketch I used for the last Dragon livery, though redrawn with triangles and quadrangles only. The rear of the aircraft is painted with more geometric shapes with no particular order, hinting a sense of chaos and disorder. Together with the dragon, I sought to create a story of a majest dragon breaking through the barrier and chaos and fighting to bring the world together to one piece. (There is more to it if you are an Inheritance Cycle reader. Please scroll to the bottom if you have completed the books or if you are interested in the story... but THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!)
Overall, I had hoped the livery would have a bit more power to it - the shapes do not resemble what I want to resemble perfectly well, especially from a distance, with the small fuselage of the Citation a contributing factor. This will be a long-term motif I try to grasp and master, not only due to the lack of real-world implementations but also due to its power on conveying a much deeper meaning with the simplest geometry possible. Let me know if you have any suggestions on this design!
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For fellow Inheritance Cycle readers (do NOT read if you wish to explore the story yourself):
This livery is, in fact, designed based on one of the most majestic things you can keep hold of in Alagaësia - yes, the Eldunarí. The eldunarya were the first things to come to mind when considering something that has the simplest shape yet can hold enormous power and grasp everyone's feeling, whether it be awe or sorrow. Hence I immediately chose the Eldunarí as the main theme to explore this new design motif. What made me respect the elder dragons in Inheritance more, however, was their willingness to stay underground, monitoring the world, and doing what they could to help fighting against Galbatorix, after they lost their body, their rider, and their world. Therefore, I decided to reuse the dragon sketch I made for the earlier livery, painted him using the pixelated shapes, depicting him breaking through the barrier of "chaos" - as I mentioned earlier - or, in fact, the Eldunarí and do what he can to fight for the past and the future, hence why I named the aircraft "LIght-bringer from the Void", or in Ancient Language, "Islingr fra Und". This, is the complete story of the livery. Why not painting the livery gold to represent Glaedr, you may ask? Well... I considered gold as well, though I rejected the thought for three reasons. First, for the artistic reason: if I want to alter the color of Glaedr to create the sparkling effect (change in color of the shapes), I'll need to use lighter yellow, which wouldn't show up as well as blue on the aircraft, especially when it's soaring through the air, due to the low saturation. Second, for the livery series: The first of the liveries, depicting a living dragon (in fact, inspired by Saphira), was blue. So to make the two liveries look better when parked together, another blue would be the natural first choice. And lastly, I don't want to bind the Eldunrí to one particular dragon. Granted, Glaedr is a main character, but the Eldunarí - or rather, Eldunarya - I'm trying to depict here represents all the dragons in the Vault of Souls, and my respect to each and every one of them.
It's great writing all those out, as an Inheritance fan, and as a dragon lover. I'm not sure who'll read all those, but hopefully some Inheritance fan may read and fully understand this work. It is my proudest work so far, and will remain to be one of the best designs I've created.