Project Dearly Departed -world building
This is my story about Death and putting the concept of it in a new light.
The story begins with a young girl named Hiroko Maeda who wakes up in the Beyond she doesn’t know or understand. Upon meeting the Angel Adriel she realises she’s actually dead, and she doesn’t know how. After this experience she’s angry, frustrated and can’t seem to enjoy anything of the positive energy the Beyond has to offer. Her chosen Imp, Guntang, tries to answer her questions, but he doesn’t have the power the Angels do. He is merely a guide and has no knowledge of her past life, and can’t help her so he tries to comfort her (which doesn’t help). Hiroko wants answers and demands to know more about her death.
Hiroko comes to realise a lot of people do have memories from their past life. After bothering many different people and imps she finds Adriel again, and demands their help. Adriel sends her on a journey through the Beyond to meet many other Angels, who might have answers for her.
The Beyond has always been there in my head. It’s a parallel universe of our world and it’s a more beautiful version. There are graves and skeletons everywhere, but they’re not giving the scary or sad vibes our graveyards give.
For this project I tried a new method of drawing; I made multiple assets and pasted them in the drawing to create multiple layers of background.
Every asset has tiny details, there's a lot to find in this drawing.
This picture envisions the meeting between Hiroko and Adriel; Hiroko realizes here she's no longer alive and finds herself in the afterlife, called the "Beyond."
I've drawn lots of different places and I tried a lot of different environments when I designed the Beyond. There is not a wrong picture or place, it’s whatever you envision a beautiful afterlife to be.
The Beyond is protected by many different creatures, they all have some kind of control over the Beyond. The Angels- also the Oracles of this world - have the most control. They hold the power and knowledge of the Beyond.
This is the book I published which holds all my progress about my project. Here's a small peek of what can be found inside!