As a Cultural Heritage major, it was inevitable for me to notice the huge Art Nouveau and Art Déco influence in Penacony.
The most evident example is Robin's poster:
It is reminiscent of artworks by Alfons Mucha (1860-1939), who often drew illustrations for advertisment, for example Bière de la meuse (1897), created to sell beer. Robin's poster is also an ad, which serves to promote the singer and her next performance for the Charmony Festival.
We can see the detail of the hair: in both illustrations it is observable how the ends of the hair curve in almost a decorative manner. In addition, both the figures are accentuated by the use of a thicker countour line.
Next, I wanted to point out the overall architecture of Penacony (particularly the architecture in Golden Hour).
Let's start by saying that Art Nouveau has its basis on a movement called Arts & Crafts, invented by William Morris (1834-1896). Morris wanted everyone to be able to own beautiful and durable objects (somewhat going against the values of the Industrial Revolution) and so Arts & Crafts was born. Therefore, Art Nouveau is mostly known for its decorations, architectures, jewels, furniture, vases, lamps etc. Art Déco can be considered an off-spring of Art Nouveau, as it spread in the 1920s and became the style to go in the USA in the 30s. The main difference between the two is that: Art Nouveau is more graceful, "spring-like" and utilises more sinuous lines (in fact, Mucha is Art Nouveau), while Art Déco is more geometric and is characterised by stronger colors.
For instance, the grand theatre in Penacony and the other structures/objects in the following pictures can all be considered Art Nouveau, let's compare them with real life examples of Art Nouveau:
And these can be considered Art Déco:
To conclude, I love how Penacony was created, both on the stylistic aspect and the gaming mechanisms aspect (like, the 3d rooms are so cool). I just wanted to write about the fascinating artistic references in Star Rail, it's just a natural consequence of the fact that I am majoring in Cultural Heritage I suppose.
𓍊𓋼𓍊 My piece for "Together from Afar: a How to Train Your Dragon" tribute exhibition at Gallery Nucleus! The show runs from April 11-26 and opens tonight from 5-8pm (free + no RSVP needed) 𓍊𓋼𓍊
I love Astrid and Stormfly, so I was really honored and excited to get to draw them🙇 John Powell was on full blast the entire time 🙇🙇🙇
'you can smoke whatever drugs you want idgaf' and 'apartment building etiquette is such that i should not be able to instantly smell your rank-ass weed stank through our shared wall' are two sentiments that can both be true
it’s crazy how when you’re 11 you think wow nationalism is the root of all evil and war is despicable and religion is the opiate of the masses and misogyny is everywhere and climate change is our most dire threat. and you start to grow up and you think well surely it will become more nuanced to me, surely there must be a reason adults arent breaking down wailing in the streets due to the cruelty of this world. and then you become an adult and you think wow nationalism is the root of all evil and war is despicable and religion is the opiate of the masses and misogyny is everywhere and climate change is our most dire threat