Hello, I’m Maze, the creator of Return to Eternium. This is my world building thesis project during my undergrad year at PNCA (Pacific Northwest College of Art).
I’ve described this project as a pitch for an animated film trilogy, although I’ve also thought about this becoming a video game pitch as well.
This project centers around something I struggle with, and maybe you might relate to as well.
In most recent years, I’ve struggled with having intense anxiety attacks, where I feel it physically in my body. It occurs when I feel incredibly overwhelmed by something, and stressed out by a situation. It’s a terrible feeling that overtakes me, and I can feel it in certain areas of my body and I can even feel how it moves through my body.
With the mixture of my own experienced anxiety and researching AI, I came up with a concept of technology that could interpret human emotion. I call it the FIKS which stands for feeling and intuitive knowing system. The theme of fearing emotions and suppressing them became more prevalent in my project and what it means to me.
Some narrative inspirations that have influenced the story of this project widely range from The Wizard of Oz, Dune, Blade Runner, Lord of the Rings, and Nausicaä Valley of the Wind.
And some visual inspirations that sparked the creation of this project are the visual extremities in the film Akira, the simple line work and color of graphic novelist Moebius, and the world building of Hayao Miyazaki. And all of these references and styles contributed to the unique vision I have created.
Interested in a Print of my work
Check out these select prints of work from my project!
Also Check out
I love listening to music when I’m creating, feel free to check out the Return to Eternium Spotify playlist of music that inspired the mood of this project.
For more visual inspiration, check out my Pinterest page!
I also have project logs of my process on my Patreon, the entries are sparse although you can get a glimpse of the evolution of this project.
For more of my work, check out my portfolio website here!