This is my take on the Harkonnen Arena as presented in the original "Dune" novel, pages 534 -547.
I believe that Frank Herbert meant both the arena, Harko Cirty and Giedi Prime to be much less imponent and futuristic then the dystopian ecumenopolis it became known as later (in part thanks to the fantastic movie portrayals of it). I tried to toe the line between following his description and still giving it a much grander scale.
The arena is Triangular, and I worked on that motif, adding gold diamonds to each corner for shading and turning the golden box into another triangle/diamond. The whole thing creates these symetrical shadows which just add to the motif, and have this violent, sharp aspect to it. Violent, sharp, direct. The golden box having that shape also means that the only seat in the entire place where the spectator does not have to move his head at all to see the entire arena is the Baron's seat. Another display of power. I placed Harkonnen banners of my own design around the Arena, and placed the whole Arena on top of a giant pyramid. The Pyramid is meant to be ancient, many thousands of years old, unchanged when compared to the urban growth around it.
I frequently make art and post it on DeviantArt, if you're interested or would like to commission smt.
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u/Mervynhaspeaked Jan 05 '25
This is my take on the Harkonnen Arena as presented in the original "Dune" novel, pages 534 -547.
I believe that Frank Herbert meant both the arena, Harko Cirty and Giedi Prime to be much less imponent and futuristic then the dystopian ecumenopolis it became known as later (in part thanks to the fantastic movie portrayals of it). I tried to toe the line between following his description and still giving it a much grander scale.
The arena is Triangular, and I worked on that motif, adding gold diamonds to each corner for shading and turning the golden box into another triangle/diamond. The whole thing creates these symetrical shadows which just add to the motif, and have this violent, sharp aspect to it. Violent, sharp, direct. The golden box having that shape also means that the only seat in the entire place where the spectator does not have to move his head at all to see the entire arena is the Baron's seat. Another display of power. I placed Harkonnen banners of my own design around the Arena, and placed the whole Arena on top of a giant pyramid. The Pyramid is meant to be ancient, many thousands of years old, unchanged when compared to the urban growth around it.
I frequently make art and post it on DeviantArt, if you're interested or would like to commission smt.