Originally conceived as part of an experimental album project for the band Little Tybee, the drawing quickly became its own exercise in world building, drawing influences as varied as Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and Camille Saint Saens’ Carnival of the Animals.

“Tybeetropolis” is a view, both wide and deep, of a decadent, retro futuristic dystopia. Airships, architectural sound systems, fountains, and grand statues above contrast with sinister factories, toxic dumps, and imprisoned hordes of faceless workers underneath. Though redolent of the Where’s Waldo books of the past, this densely packed drawing finds the viewer searching not for a titular hero, but instead for a sense of hope in a scene where incredible luxury sits atop incredible inequity.

The creation of “Tybeetropolis” was an extraordinary exploration of process itself. Originally conceived as detailed pencil drawings on paper, the sketches were scanned and traced over in Photoshop using a graphics tablet, working at 600 dpi. Though the beginning drawings were far from simple, the overwhelming majority of the final details were added in the computer as Anderson drew. After 2 years and approximately 240 hours of drawing, the line art was completed in 2015. A year later the gray fills were added, taking an additional 60 hours. In anticipation of Little Tybee’s upcoming 2019 summer tour, Ashley went back and reworked certain areas of the drawing which he wasn’t as satisfied with, bringing the total work hours in at around 350.