Saturday, December 31, 2011

View of the Xeelee Ring



The "full view" on this is fairly large (or at least I hope it is). But few subjects beg for a high res image as much as the immense alien structure at the heart of Stephen Baxter's mind-stretching book "Ring".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_%28Stephen_Baxter_novel%29

And very few subjects are as challenging to visualize. A full appreciation is only possible from reading the novel, but you may notice there are entire galaxies that appear in front of the Ring. This is due to the immense scale of the artifact - it is as wide as a hundred galaxies.

The structure is composed of a single strand of "string" - a defect in space-time - that is being woven from the crushed debris of countless whole galaxies. The mysterious Xeelee have been working on this project for quite some time - for several billion years in fact.

What is the purpose of such a monstrous construction? The Xeelee intend to use the Ring to initiate a "Kerr Metric" - in effect a doorway that exits the Universe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerr_Metric

You may wonder at the reaons they undertake such a task, but I won't spoil the book!

So who are the Xeelee? They are the oldest sentient race in the Universe - and one of its greatest mysteries. But as one character states with regard to the Ring: "...that they have the audacity to even dream of such a device!"

Incidentally, those small points of light in the background aren't stars. The Ring occupies an immense empty void, and those lights back there are whole galaxies on the far side...

That's why I like science fiction...

Up the Ridge...


Rovers explore the frozen moon of a large gas giant similar to Jupiter, presumably in another solar system...

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Across the Ice...

A 3D image - of something I'd like to see for real!

Some "Ancient" Traditional Artworks...

A couple of concept paintings from earlier in my career. Acrylic, roughly 10"x16"...

From the 1997 film "Contact". A large command ship is pulled through the ocean during the movie's climax...

The Drej Fortress - a large alien spacecraft designed for the animated film "Titan AE"...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

3D environment WIPs...

Some recent 3D tests. I've been experimenting with some matte painting techniques lately...

Best seen in "full view" - there's a fair amount of detail.



Saturday, December 03, 2011