ABSTRACT
I made this image as an entry for a competition. The theme to be illustrated was entitled Journey Begins, which I liked, as it was open to various interpretations. Apart from this, I like a good challenge from time to time. The deadline was set for three months, which sounds like a lot of time for a still image, but, in the end, it was just enough. The concept phase took some time and I spent a few days thinking, imagining, daydreaming, and doing lots of quick thumbnail sketches. At the same time, I was undertaking some “visual research”, which meant looking at various pretty images, photos, etc, searching for inspiration. Slowly some images started to emerge in my mind. Big, coral reef-like structures, teeming with life and rich in detail and color. Everything was immersed in a dense atmosphere, with lots of “junk” floating around. Included were some angled sun rays and maybe some nice, dappled shadows here and there… I wanted a world that felt alien, but still somewhat familiar. I certainly wanted to mess around with the sense of scale and, for some reason, I wanted to have airships and jellyfish in there too. So far all my ideas orientated around the setting with no attention to the story but as I was forming the alien world, it led to the idea of “exploration”. Usually, it’s good to work the other way round: first have a story to tell and then place it in a context; but as I was happy with the images I was dreaming up, I didn’t let it bother me too much.
