Project for the Domestika course “Visual Storytelling For Compelling Illustrations” taught by R Kikuo Johnson. We had to create an editorial illustration about the theme of a book, article or film. The goal was to capture the conflict within that story, and to portray it in a self-contained narrative illustration. He has a style inspired by comics, which is right up my alley.

I interpreted an old short story of mine about the life and loss on a Martian colony, set in the near future. The illustration here is less a literal portrayal of that story, and more broadly about some dangers of Mars colonization: dust storms, impacts from meteoroids and asteroids, and crushing isolation. Out of frame, an astronaut lies dead after being struck by a micro-meteor that pierced his space suit—causing his spilled blood to boil and evaporate in Mars’ extremely sparse atmosphere. Due to the atmospheric composition, sunrises and sunsets have a bluish tinge there.

Realistically, the colony would be located underground in an ancient lava tube. That would be the only long-term protection from cosmic radiation, for which Mars has no protection; unlike Earth, Mars has no active magnetic field to deflect that radiation. Anyway, for the sake of an “artist’s interpretation” (and more importantly, illustration practice) this works OK.

Previous
Previous

"Veruna" explainer animation

Next
Next

"Albers/Itten" animated display design