Uplift Universe - Image Entry: Mats Minnhagen

#2

Hi,
I’m a late starter in this challenge but hopefully I’ll have time to put something together. I haven’t read the Uplift Universe books so this is a free interpretation of the “alien relations” theme.
My ideas were along the following lines: If there was another planet out there with the necessary conditions for developing intelligent life, what are the chances that this intellient life would be contemporary with us? Slim. Human existance on earth (and even more so our civilization) is just the blink of an eye, and judging by the way the world is going today it could soon be over. It’s a tiny window in an ocean of time. The same would propably be true of other potential civilizations on other planets. And there’s no reason why our evolutions should be syncronized. So if we ever get to meet with other intelligent life in the universe, chances are either we or they would be long dead.
With this as a starting point, I started thinking about what could possibly remain of our own civilization and our species in a distant future. What happens when our window of intelligent awareness is closed, blown out like the tiny flame of a candle in a vast, dark, oblivious space? Were we ever there at all? What would the last person on earth think when he or she lay down to die? “When I close my eyes the universe ceases to exist”?
This lead to another philosophical question: would Artificial Intelligence be good enough to keep the flame burning? If the last people on earth created an intelligent robot, powered by some extremely long-lived nuclear power source, and set it to watch over their memory for all eternity, wouldn’t that somehow ensure that, when they finally died, all of human existance wasn’t just in vain? Well, if they did, that would be what alien explorers from other planets would find. An ancient robot, still alive, watching over the graves of its human masters since millions and millions of years, still carrying their memory.
Last challenge I got away with painting a funny fish; this time I’ll accept my brooding nature and be dead-serious (pretentious?). I want to paint a scene where alien explorers arrive on earth millions of years into the future, only to find a civilization long gone. But deep within the quiet, fossilized ruins they discover something that is still alive…
This is a first sketch. I want to actually show a human in the picture, in the form of a grave statue on a tomb. The robot, having seen the visitors, is just rising from its place at the foot of the grave. The aliens come up some kind of stair and take in the scene, human and robot. The chamber is crumbled and covered with fossilized corals, as if it’s been covered by sea several times over. In the background there are remnants of a futuristic city. The statue is some kind of king in cyber armour.

#3

I did some separate concepts, trying to work out designs for the aliens, the robot, the tomb and the city. Both city and tomb will be covered in fossils, but this is what they would have looked like originally. I want something futuristic with a gothic touch. The robot should resemble a very old person, tired and bent. It would propably have been made to look like a human, so I’m taking some inspiration from the robotic skeleton in “Terminator”. The aliens should be instantly recognizable as aliens, so I’m using the cliché of a big triangular head. Also some inspiration from a mantis. It’s important that the aliens somehow look “human” in the way they gesture and carry equipment. They are intelligent lifeforms just like humans were, and in that sense they are more familiar and less alien than the inhospitable earth of this distant future.

#4

A new sketch. I’m trying a different lighting, looking for something more other-worldly. This is earth, but millions of years into the future. The atmosphere is propably different. I want the chamber to feel like a skeleton, almost a ribcage, and also bring associations to an old shipwreck covered in corals. The robot should have some lights, so you can tell he’s still alive.

#5

Great atmosphere Mats. Love it and can’t wait to see your finish.

#6

REally nice layout and composition: I like your premise so far, Mats. To push it further, I think you should work on your alien robot design to make it seem more alien. Right now, all of the robots seem like they could easily be human-made robots: They’ve got heads, they’re bilaterally symmetrical. Even the 4-legs look like something a human would come up with.) It thus feels not like a piece about human/alien interaction but about all of the robots mourning their late, lamented creators. To really achieve what you’re shooting for, really try to push the design further, go for something that really screams “not from this planet.” Good luck!

#7

Beautiful atmosphere and colors. I’m looking forward to the final work too :thumbsup:

#8

Wonderful story, great atmosphere and composition. Very interesting!

#9

very powerful image here! the last update screams with success! keep posting!

#10

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it a lot, especially when dealing with “deep” subjects like this; you can never quite tell if you’re way off track or not:)

Michael: That’s a very good point! Thank you. It’s very important that you don’t mistake the aliens for other man-made robots, then the whole story is lost. I’ll try out some other designs. They’re not supposed to be robots at all, but “real” aliens in some kind of space suits.

#11

I’m looking for a new alien design that looks more alien, and can’t be mistaken for another robot. It’s important that it somehow looks intelligent.

#12

New colour sketch, closer to the first thumbnail. I’m looking for something more gloomy and low-intensity.

#13

I dunno what thay thing is, but it’s certainly alien! Nice work. It might be nice to pull the “hands” up a bit so we can see the silouette of teh “fingers,” they’re really interesting… maybe even have one hand gesturing? (Or maybe that’s not low-key enough for what you’re aiming for.)

Here’s another idea: What if you flipped the top hald of the image - the half with the alien in it - so that all of the motion read left to right? Right now robon and human motion is left-to-right but the alien is moving right-to-left. I’m just wondering whether the whole thing might flow better if all the motion was in a similar direction?

Anyhow, looking good! Keep working away at it.:thumbsup:

#14

That’s another really good idea, Michael! Thank you! I’ll definitely experiment with that.

#15

Lovely colours and a very well thought concept. I kinda liked the gloomier and atmospheric feel of the first sketch, try not to loose that in the process. The human is a bit too dark at the moment and its not as readable as in previous submisions, maybe adding secondary light sources (candle-like thingies) could help.
Keep the creative juices flowing, you’re doing great.

#16

i like the tunnel formation of the rocks. the shapes and composition have a good draw in quality.

#17

Great sketches and concepts! Can’t wait to see more.

Looked through your portfolio - great work :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Dimitrij.

#18

I’m playing around with Michael’s idea of flipping the upper part of the painting. It’s true that the overall sense of direction becomes more harmonious, and also the grave statue gets some empty space around it, and thus feels more solemn.
Gaesherald: Thanks for the feedback! I want the only secondary light to be the robot’s weak red diode, but I added some reflections from the sky on the tomb. The tomb gets more focus in this composition, so I definitely need the statue to come out of the shadows.
Cornelius&Dimitrij: Thanks, guys!

#19

I’ve done the masking and begun the rendering, starting out with the background and the ruined chamber. I don’t think I’ll have the fossilized corals covering as much as I originally envisioned, but maybe some more than this. Especially in the city; it looks too clean (I’m not too happy with the design of the buildings either). Also having some problems with the tomb, I need to add something around the statue, some pattern or sculpted cloth.

#20

Cool progress. Try not to loose the warm and sweet pinkish-orangish hues in the background, beacuse the add a lot to the image.:slight_smile:

#21

I’ve painted the characters as well and added some detail on the tomb. I’m not very happy with this painting but I’ll have to wrap it up soon. Maybe it would be better without the aliens, but then it wouldn’t work at all with the theme.