Updated; Thanks for the kind feedback everyone, there's been some really interesting remarks about the background on the vessel, which is great, I love nothing more than inspiring thoughts of what, where, why? it really makes for great discussion, champagne!
I don't get to paint spaceships often, so this was a blast to do.
I really wanted to do a crashed/wrecked/marooned craft, but not so wrecked that you couldn't tell what it was. I was trawling through images of the shipworks on the beaches of India and Bangladesh, and saw this piece by Andrew Bell, the lighting is brilliant.
[link]. This inspired the setting and lighting.
I'm a big fan of practical craft designs, craft which look as though they have a real purpose, where any elegance or superfluous design is fashioned around it's practical necessities. In the early stages of the painting I wanted to add two beachcomber looking characters playing chess in the foreground, relaxed as though they had grown accustomed to waiting a long time for rescue, - that'll be it's own picture.
As the ship took on its form, it started to look like a rusting beached whale, - hence I designed the wing to look fin-like and accentuate the barrel shape of the hull, with bloodlike rusty smears, as though harpooned and left to decay.
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
Did you ever happen to take designing or engineering classes? Your ship looks pretty fantastic.
It makes me think about creating complicated objects and vessels, and I kind of follow your mantra, too: practical designs with naturally-shaped accents. I like how yours happens to look organic, as you mentioned, "like a whale".
I'm not a huge Sci-Fi fan, but looking at this piece make me want to give it a try!