As with many new ventures,
artwork begins with brainstorming. Often the starting
point is a conference call with
Peter Michaud, the Public Information Outreach Manager
at the Gemini Observatory,
along with the Principal Investigators on the discovery team.
In the case of M101 ULX-1 we
resorted to e-mail communications since Stephen Justham
and Ji-Feng Liu, the science contacts weighing in on the art, are with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, and time
zone differences were at play.
Peter and Stephen began the conversation by describing the M101 ULX-1 environment, specifying which objects needed to be
shown in the art. We talked about the color,
which often has little or no meaning in astronomical renderings, and size of the star, accretion disk, and gas stream. Also important
was the overall “look” of the disk: whether
it should appear thick and dense or thinner
and less structured.
With key points in mind, I created several
color mockups for the committee (i.e. everyone weighing in on the art) to review and
discuss. Years ago I would have developed
these “roughs” with graphite pencil on tracing paper or colored pencil on black mat
board; today they are done digitally: low in
resolution and unfinished in terms of detail,
yet many steps closer to finished art than the
simple mockups of yesteryear. The purpose is
to show different compositions, orientations,
and si