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Description
Entomology

It is a little known fact, but the sterile void of space is not in fact entirely empty.

In a process called “virtual pair” production, matter is spontaneously and constantly
created in the vacuum – a particle and anti-particle simultaneously – but instantly
annihilated a few attoseconds later. So fleeting is this event, so inconsequential,
it’s as if it never happened.

But it’s not always like this.

As unlikely as it seems, the event horizon of a black hole provides a way to avert
total annihilation. Very, very rarely, a virtual pair of particles will be born straddling
the thin membrane of the event horizon. One particle, the unlucky particle, is sucked
down into the singularity of the black hole. The other particle however, in order to
preserve a fundamental balance of nature, is thrust out into space. The virtual
becomes real.

What is even less well known is the fact that spontaneous creation applies not only
to elemental particles, but to large and complex structures too. Or so the theory goes.
Most scientists of eminent standing consider this wild conjecture, if not pure fantasy.

Even so, a few individuals dare venture into the warped space around black holes
in search of these elusive and ultra-rare wonders of nature. Perhaps bizarrely,
these few brave souls like to call themselves “entomologists”?

What is it that they expect to find at the bottom of the abyss?

Life?

Sadly we will never know. None have returned to tell their tale… yet.

This painting really was a test of perseverance, taking about 3-4 months to complete with most of that time not actually painting but simply procrastinating over the colour scheme. In the end I opted for something safe and rather obvious, but I just had to get this finished.

I used Makehuman to obtain a 3D model of a female figure which I then posed and lit in Blender. Using this as a guide, I then traced over the top a rudimentary space suit design in Photoshop. From there I created a grey-scale render, then blocked in the colour (after hellish deliberation), and then worked up the detail.

All steps shown here .

Description
Entomology

It is a little known fact, but the sterile void of space is not in fact entirely empty.

In a process called “virtual pair” production, matter is spontaneously and constantly
created in the vacuum – a particle and anti-particle simultaneously – but instantly
annihilated a few attoseconds later. So fleeting is this event, so inconsequential,
it’s as if it never happened.

But it’s not always like this.

As unlikely as it seems, the event horizon of a black hole provides a way to avert
total annihilation. Very, very rarely, a virtual pair of particles will be born straddling
the thin membrane of the event horizon. One particle, the unlucky particle, is sucked
down into the singularity of the black hole. The other particle however, in order to
preserve a fundamental balance of nature, is thrust out into space. The virtual
becomes real.

What is even less well known is the fact that spontaneous creation applies not only
to elemental particles, but to large and complex structures too. Or so the theory goes.
Most scientists of eminent standing consider this wild conjecture, if not pure fantasy.

Even so, a few individuals dare venture into the warped space around black holes
in search of these elusive and ultra-rare wonders of nature. Perhaps bizarrely,
these few brave souls like to call themselves “entomologists”?

What is it that they expect to find at the bottom of the abyss?

Life?

Sadly we will never know. None have returned to tell their tale… yet.

This painting really was a test of perseverance, taking about 3-4 months to complete with most of that time not actually painting but simply procrastinating over the colour scheme. In the end I opted for something safe and rather obvious, but I just had to get this finished.

I used Makehuman to obtain a 3D model of a female figure which I then posed and lit in Blender. Using this as a guide, I then traced over the top a rudimentary space suit design in Photoshop. From there I created a grey-scale render, then blocked in the colour (after hellish deliberation), and then worked up the detail.

All steps shown here .