Artwork done for a teaching series called 'Dark Days'. The series was about how we all face dark days, times of confusion and find ourselves at a crossroads in our life. The series addressed where we could find the strength to carry on and the wisdom to move forward in those times. It drew on the life of King David in the Bible and some of his darkest days.
The two things that came to my mind immediately as I was brainstorming this was: one, being lost in a dark system of caves; and two, the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter of Tolkien's The Hobbit. When you find yourself surrounded by incredible darkness, the smallest amount of light can illuminate your surroundings and act as the lifeline you need to begin making your way out. I wanted to create something that encapsulated those ideas.
I drew a framework of triangles on five layers in Illustrator to provide the skeleton for the cave. Then I colored each triangle with a gradient from a palette of browns, blues and grays. I took these layers into Photoshop to work on the final detailing, shading, texturing and compositing.
Below are some of the sketches and work leading to the final product.
