brightling on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/brightling/art/Crystals-Brightly-111698285brightling

Deviation Actions

brightling's avatar

Crystals, Brightly

By
Published:
797 Views

Description

I'm incredibly pleased with how this came out even if I was going buggy from all the little rainbows by the time I was done.

I wanted to try doing the classic "fantasy cave lit by magic crystals" scenario but instead use the same natural principles ship crafters historically relied on. It was certainly a complex image to do [and I think I managed to beat out my first challenge for complicated light sources].

The concept behind this ties into an idea discovered while touring ships and museums in the Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) area on vacation with my dad this past summer (2007). The older wooden ships would sometimes have glass 'crystals' set into the deck as sources of light. The flat top sat smoothly into the deck, so it was water tight and not a tripping hazard, but caught the light and sent it through the facets of the lower side and into the cabins below. When natural light was available I expect that it was a much safer way to light the dark and often cramped cabin spaces than with open flames. We didn't see any in action, but we did see the glass crystals themselves in display cases. I thought they were really cool!

--

Since completing the picture I've actually twice now come across studies of a real natural phenomena like this in Mexico called the Naica Crystal Cave. The crystals are gypsum and deep underground but the concept is remarkably similar. Definately go look up some photos of the Naica crystals as they're absolutely incredible!!
Image size
600x800px 199.54 KB
© 2009 - 2024 brightling
Comments6
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
ArchiCrash's avatar
Huh. Very neat idea. Love all the little prism-rainbows in the cave below.