Under Strange Suns

The theme for 2023’s Atomhawk art competition was ‘Under Strange Suns’. Initially, my mind started to think of visuals related to science fiction, particularly retro sci-fi imagery, as well pulp magazine covers. I ended up focusing my direction on the idea of how the sun can influence biology, and created a character whose anatomy and physiology was determined by the sun.

Starting with some silhouettes, I decided to go down a more humanoid route rather than something completely alien and abstract - I still wanted the character to have some personality and relatability, and this would’ve been more achievable using a more human shape as opposed to something largely unfamiliar.

Because the character exists on a dystopian earth, and is intrigued by the race of humans that came before him, I wanted him to be wearing clothing that already exists - to hint at the artefacts of humanity frozen in time after its demise, but also to have some fun and play with trinkets and accessories.

With his outfit designed, I moved on to playing around with colour combinations. Keeping in mind that this was set in the future after the end of humanity, none of the clothes would be particularly well kept - they colours would be faded and muted from sun exposure, and the textures would be worn and frayed.