Wednesday, January 2, 2013

DEMETER II Salvage Compnay

         FINALLY! When I was a kid about 12, living in Bartlett, Illinois,  I had a sliding door for my closet that had a bunch of shelves that slanted back because it was over the stairs going down to the basement. I had a ton of spaceship toys- Space 1999 Eagle, BattleStar Galactica Viper, X-Wings, the Big Track, and the ever so cool Milton Bradly Star Bird. 
        So I emptied out my closet and used all the shelves as landing platforms and pretend it was giant 700 ft tall cave that had a large titanium blast door that could seal off the base in case of attack.I even simulated an attack on this base with 4th of July fireworks- the smell tipped my parents of to the attack as soon as they got home. So this is an image of what I had in my head back when I was twelve.
        I have been working on this picture on and off for ten years. I added the NEC logo as part of a gift for my father's Christmas present since he works there. 
        So the story behind it is that corporations, mostly mineral and oil firms, bought the jungle world of Demeter II, named after the Greek goddess of the harvest and fertility. There were an inordinate number of pirate raiders in the system which forced the companies to set up shop inside heavily defended military bases, like this one:Fort Sabino (named after the Logistics CEO).
        Theses companies pillaged Demeter II after about three decades and left. Soon a salvage company leased the fort from NEC and used it as their base of operations. The rest of the planet is thick, steamy jungle and stormy seas, and very hot due to the fact the planet is close to it's twin blue and red suns. 
         This image was inspired by Ron Cobb, one of the art directors on the movie A L I E N.