This piece explores Psyche’s past, present, and future as an asteroid through three separate panels inspired by metal engravings. The first panel on the left is Psyche’s past, where another asteroid is colliding with Psyche, creating an explosion of molten metal. While the exact formation and appearance of Psyche is still uncertain, the asteroid was most likely part of multiple collisions when the solar system was forming, which created many craters. In the second panel in the middle, the asteroid is as it currently is, existing in the asteroid belt among other asteroids. The final panel on the right is the future of Psyche, where the Psyche spacecraft has arrived and is studying the asteroid.
To create this piece, I began by drawing a grayscale alpha in Photoshop that was then utilized as a mask on a 3D model in ZBrush to “pull out” the design. I created a material in Substance Painter that looks like metal and then lit and rendered the model in Blender.
This project was created during my internship with ASU & NASA for Mission to Psyche, where I developed outreach material and creative projects to introduce the public to and educate them on the mission.
Software: Photoshop, ZBrush, Substance Painter, & Blender
Physical Version
Above is a physical version I made of this project using laser engraving on MDF. Each board is coated in a semi-gloss laquer.
Preproduction
Initial sketch
Alpha for mask
