The Mars Trilogy mosaic - 588 images inspired by KSR's books

This new Mars Trilogy mosaic is my kaleidoscopic vision of the incredible wealth of the Kim Stanley Robinson's martian books. 588 pictures gathered here as a sort of eye mandala with the 3 colors of the terraforming stages.
This giant mosaic full of details is an ambitious new take on a first attempt last year.
The images come from various public domain sources (a lot are from NASA) and from my personal photographs, 3D models and photomanipulations. The majority of the images have been through a manipulation process to stick as much as possible to the Mars theme. For instance, I had to give a brown sky to almost all the photos that had a blue one. This whole work of gathering images and caring for all the details and tones is a huge process along the past 6 months.

Here the file is 2000 pixels large, but the original version is very very big, designed as a mural whose details would still look sharp if printed by 5m large! This mosaic is the biggest piece of my current Mars exhibition in Grenoble (see previous news) where it can be seen printed at 2,50 wide.
TO DISCOVER THE HUNDREDS OF DETAILS IN THE MOSAIC, SEE IT BIGGER HERE (DeviantArt)

Made on Ubuntu with Gimp (for the photomanipulations and crops) and with AndreaMosaic (to assemble the mosaic). The 3D models that appear on some images were made on Sketchup and Blender.

Photos from the opening of my "Red Mars" exhibition

Last thursday (june 27th) in Grenoble was the opening event of my exhibition of Red Mars photomanipulations, in the city center's library.
Here are a few photos of this very nice event that allowed me to publicly introduce the intention behind those pictures and the process of image making I go through each time I try to give life to Mars.
The whole exhibition content is based on the depictions of Kim Stanley Robinson in his Mars trilogy, mostly Red Mars, hence the exhibition title. 13 visions of Mars (landscapes, vehicles, habitats, life...) including a series of 5 on the space elevator, a dramatic peak of the novel and a very exciting topic to put in picture. At the exhibition entrance stands a 14th artwork, a brand new mosaic I have been designing these last months with the whole Mars trilogy in mind. It's 588 pictures relating to the exploration and colonization of Mars arranged in a mandala-like mosaic, a kaleidoscope of the wealth of KSR's novels with the 3 colors of the terraforming stages.
From the start of this long term art exploration of KSR's Mars books, I have always wish to take people in an immersive experience of what this planet really is and what it will be to live on it just like the settlers of Red Mars. Sticking to the excellent book source, I have build those visuals in a hard-SF spirit, but I wish and try to bring poetry and a sort of non-SF feel to my images.
On the opening day the public reception was very positive, even though that Mars theme was rather new to most of the attendees.
I noticed that several said they would love to see the images in much much bigger ! Well, I do to, and I am going to work on making a more immersive and a wider scale exhibition possible.

(photos by Gil Cantinelli)

"Red Mars" - my photomanipulations exhibited in Grenoble

In Grenoble (France), from June 20 to september 7th (except july), I hold an exhibition of my Red Mars photomanipulations. The title is "Mars la Rouge - photo-montages de Ludovic Celle"
It is located in the town center's library (Bibliothèque Centre-Ville, 10 rue de la République). Though the exhibition already started yesterday, the actual launch event will happen on june 27th at 6pm.
The exhibition features 13 of my photomanipulations + a brand new giant mosaic made of around 600 pictures of Red, Green and Blue Mars (which I will soon unveil in HD on the web). The prints are from pretty large size to very very big, the kind of dimensions my pictures have always been made for.
The library staff, my friend from KimStanleyRobinsonInfo and I have gathered a nice selection of KSR books that are displayed in the exhibition to connect my artwork with the novels themselves.
If you pass by Grenoble, come have a look at my Mars exhbition and don't hesitate to contact me by e-mail in case I am available to guide you!
If you are on Facebook, you can like my graphic art page where I often post new art and photos from the exhibition and other events around my work. It's in french, but mostly visual.

My Mars Society 2013 Convention poster art

This is the art I recently submitted for the Mars Society 2013 Convention poster contest.
I didn't win, but I have a special honorable mention from the Mars Society. See here for more info and a look at the smart winner poster by Cody Edwards.
I made this poster with Inkscape as it's mostly vector work (including the characters and the lights in the sky). The few textures were prepared on Gimp before use in Inkscape.
The theme of the contest was "Finding Life and Bringing Life on Mars". I chosed focused on "Bringing Life" : the descending ships like seeds falling down to the soil, the "Earthrise" habitable dome behind the horizon, and a group of pioneers standing on the Martian surface, starting life and culture on the barren planet.

Orbiting Mars

Here is a new photomanipulation I made today.
We are looking at Mars from a manned spacecraft. The 200km wide view is on Ophir Chasma, a region of Valles Marineris.
With all the Mars trips projects announced or to be annouced these days, we are just a few years away until this picture becomes real.
The photos used for this image are both from NASA :
-The ISS cupola shot during STS-130 (2010)
-Ophir Chasma shot by Viking 1 in 1976

As always, I made the photomanipulation with GIMP on Linux-Ubuntu.

Green Mars globe 01

Here is an original Christmas present !
This is my very first try to make a realistic looking terraformed Mars globe. We see the planet here in advanced Green stage.

All work done on Gimp, with a globe of Earth mixed with a globe of Mars. Click here to enjoy it in full HD on my DeviantArt page.
Comments are welcome !

Red Mars Anniversary Timeline

2012 is the year of the 20th anniversary of the legendary SF novel RED MARS which started the Mars Trilogy of Kim Stanley Robinson. And this is also the year of release for 2312, the new space epic by KSR which takes us beyond the scale of the Mars Trilogy, in the future of our solar system.

KSR.info and DaVinci-MarsDesign wish to commonly celebrate this event with this new infographic timeline I just made.

The layout is made on Inkscape and the 3 photomanipulations (2027, 2061 and 2127) were made on Gimp.

To enjoy the infographic in full scale, I recommend my DeviantArt page here.

And please visit KSR.info for further exploration on these novels.

Mars Space Elevator Triptych Poster

Something like 5 hours on Inkscape in the middle of the night, and here is my poster for the space elevator as described in Red Mars !

The background is my photomanipulation triptych turned black and white and put a little darker.

Mars and the space elevator

Finally my space elevator triptych is completed, with this last sight caught between the two ends of the cable. On this point of view we are still very close to the surface and very very far to the mid-distance of the cable, still thousands kilometers away ! Anyway, enjoy the view and take a look at the full triptych.

I made this picture with GIMP on Linux-Ubuntu.

This new photo-manipulation is based on the huge photographic mosaic of the Nasa Viking 1 Orbiter shots by Daniel Machácek. This original picture looks to the east, on Argyre Planitia. For more information on this region, see here.

A special space elevator poster is coming very soon...

Clarke and the space elevator

I go on with the Space Elevator theme, with this new photomanipulation showing the "space end" of the cable. In Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson tells the setting of an asteroid in high martian orbit, as a necessary mass keeping the space elevator cable straight. This asteroid, Clarke, is named after science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who described the space elevator concept in one of his novels. (learn more here) KSR imagines that the cable is made directly from Clarke, with the asteroid's material, mined and turned in carbon nanotubes, made in space !
This photomanipulation works with the previous one, that showed Sheffield, the town where the cable rises from the surface of Mars. KSR describes the cable as being 35.000 km long and 10m thick.
More than just a useful mass for the cable's balance, Clarke is a base in itself, a spaceport full of docks, living and working areas for the people involved in space travel, space cargos as well as a spacious station for travellers of all kinds. What we don't see in the picture are the spaceships waiting for passengers leaving Mars or bringing new ones to Mars.

For the manipulation, I've used elements from a photo of the ISS by NASA, and a shot of Saturn's moon Phoebe for the asteroid (photo). The entrance of the cable is a small part of a photo of Kuala Lumpur's skyscrapers by Paul Mannix (original photo).

I made this picture with GIMP on Linux-Ubuntu.