The Oncoming Storm

I made this piece in December of 2021. In the midst of very dark times and seeming nonstop turmoil, I wanted to sculpt a picture of what power in the face of overwhelming odds looks like.

Inspiration

I had been meditating on the transcendent nature of the power that is on offer to us through Jesus. Reflecting on how while on Earth, He truly stood above every power of the earth and transcended every attempt to derail Him. Wind and waves silenced at His word, standing on water, the terror and awe that strikes his followers as they realise the true nature and power of the One they were in the presence of. So much power and strength that it was hard to comprehend. I wanted to capture that.

As I held that thought an image appeared of a figure cloaked in red, hovering over the sea as a storm bore down on it. The figure was pulsating with power to the extent that the seawater beneath it was steaming and swirling under the strain of the presence of this being.

The storm crackled and started to bear down on the figure. The wind lashing at the cloak and stirring up the water. But the figure was unmoved, pegged as a fixed point in space. The whole earth was moving around it as it stood still in space above the waves. The storm roared and cracked with flashes of lightning lighting up the whole horizon. It swept forward like a wave over the figure. The figure was not moved. It was like it wasn't there.

The figure then stirred. It held aloft a sceptre with a burning, orange light embedded in the tip that shone so bright and hot that the metal containing it glowed. The streaking rain vaporised as soon as it hit the glow and swirled around the tip like a vortex.

The figure levelled the sceptre like a spear in front of it and made a stabbing motion at the oncoming storm. Instantly there was a shaft of light flashing from the sceptre that filled the sky. The force of the beam was so intense that sheets of seawater shot up either side of it hundreds of feet into the air. The storm and the sea were instantly split in half. The storm dissipating and blowing away in the shockwave that thundered after the flash. The sea walls collapsing back in on itself in thundering waves. The figure relaxed but was unmoved.

Creation Process

I obviously was really moved by this picture and decided to dive into designing the image.

I started with a photobash, combining images of the sea, storm clouds, lightning and a red cloak. I shifted things around until I found the composition that I liked.

I then designed the scene in Blender with 3D models for the sea, clouds, cloak and sceptre. I wanted to give the cloak an ancient, ragged texture at the bottom edges. The lightning was a big struggle for me using light cards with a distorted strip of light. But I couldn't get it to look right. So I put streaks of light in the scene to get the reflections on the waves and painted the lightning in after.

The wisps of steam, cloud details and other details were painted in Krita after.

It took some time to colour grade this piece. There was a lot of mist and haze going on in the final product that made the whole picture seem muddy and really dark. In the first passes, it kept looking green and washed out for so long. Eventually went for a blue, sharp background to contrast the cloak and getting rid of any trace of the haze.

A few weeks ago I revisited this piece and revitalised it with some brighter colours and added effects to give it a contrasty, painterly effect to heighten the drama of the scene.