GeminiFocus 2014 Year in Review | Page 73

As with many new ventures,
artwork begins with brainstorming. Often the starting
point is a conference call with
Peter Michaud, the Public Information Outreach Manager
at the Gemini Observatory,
along with the Principal Investigators on the discovery team.
In the case of M101 ULX-1 we
resorted to e-mail communications since Stephen Justham
and Ji-Feng Liu, the science contacts weighing in on the art, are with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, and time
zone differences were at play.
Peter and Stephen began the conversation by describing the M101 ULX-1 environment, specifying which objects needed to be
shown in the art. We talked about the color,
which often has little or no meaning in astronomical renderings, and size of the star, accretion disk, and gas stream. Also important
was the overall “look” of the disk: whether
it should appear thick and dense or thinner
and less structured.
With key points in mind, I created several
color mockups for the committee (i.e. everyone weighing in on the art) to review and
discuss. Years ago I would have developed
these “roughs” with graphite pencil on tracing paper or colored pencil on black mat
board; today they are done digitally: low in
resolution and unfinished in terms of detail,
yet many steps closer to finished art than the
simple mockups of yesteryear. The purpose is
to show different compositions, orientations,
and sizes of the main objects.
The committee then weighs in with comments and suggestions for changes. In this
case, a key decision was to put the black
hole and disk in the foreground and the star
in back. We discussed in greater depth how
much material the black hole should be pulling away from the star, the likely trajectory,

January 2015

and appropriate colors. I then
modified the roughs and invited
another round of comments. This process repeated until we had one image that satisfied
all the primary criteria.
With approval of the first step, I moved on
to the high-resolution file, fine tuning the
details so the image would pass inspection
when examined closely. This step takes the
most time, as I zoom in and out and scroll
around to tweak the “little stuff.” Regardless
of how I create the various smaller components in an image, which can vary, I use Photoshop to composite all the main elements.
This results in a file with many layers that becomes very large in size.
When I am satisfied, the process repeats: the
committee weighs in again,
more adjustments are made,
and eventually all parties declare the image a “go.” At that
time I send Peter a final high-resolution file and my part is done.

Figures 2 and 3.
Rough mockups explore
options for composition
and color.
© Lynette Cook, all rights
reserved.

Figure 4.
Several revisions into the
process, the locations
of the star and disk
are switched and the
structure and color of
the disk are fleshed out
further.
© Lynette Cook,
all rights reserved.

Elsewhere, work continues behind the scenes. Peter pairs the
illustration with the press release text, writes a caption, and
iterates with the astronomers
on any remaining details. When
finished, the release goes out
to the media with an embargo
date, which means they have
a “heads up” and may prepare

2014 Year in Review

GeminiFocus

71