Black Holes = Dark Matter

Editorial Science Illustration • Quanta Magazine • 2020
3D sculpture of clustered black spheres (representing black holes) cradled in the crevices of iridescent, cloud-like forms.

FOR
Quanta Magazine, 2020. Reuse prohibited.

WORK
Art direction, concepts, spot art,
3D lede art (sculpting, rendering)

TOOLS
Nomad Sculpt, ZBrush,
Cinema 4D, Redshift

INFO
"It was an old idea of Stephen Hawking’s: Unseen "primordial" black holes might be the hidden dark matter. It fell out of favor for decades, but a new series of studies has shown how the theory can work."

Art direction and 3D illustration for a Quanta Magazine article by Josh Sokol: Physicists Argue That Black Holes From the Big Bang Could Be the Dark Matter

Illustrating the idea of clustering black holes acting like dark matter, morphing the space around them, via stylized 3D sculpture.

3D sculpture of clustered black spheres (representing black holes) cradled in the crevices of iridescent, cloud-like forms.

Zoomed out

Clay render of a 3D sculpture: clustered spheres (representing black holes) cradled in the crevices of cloud-like forms.

Clay render (lighting & sculpt with a basic diffuse material only)

3D sculpture of clustered black spheres (representing black holes) cradled in the crevices of iridescent, cloud-like forms.
3D sculpture of clustered black spheres (representing black holes) cradled in the crevices of iridescent, cloud-like forms.
3D sculpture of clustered black spheres (representing black holes) cradled in the crevices of iridescent, cloud-like forms.

Spot illustrations

3D sketches of cloud forms

The base clouds were sculpted in Nomad, then finalized in ZBrush

Sketches of black holes cradled in the crevices of iridescent, cloud-like forms.

Drawings

© Olena Shmahalo