From a photograph of the arist at work, studying a Europan Whale.
In 1998, as part of a drawing class, I made a book called A Trip to Europa in which I “edited” the works of a Dr. Kesling Frankh about his exploration of the oceans and life forms of the vast world-ocean of the Jovian moon Europa.
Europa is covered in ice and has a small rocky core. Tidal forces of Jupiter cause constant shifting of the ice, which releases heat and keeps liquid the vast world-ocean 2 kilometers beneath the surface liquid.
Click images to see closer.
The Europan life cycle. Clockwise from the bottom left: Spores, Plankton, Fox, Wolf, Whale.
There is only one “species” of life on Europa but its stages of life fill all available niches. Life “starts” as small, striated Spores that hatch into mineral-consuming Plankton. They become and are consumed by Foxes, small predators that, in turn become and are consumed by Wolves, the next phase. Wolves, when their local population becomes too great, are consumed by scavenger Foxes, Plankton, with the remainder becoming Whales, who consume minerals, Plankton, and any other organic detritus in the water. They lay Spores that eventually hatch into Plankton, restarting the process.
Given the very low gravity of Europa, the life forms tend to be large. “Plankton” in this case are several centimeters long.The Europan Fox, like all of the mobile stages, is jet-propelled, swallowing water through three sphincters in the front of its body and squirting it out behind.Europan Wolves alternate between cooperation and cannibalism, depending on the situation at the moment. They will band together to attack Whales or to corral Foxes, but when resources are scarce, will turn on each other, consuming each other until some of them can become Whales.The Europan Whale, often as much as 100 meters long, consumes all it can, straining the water free of the waste of the carnage that led to its existence. It releases spores constantly, though they only hatch when in the presence of particular nutrients.Size comparison. From the upper left, a Whale, a Wolf, Fox, Plankton, Jacques Cousteau.
6 thoughts on “A Trip to Europa”
Wow, these images look beautiful with all the black… like they’ve been rendered with a scratchboard.
Thanks! I started off trying to give the impression of the deep ocean darkness of Europa, but then the artifacts of the photography of the page started getting interesting, too.
Wow, these images look beautiful with all the black… like they’ve been rendered with a scratchboard.
Thanks! I started off trying to give the impression of the deep ocean darkness of Europa, but then the artifacts of the photography of the page started getting interesting, too.
Very nice, and I find the cycle of life quite interesting… and ironic somehow.
Thanks!
I’ve been ironing out some kinks in the cycle with Ben Lehman over the last couple of days. It has a suspiciously high efficiency.
Cauley Greene likes this.
The Cauley Greene Seal of Approval is one of the most coveted in the anals of Joshua Art!
That was not a typo.