This is an image I've wanted to create for a long time! Although the title is actually from a Poul Anderson novel, the scene first entered my mind over 25 years ago, when I read a passage in an Arthur C. Clarke short story collection; if memory serves, the collection was published alongside the one which included 'the Sentinel', which by that time had been expanded into "2001: A Space Odyssey".
Of course, memory doesn't serve, because I can no longer remember the name of either the short story itself, (the climax of which involves the return of long-lost starfaring humans in a miles-long ship to a now-pastoral Earth,) nor the collection in which I read it! I just remember that about 3 or 4 paperback collections of Clarke's stories were published at around the same time, and it was in one of them (was it The Nine Billion Names of God, perhaps?)... I've probably still got the book, packed away somewhere in my basement - after all, I would never throw out a book! Now, finding it, that's the problem!
Anyway, the ship was originally created a couple of years ago in RayDream as part of another project; but it languished until recently, when I decided to apply some new textures to it (courtesy of Marlin Studios), imported it into Bryce 4, then added a few new 'nurnies' to give an impression of size. Looking back at it now, I can see that the spade-shaped forward module is reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica, but that wasn't a conscious inspiration at the time.
I tried a couple of different skies, and this was the one that seems to work best compositionally, although it masks much of the detail in the ship itself, as well as the boats and the buildings in the village below. Oh well, the ship will appear again in other images, I'm sure!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |