Here is another one of those alien concept sketches I promised I had laying around my apartment. This one in particular is based off of the majestic creature the Manta Ray.
For those of you who have been visiting the site, you know me as the artist, the illustrator, the doodler but I am also a trained scuba diver. Surprised? Nah, not you guys.
The year I graduated high school my family and I went to Micronesia on a trip organized by the bad ass Rusty Berry over at Scuba Schools of America. One of the our stops was at the Island of Yap. The dive there was one of the most memorable dives I have ever had. Not deepest, but I got to see a group of Manta Ray.
We were told we might not see anything. . . maybe one or two. I remember sitting with my dive group on the ocean floor waiting for something, anything in the slightly murky waters. Finally, like a ghost emerging from the fog was this giant Manta Ray.
The first thing I thought was wow, this must be what it’s like to see a ufo or some alien being. The next thing I knew there was another one and another one. Finally, there were six huge Manta Rays swimming around us and that was one of the fucking coolest things I have ever seen.
I can’t help but tell this story when I show you this drawing. I searched the internet for some video to give you a taste of that amazing experience, but I kept finding stupid Discovery Channel narrated crap.
Here is a unfortunately short clip of some cool manta rays with some chill music.
Also, below is the Beastie Boys song Intergalactic in honor of the post. Get ready to soak in the Intergalactic Rays.