Crimson Dark

Author notes

Chapter 03: Page 24

theleast

on April 1, 2007

Of all the things I've built for Crimson Dark - spaceships, stations, rooms, props - this violin has been the most challenging. Spaceships are easy because nobody's going to say "Hey, I've got a spaceship in my bedroom and yours looks nothing like it", but violins are instantly recognisable so it's vital that I get the little details correct (it's not obvious on this page, but I did make sure that each string is connected to the proper tuning peg). One of the most difficult aspects of modelling a violin is that there is only one contiguous flat surface on the entire object, and that's the underside which is rarely seen. Every other surface features some kind of curve, giving the instrument a distinctly organic feel (which is part of its unparalleled beauty). What made the process harder is that I don't actually have a violin, I had to use reference photos.

I do play the piano (though I'm self-taught, so I don't play well), but if I had the option of magically becoming proficient in one instrument of my choice, it would definitely be the violin. It's like a singularity of beauty, an object so profoundly wondrous in form and sound that it creates an inescapable vortex which traps all who approach.