Part 3 - Lighting and Presentation
Inspiration
I've been heavily inspired by traditional sculpture for this project, particularly the work of
Jana Büttner and
Peter Reuterberg. I love how the artists choose to capture certain features, often not focusing on capturing something in complete and precise detail, but instead using their own creative voice to describe a shape and imbue emotion into the piece.
Sculpting Progress
After finding a pose I was happy with, I continued to refine the sculpt. Below is a GIF showing some of my progress.
In order to achieve a clay like approach, once I had the final pose/composition nailed down I combined everything with Dynamesh in ZBrush, then ZRemeshed and projected the details.
This left me with a full block of 'clay' to work with, giving me the freedom to make artistic decisions as to where to blend certain elements together and where to leave more separation, like the hair for example.
Framing
I once again experimented with a few different options on how to frame my piece. These are my favourite. I like how soft and clear the face is in option B, however I was drawn to the gestural appeal of the hands in option A and decided to explore this direction further.
Lighting and Mood Inspiration
When preparing to light my model in Marmoset Toolbag 4, a scene from Blade Runner 2049 came to mind. Although this scene is full of tension on screen, it's the lighting that stood out to me. I used this website to study some frames from the film.
I love how the characters are clear and silhouetted in the frame with just one or two light sources cutting through the fog, rain and water. The sense of an endless void beyond the frame made me think of that creative and focussed state that inspired this project. With no distractions pulling oneself away from making art.
Presentation
Here is the direction I settled on for the lighting and presentation. I'll refine and push this further, but for now I'm really happy with how this image evokes the mood I set out to capture with this project.
