Embrace Analysis Pt.4

This is my final set of renders using the Sculpt "Embrace"

This series of images attempt to imitate Jase Daniels and Chet Zar, who focus heavily on "Portraiture" of creatures and monsters. Immediately i knew i wanted to crop the images into portrait, so i looked at the rules of composition in portraiture, trying to make the composition interesting. I also used a Low Angle Shot, positioning the camera below the model to make the figure seem threatening or ominous and in a position of power.

Thematically, the image loses some of its story when you can't see the whole scene, but there are still details that hint at the over arching themes. For instance the lips are clearly shown, making it seem more feminine and human, the collar bones are also a clear attempt to ground what the viewer is seeing in reality, whilst also framing the image like a head shot of an actor or a portrait of a famous historical figure.

I also experimented with the colour palette and balance, seeing what different moods i could create by manipulating the renders afterwards.

I like this series of renders because of the closeness to the model, the fact that you can see more of the detail that i painstakingly sculpted across the head, which is different from the other two renders that showed the head from a distance, often with strong shadows over areas of detail.  This angle also clearly shows the juxtaposition between the human parts and the more distorted parts, with the lips and chin prominently displayed in the middle of the image. 

They are also further experimentation with colour palette, going from the harsher monochromatic schemes of Beksinski and Gric, to the blues and greens that dominate the atmosphere of work by Jase Daniels. I also experimented trying to use the purple atmosphere to make it ethereal and mysterious, hinting at the femininity of the form and trying to emphasise the lips.

Embrace Analysis Pt 3

These images are variations of another composition that i had in mind when sculpting the figures. They focus more on the humanity of the figures, trying to bring the theme of love to the forefront whilst still remaining clearly unnatural.  

With this piece i have zoomed in far closer to the model, focusing on the parts of the model i was showing, rather than how to show the whole model. This let me experiment with the surface detail more, as it would be available more clearly and the texture would have a bigger impact on the final piece.

I tried to utilise heavy industrial textures into the work, using concrete and rock alphas to detail the skin. To emphasise that feeling i made the belly button into a screw, showing that the figure, atleast to some extent, was constructed and isn't wholly human, exploring the bio mechanical theme present in a lot of work by  Giger, Zdislaw Beksinski and Peter Gric.

Trying to find a voice for my work is something that i have struggled with, but i think maybe the joining of technology and machinery with the human form could be what i could experiment with next, opening the door to mechanical and hard surface models, whilst still retaining the theme and feel of my work.

Below are Some experimentation with the colour and lightning that i did in post production. Utilising photoshop i can easily edit the lighting situation, the colours and the warmth of the atmosphere i was creating.

This is my favourite of the compositions in this series. I feel that it uses the strong dark shadows to create a sense of mystery and and ominous atmosphere, but also that the warm fleshy tones in the hands and across the chest bring just enough humanity into the image to make it recognisable. I also feel that the textures, both on the model and on the renders in photoshop, are represented well in this image, with the strong light from the top right picking out details across the hands and stomach, highlighting the screw in the belly whilst also barely, but clearly, showing the hands at the bottom of the image. In this image i also used the colour knowledge i gained from "The Art of Color" to make the foreground pop a little more, by slightly tinting the shadows and background purple(Clearest over the male arms at the edge of the image) , the foreground colour stands out much more, making it seem richer.

A slightly warmer tone, my second favourite, perhaps too orangey, though it does blend into the background colour nicely at the top of the image.

Embrace Analysis pt 2

This is a series of images taken with a different composition, experimenting with all of the points mentioned in my last blog post, but also with using the golden ratio as a composition tool.

I tried to line up points of detail across the male face with the hot points on the golden ratio, and further experimented with the colours i was using and the atmosphere i could generate.

From the "If it's purple someone's gonna die" book i knew that green could be used to create a feeling of oppression, so i experimented with greens for the figure and the background, monochromatic and complimentary, to see which result i liked better.

I feel the top image is more striking, with the bolder colours. However i do appreciate the lower image as well, the monochromatic scheme seeming to make it more ethereal and mysterious.

Below are more experimentation with colour palettes.

Here i tried to hint at the romance between the two figures, using purples to give it a mysterious and sensual appearance. I feel that it was somewhat effective and like the over all dark tone of the image-making the details pop out more.

Here i tried to imitate the muddy reds of Zdislaw Beksinski 

These bottom three are experimentation with extreme colour palettes taking brighter colours from my previous render and pushing them further.

This was attempting to use the bright purple but still create a forbidding and heavy atmosphere, using the brown as the background colour and contrasting it with the bright purple.

This image i tried to use a far more pop arty style, seeing how it would affect the mood of the image and whether it was still visually appealing.

I feel that whilst the image is still interesting to look at due to the composition and the relationship between the two bright colours, it is garish and has lost a lot of the detail. Another issue is the fog over part of the model. Because it is generated using a depth map as an alpha the parts where the model begins to fade into the background are covered excessively with the brighter colour. This works fine in the image below because the background is a darker tone and the fade out looks natural, but because the yellow background is so much brighter in tone than the bodies the interaction with the fog looks bizarre and un finished.

Embrace Analysis

These are some of the final compilations of my Embrace sculpt.

These explore a variety of the points i have identified as being important to creating surrealist artwork

Compositionally i tried a variety of different proportions and positioning on the canvas, using tall narrow images to highlight just the two figures, but also larger and emptier canvas's to show the isolation of the two figures in the mist.

Colour Palette wise i tried to imitate other artists and styles, and also experiment with bizarre and extreme colour combinations, such as the purple and green image below. I expanded my colour theory knowledge, reading the book "The Art of Color" by Johannes Itten, which explained about how to use colour palettes to highlight certain details and areas by making them a complimentary colour, and also how colour can affect the composition of images and that darker surroundings bring areas to the foreground. 

Through information from both "The Art of Color" and "If It's Purple someone's Gonna Die" i started experimenting with different colour palettes trying to create different moods. For instance in the Image to the Left Below i tried to use the blue background to create a calm and serene feeling, where as the image on the right has a far harsher look, monochromatic with strong shadows, only using the tone to generate depth. 

Both of these images colour palettes also borrow heavily from other works I've examined, for instance the strong monochromatic scheme on the right is based on the strong reds and oranges of zdislaw beksinskis work and  tower of evil by Yang Xueguo. Contrasting that the image on the left is based on the cooler darker colour palettes of Jase Daniels but also experimenting with the stronger brighter colours of Pascal Blanche

Yang Xueguo

Zdislaw Beksinski

Pascal Blanche

Below are some more experimentations with composition and colour, using a wide open space to the left try and enhance the isolation of the two figures, which i think was far more successful with the monochromatic colour scheme, as with the complimentary colours it feels unbalanced. I also cropped the image slightly differently, leaving more space behind the figures but i didn't really like the results.

Dali - Autumnal Cannibalism

Heironymous Bosch Analysis

Hieronymus Bosch was an Early Netherlandish painter. His work is known for its fantastic imagery, detailed landscapes and illustrations of moral and religious concepts and narratives.

His images are extremely detailed, often featuring a multitude of figures across large open land scape , built of recognisable shapes, but not built in a recognisable way. For instance the skyline in the right pane of the Garden of Earthly Delights is a layered City Scape with buildings and skylines stacked on top of one another, all with light shining forth from the windows.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Compositionally this image is very interesting, with the human forms taking up very little of the canvas, large areas in near complete darkness.

Hell                                     

Lee Griggs - Limbo

Lee Griggs is a Shader artist, working in Arnold. 

http://www.leegriggs.com

He produces documentation for the program and his website is chock full of portraiture imagery, given bizarre twist by rendering the head as different materials, water, paint and many other substances.

I find these images very interesting particularly the way we recognise forms and features in the renders.