Exhibition Text
This low poly 3D rendering was inspired by the work of Milwaukee artist Tim Reynolds. It is meant to question the viewers religious beliefs in a time when the public view of organized religion is steadily declining.
This low poly 3D rendering was inspired by the work of Milwaukee artist Tim Reynolds. It is meant to question the viewers religious beliefs in a time when the public view of organized religion is steadily declining.
Inspiration
The inspiration for this piece came from Milwaukee artist Timothy Reynolds. He creates low poly art, this is when a 3d mesh contains as little polygons as possible. This reduction in the amount of polygons is where the sharp angles come from. His work mainly consists of fantasy landscapes that he describes as "little worlds in isometric views". These worlds generally have a warm glow to them as he often utilizes warm colors to give the scenes a dreamlike feel. The specific piece I was inspired by was an untitled pieces from his isometric experiments series. I was most inspired by the use of an isometric view and the use of a highly reflective surface. Critique - My final piece and inspiration were pretty similar in terms of style. Both utilize an isometric view and the use of large triangles. This is pretty much where the similarities stop though, my piece has a far darker color scheme utilizing dark reds and grays to convey emotion rather than Reynolds use of bright colors. The subjects of our work is also fairly different, he generally doesn't get very detailed with the objects in the scene whereas I got fairly detailed with the TV. |
Images copyright © Timothy J. Reynolds, 2017.
Taken from: http://www.turnislefthome.com/isometrics |
Process
Planning
To create this piece I didn't sketch my plans out on paper, instead I made a few simple scenes and then made a decision on which one to continue working on.
Planning
To create this piece I didn't sketch my plans out on paper, instead I made a few simple scenes and then made a decision on which one to continue working on.
In this sketch I experimented with the use of abstract shapes in an attempt to leave the viewer questioning what is going actually going on in the scene. I thought the TV idea was better conceptually and visually so I moved away from this idea.
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In this sketch I also experimented with abstract shapes in an attempt to leave the viewer questioning what was occurring in the scene. This is probably the most similar to the final piece as the ground is exactly the same except the rocks were given different materials.
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This sketch was meant to create a sense of depth and loneliness as the field appears barren except for the large, isolated, rock. I ended up not pursuing this idea because I didn't like the high poly look of the grass and I wanted to keep the scene low poly.
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This sketch is where the TV and religion idea came from. I had placed a cross above the TV although its too high to see in this composition. I took these ideas and translated them into a setting that was closer to my inspiration, which would be the landscape of the above sketch.
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Process/Experimentation
Since I started this project by creating a few different scenes the final image was fairly easy to put together. Once I had decided that the TV would be placed on the ground in the black landscape I exported the TV model and then imported it into that scene. I then deleted the cube that was in the middle and moved the TV to the ground. I then began taking rocks and piling them in front of the tv and topping them off with a patriarchal cross. Once the scene was to my liking I began changing the objects materials. I started with the rocks and gave them a sort of dark red color. I then started to change the materials of the TV but I found that leaving it white was an interesting contrast against the black landscape so I left it with a simple white diffuse material. To create the glowing effect of the TV I added an emission shader to the TVs glass and set it to a strength of 5 and giving it a slight blue tint. Doing this allowed the reflection to appear blue while it looked white above. Once I had the materials complete I began to move the camera around to find a good view. I ended up leaving it above the scene to mimic Reynolds work.
Since I started this project by creating a few different scenes the final image was fairly easy to put together. Once I had decided that the TV would be placed on the ground in the black landscape I exported the TV model and then imported it into that scene. I then deleted the cube that was in the middle and moved the TV to the ground. I then began taking rocks and piling them in front of the tv and topping them off with a patriarchal cross. Once the scene was to my liking I began changing the objects materials. I started with the rocks and gave them a sort of dark red color. I then started to change the materials of the TV but I found that leaving it white was an interesting contrast against the black landscape so I left it with a simple white diffuse material. To create the glowing effect of the TV I added an emission shader to the TVs glass and set it to a strength of 5 and giving it a slight blue tint. Doing this allowed the reflection to appear blue while it looked white above. Once I had the materials complete I began to move the camera around to find a good view. I ended up leaving it above the scene to mimic Reynolds work.
Below is a gallery showing the modeling of the TV. I started with a rectangle which I then gave rounded corners to and then added the outer ridge. To create the two smaller boxes on the inside I did the exact same thing, just with different sizes. I then created the dial and duplicated it and made it smaller, these are the smaller dials below. To create the grate I created an array of rectangles and applied a boolean modifier to the smallest cube panel, this created the ridges shown.
To create the ground I first added a plane and gave it roughly 20 subdivisions. I then triangulated the vertices to create the triangular look of the plane in the final piece. After triangulating them I randomized the vertices a tiny bit to create an uneven looking terrain. To add the rocks I simply created one low poly rock out of a cube. I then created a particle system on the plane with the rock as the particle.
Reflection
The use of religion as a theme is probably the biggest failure of this piece. It is extremely loosely connected and not displayed in an effective manner. If I were to restart this piece I would probably completely remove the religious theme and focus on something else. Although the meaning was a failure I think it was visually intriguing because of the juxtaposition created between the TV and ground.
The use of religion as a theme is probably the biggest failure of this piece. It is extremely loosely connected and not displayed in an effective manner. If I were to restart this piece I would probably completely remove the religious theme and focus on something else. Although the meaning was a failure I think it was visually intriguing because of the juxtaposition created between the TV and ground.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The use of an isometric view and large triangles is clearly present in both mine and Reynolds work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of the article on the decline of religion mainly used statistical facts to display a global decline in religious beliefs.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I assumed that most places in the world would still hold on to their religious values but many countries have had a massive drop in people who believe in a god.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central idea was to show the drop in religious beliefs.
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The use of an isometric view and large triangles is clearly present in both mine and Reynolds work.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of the article on the decline of religion mainly used statistical facts to display a global decline in religious beliefs.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I assumed that most places in the world would still hold on to their religious values but many countries have had a massive drop in people who believe in a god.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central idea was to show the drop in religious beliefs.
Citations
http://www.turnislefthome.com/non-isometrics
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/religion-declining-secula_b_9889398.html
https://www.theverge.com/2012/10/20/3530974/timothy-reynolds-polygon-isometric-art
http://www.turnislefthome.com/non-isometrics
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/religion-declining-secula_b_9889398.html
https://www.theverge.com/2012/10/20/3530974/timothy-reynolds-polygon-isometric-art