Exhibition Text
This digital piece was inspired by the simplistic yet bold work of Charles Munch as well as the ethereal work of James Turell. The piece was created using the 3D software Blender. It's meant to represent the fear and anxiety that I currently feel about my future. The general gloominess of the scene is a representation of my current outlook on my life which is pretty bleak.
This digital piece was inspired by the simplistic yet bold work of Charles Munch as well as the ethereal work of James Turell. The piece was created using the 3D software Blender. It's meant to represent the fear and anxiety that I currently feel about my future. The general gloominess of the scene is a representation of my current outlook on my life which is pretty bleak.
Inspiration
The inspiration for this piece came from the work of Charles Munch and James Turrell. Munch is a Wisconsin based painter born in 1945. His work is greatly influenced by his time spent living near lake Michigan and many of his pieces feature the lake and natural scenes. His work mainly explores the relationship between humans and nature, often depicting surreal scenes. He uses thick lines with large fields of color to create bright, pop art style paintings of nature. His work influenced my piece through these thick, colorful landscapes as well as his strange dreamlike scenarios. I attempted to emulate the way Munch simplifies the objects in his scenes. This can be seen in the final piece in the simple building and ground, the objects in the scene have little detail and have been stripped of all detail.
James Turrell is an American artist who's work mainly consists of installations that use light to transform the environments that they inhabit. The
The inspiration for this piece came from the work of Charles Munch and James Turrell. Munch is a Wisconsin based painter born in 1945. His work is greatly influenced by his time spent living near lake Michigan and many of his pieces feature the lake and natural scenes. His work mainly explores the relationship between humans and nature, often depicting surreal scenes. He uses thick lines with large fields of color to create bright, pop art style paintings of nature. His work influenced my piece through these thick, colorful landscapes as well as his strange dreamlike scenarios. I attempted to emulate the way Munch simplifies the objects in his scenes. This can be seen in the final piece in the simple building and ground, the objects in the scene have little detail and have been stripped of all detail.
James Turrell is an American artist who's work mainly consists of installations that use light to transform the environments that they inhabit. The
Process
Planning
Before creating the piece I created a few simple scenes and then decided if I wanted to move further with them. All of them represent the same idea, just in different ways.
Planning
Before creating the piece I created a few simple scenes and then decided if I wanted to move further with them. All of them represent the same idea, just in different ways.
Steps: To create the piece I first created a new file and added a plane. This was scaled up and subdivided ~30 times. I then randomized the vertices on the plane to create the appearance of rugged terrain. I then started working on the cabin, this was started by creating a basic box shape and then adding a hallway. To create the large blocks I simply created a rectangle which was then subdivided and then the vertices on it were randomized a bit to create the broken, angular look that the have. To create the roof I simply created 1 tile and then used an array modifier to copy it all the way down the roof. I then added a plane at the end of the hallway and added an emission shader to it which is where the bright light comes from. Once the modeling was done I added some simple diffuse materials to the objects in the scene. To create the mist I created a cube and then added a volume scatter material to its volume settings. The final lighting was done with a sun lamp turned to a very low strength. When the final scene was rendered I used blenders internal post-processing tools to increase the brightness and contrast of the piece.
Experimentation
Most of the process for this project ended up being experimentation, when planning the piece I knew what I wanted the cabin to look like but everything else was variable. The experimentation was mainly shown in the lighting of the scene, I initially wanted the scene to be set at dusk so I added a sky texture to the background and changed its settings until it was a dark blue color. I ended up not liking this because it detracted from the bright blue hallway which was the focal point of the scene. I continued editing the sky textures settings until it was completely black but it created a weird yellow glow over the scene which was not intended so I just completely removed the sky. In the end I found that a blank gray sky looked fine as long as there was some fog to blur the edge between the land and sky.
Most of the process for this project ended up being experimentation, when planning the piece I knew what I wanted the cabin to look like but everything else was variable. The experimentation was mainly shown in the lighting of the scene, I initially wanted the scene to be set at dusk so I added a sky texture to the background and changed its settings until it was a dark blue color. I ended up not liking this because it detracted from the bright blue hallway which was the focal point of the scene. I continued editing the sky textures settings until it was completely black but it created a weird yellow glow over the scene which was not intended so I just completely removed the sky. In the end I found that a blank gray sky looked fine as long as there was some fog to blur the edge between the land and sky.
Reflection
Overall I think this project was a failure. The theme that I was trying to display isn't very well shown and overall the image is fairly boring. I wanted the image to be dreary but still fairly interesting and mysterious and I think I really failed at that. The only strong point I see in it is that the hallway does have a very similar hazy glow that is shown in James Turrell's work.
Overall I think this project was a failure. The theme that I was trying to display isn't very well shown and overall the image is fairly boring. I wanted the image to be dreary but still fairly interesting and mysterious and I think I really failed at that. The only strong point I see in it is that the hallway does have a very similar hazy glow that is shown in James Turrell's work.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
My inspiration simplified the forms in his paintings which is something I did in my work by leaving out textures/details.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
My inspiration simplified the forms in his paintings which is something I did in my work by leaving out textures/details.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.