We had a lot of fun taking part in Creative Review’s CG challenge last year, so we were delighted to be asked to take part again.
After playing around with a few different concepts, our CG guys produced this darkly playful image: a skull, created from various familiar everyday (and a couple of not-so-everyday) objects.
A few words on the creation of our piece, from our CG Artist Mark Jackson:
“Very early on I decided I wanted to create a skull out of a mishmash of bits and pieces, my influence coming from artists who exploit the human brains ability to make the familiar from the unfamiliar – Dali being a notable example.
Mark’s inspirations: optical illusions constructed from animals and hands
“We’re very interested in neuroesthetics here at Saddington Baynes – being aware of the way your brain processes imagery to recognise forms, interpret sensations and respond with emotions. Your brain sees what it is wired to distinguish, pretty much from birth: and one of the most significant forms it searches out is the human face.
“Once I’d decided this, the process was one of finding objects that ‘worked’ within the skull structure. I started picking objects, trying to create juxtapositions of the very boring with the exciting with the absurd. Objects like the horse rearing up and the jet aircraft are offset by the wheelie bins, traffic cones and cow.
“The lighting and shaders were a no-brainer: I wanted the skull to look menacing, which they tend to do all on their own. Each object needed to be equally defined by the light source; no one object could stand out or it would ruin the effect, so I chose a matte black with three area lights in a Y shape to pick up all those lovely forms.”
See if you can spot them all… The components are:
8mm Film Camera
Fire Extinguisher
Horse
Speed Boat
Road Scraper
Hair Dryer
Fiat 500
Wheelie Bin
Traffic Cone
Basketball Backboard & Hoop
Vulcan Bomber
Cow
