SYNOPSIS - A world that has been physically taken over by the fast fashion industry, in the form of abstract fabric waste and pollution.
The project utilises CGI and Blender, focusing on creating hyper realistic environments. I will be pushing my skills in storytelling, cinematography and material making. I have logged all of my processes starting from September 2024 - present below.
Teaching Block 2
28-29/01/25
I have experimented further with the geometry nodes in Blender and put the SUPER CONSUMER in to the shot as well, to create the illusion of them being sucked in to the microplastics, almost like a black hole. This has allowed me to develop my ideas further and create a new chapter of my art bible, more about in-depth microplastics become conscious and devouring the world.
28/01/25
I have been experimenting with Blender geometry nodes to create something that looks like particles/microplastics. I used my own shader made using material nodes to give it a 'scratched toy' look, purposefully using bold and bright colours. This piece is also fully animated and adaptable.
ALL WORK CREATED OVER THE CHRISTMAS BREAK, DEC-JAN 27th
24/01/25
I have chosen to add some more drama to the jellyfish scene by adding the microplastic fish in the background, so it's not quite noticeable. This adds a level of mystery and discomfort to the scene that I couldn't quite achieve before.
22/01/25
I came up with a slightly stronger ending to my art bible - the microplastics all over the Earth mutate with the animal corpses left behind, to become a new super species. The animals are a hybrid of fast fashion waste and animal bones.
21/01/25
This week, I have been creating a new concept piece, making a fish that has been able to evolve with the microplastics into a new species.
14/01/25
WEEK 12
These few weeks have been spent elaborating on the evolution of the Super Consumer.
I am leaning in to the idea of it being a literal formation of plastic waste, being symbolic of microplastics too.
WEEK 11
12.12.24
This week, I am working on my last few concept art pieces to tie the narrative of the Super Consumer together, and also thinking about refining my artworks so far. I am going to be developing the evolution of the Super Consumer character.
WEEK 10
28/11/24 - 06/12/24
This week has been spent creating new concept art pages, and putting together my art bible in a cohesive way to tell a story.
WEEK 9
28/11/24
This week I created a new concept piece of the Super Consumer in outer space, amongst planets covered in plastic. This is to imply that our whole universe is going to be taken over by fast fashion, as we don't have room for it anymore on Earth.
WEEK 8
20/11/24
This week, I am designing separate assets and then applying them to my new scenes.
The project idea has developed - we see a man, the 'super consumer', walk around the world, through cities and landscapes, leaving a trail of fabric behind him everywhere he goes, until the worlds physically become the textiles around him. The underlying message is that one day the world will be taken over by fast fashion and fabric waste, and the materials will never really go away as they are all synthetic. I am considering making side by side images of the fun, textile world contrasted with the real world of fashion waste.
18/11/24
The aim of this animation was to test my technical abilities - I created footprints in the sand using Blender geometry nodes, which gives the short clip a lot more dynamism. I aim to create an alternative reality version of this, and cut between the two - the alternate reality will be full of colourful textile worlds and creatures.
WEEK 7
12/11/24
This week has been spent creating a new finished piece of concept art, looking at the Super Consumer standing over his destroyed city.
I colour graded and composited the dust and camera shake in After Effects, and am still not sure which colour grade I prefer.
WEEK 6
08/11/24
As my work has progressed, I've found that the fun, bold style of the invisible man in yellow clothes has helped evolve my concept - I am making artworks that subtly address the issue of fast fashion and overconsumption, in a way that isn't obvious. I made this starry night render with the intention of creating a childlike aesthetic to show the world physically being taken over by fabric and clothes. I am taking inspiration from artists like Oliver Jeffers, and also from 'The Lorax', with the environmental destruction. Perhaps to make this idea of overconsumption clearer, I can create other scenes with animals running away/habitats being destroyed by the heavy fabrics.
Going forwards with this concept, I am considering making big, fun compositions like this, but possibly in smaller scale environments, for example; the inside of a house overflowing with fabric, coming up through floorboards and out of doors and windows.
I made different variations of the background elements to see what could make the image most interesting.
I modelled and textured everything in Blender, and used the landscape modifier to save me some time with the hills. For the fabrics, I used the same node setup as I did for the yellow outfit, and adjusted the scale. I also added an extra layer of fog by using a volume cube and a noise node. I used mocap data to pose the invisible man.
05/11/24 - Animated and modelled in Blender, and composited in Adobe After Effects
I feel I have more of a narrative direction now - I want to make a world full of the waste of the fast fashion industry, but in a way that is fun and exciting looking, with bold primary colours. This shines an ironic mirror on our own world - we see the exciting elements of fashion, but ignore all of the waste and the pollution it causes our environment.
This week has been spent creating more cinematic shots in Blender, with more of a direct focus of storytelling through my art. I made this scene using the same simple cloth simulation for the floating outfit. I added a volume cube for the underwater lighting, which I applied I used a particle system for the bubbles, which is just a sphere with a glass texture applied to it. I added simple colour grading in Photoshop. To create the caustic light reflections, I took a couple of free videos from Pexels of waves, and edited them to have more contrast in After Effects. I placed this video directly into my Blender scene, and applied colour reducing nodes to make it into a gobo. However, this didn't show very clearly in the render, and I think this is because the volume was too strong and didn't allow the gobo to shine properly.
Problem solving
I copied the new underwater motion capture animation data and applied it to the original walking man - this saved me a lot of technical issues with the yellow outfit, as it previously did not simulate properly when changed in any way.
To save time and not be too heavy on my PC, I applied variations of wave modifiers to the background clothes to fake the cloth effect - as the scene is underwater, this worked surprisingly well and is a technique I will be applying to future work.
WEEK 5 - consolidation week
01/11/24
These renders were made in Blender, re-using my previous cloth simulations and yellow outfit. I edited and colour graded this after rendering in After Effects to bring out the colours, add some blur, and extra movement with the birds in the sky.
Developments to the idea -
I have developed the walking outfit idea further - the idea is that every step the outfit takes, it leaves a polluting trail behind - for example, it might leave a shoe in a flower meadow, which then makes the flowers wilt and die around it. My plan is to use geometry nodes in Blender to create natural environments, and then add in my own photos of clothes and turn them into cloth sims all over the scenes.
31/10/24
To make these underwater renders, I used my yellow cloth sim and applied it to mocap data of a swimming motion. I then cut out free photos of shoes and clothes from Pexels in Photoshop, and used my own cloth piles made in Blender and my photos for the piles in the background. I added colour grading and movement in After Effects.
WEEK 4
26/10/24
First 3D Concept Art
From receiving feedback, I am focusing on creating environments that are overrun by fast fashion. I've created a generic city to show that this could happen anywhere.
I modelled the skyscrapers and stairs and hanging cloths in Blender, and to save time, I took a few free city backdrops from 'Pexels' and dropped them in to fill the space behind. I will be modelling my own backdrops in the future.
I used textures from Ambient CG on the skyscrapers and ground. The textures on the clothes are from my own photos.
I used After Effects to colour grade this image after rendering.
23/10/24
I used mocap data from Mixamo to model an outfit onto, and then apply the cloth simulation. This method was very successful in allowing me to pose the fabric.
I took photos of my clothes and cut them out in Blender, and then applied cloth simulations to them to allow them to pile on top of each other. I still need to fix some of the texturing issues, and am considering using a 3D photo scanning app to retain all the the deifinition.
22/10/24
Paint-Over 3D
I made a blockout of a room in Blender, and then sourced brick textures and the objects from Envato Elements and added them as PNG's in Photoshop. I then used these to trace over to create my concept art.
This was a good test of my painting skills, and has made me realise that I would like to continue my project using mostly 3D processes, as I am not confident in my technical drawing abilities.
WEEK 3
19/10/24
Texturing tests - I used Blender to model an air vent, and textured it using a new node set up - I began with a wall texture taken from Ambient CG, and then used vertex painting to add areas of light/damp/moisture.
This test was to see how far I can push my texturing, but also to see what kind of atmosphere I would like in the world I am creating.
17/10/24
These charcoal sketches were quick ideas of a potential setting/environment. I then adapted them in Photoshop by using a watercolour style brush and adding some colour. For the rat image, I used natural colours to make the pile of clothes look like a mountain, to create the illusion that this is the new normal.
WEEK 2
13/10/24
This is a small physical stop motion test, using photo cut outs and crochet - I was having a big creative block this week so I made something completely out of my comfort zone. There are many parts that could improve/be different, for example there could have been a much clearer narrative - the idea is 'fast fashion at our fingertips' but this isn't really clear.
10/10/24
I created this physical 3D set by using household items, like cotton rounds for the hanging towels, and cardboard packaging for the mini cardboard boxes. I used cotton wool inside black packaging paper to make bin bags, and used wooden sticks to make the door and window frames. For the wallpaper, I printed a wallpaper and then used acrylic paint over the top to add the rust and decay. The scissors and sewing machine are print outs.
I edited these photos after to give them atmosphere using After Effects.
08/10/24
Watercolour sketch, exploring the run down factory environment I'd like to create.
WEEK 1
02/10/24
First concept sketch, drawn in Photoshop and animated in After Effects
