Under the Surface
by Jivan Nallamothu
$100
I think of my art process as improvisational. I have learned to expect that the picture I have in my head at the start of the project will become something completely different by the time it’s finished. With this piece, the stingray creature was initially supposed to be a bird. I wanted to try to design a creature using reference photos of real and imagined birds. I started by modeling a pair of wings in my 3D software- but when I tried to sculpt them to add a feathered texture, I accidentally used the wrong tool. The wings became smooth and rounded, which reminded me of a stingray’s fins. In the spirit of the unpredictability of my process, I decided to stick with it and see what I could come up with. When I finished modeling the ray and the scene around it, the piece still felt empty. This is the first piece that I filled in with small, topographic details, which likely would not have happened if I had correctly added a feather texture to the wings. The smooth blocks of color gave me space to draw over the final 3D render. I did the same to other elements in the scene to tie the whole thing together.