Another one of my more intricate drawings, done today, using soluble carbon instead of ink. In some ways it's a bit easier to use.
The Collapsing Edifice of a Dream, 2021, soluble carbon on paper, 17" x 11" |
William T. Ayton is a British artist based in Tempe, Arizona & New York's Hudson Valley. His work deals with the human condition, social issues and myth. He creates drawings, paintings & augmented reality pieces, and has recently started to experiment with AI-generated art.
This is a little head I sculpted today in Blender. It's quite a simple artwork. However I was experimenting with lighting & textures, which gave the piece a lot more depth & interest than just the bare sculpture. These are various versions of the piece...the red one was more post-processed than the others.
The sculpture without texturing |
As part of a series of mythological figures that I've worked on over the years (drawings & paintings mostly), here is a digital sculpture done in Blender. I'll probably be reworking some of my other themes in coming days & weeks...\
Digital Medusa, 2021, sculpted & rendered in Blender |
An important thing about the Blender 3D digital sculptures that I make is that they can be almost endlessly recomposed, textured, lit, post-processed and so on. Like a photographer or painter with a favorite subject, there are infinite variations to be discovered and displayed. (See previous posting for another version of this one.)
The Dream Wings of Night, 2021, digital Blender image |
A new variation on the "winged head" theme...going back to classical mythology (Hypnos, Morpheus) & Symbolists like Fernand Khnopff...post-processed with noise & reducing of contrast.
The Mists of Time, 2021, digital image |
The good thing about sculpting in Blender (& sculpting in general), is that with a 3D object you should ideally have a multitude of angles from which to view the piece & appreciate the interplay of forms.
With Blender's texturing, lighting, coloring etc., options, the possibilities are multiplied. Add to that the ability to insert a background image or objects, & then post-process (I set the image levels to "auto" & added noise), & you can almost endlessly recycle the images and find something new to present.
I also like the way the exposed mesh structure of the piece in places can resemble chisel marks, giving the work a handmade quality of sorts, whilst still maintaining its digital origins.
Monochrome Melancholy, digital Blender image |
This is a 3D rendered image created in Blender of 2 angels (of the somewhat terrifying, Rilkean variety) coming to an agreement of how to share the mundane world, perhaps. That's what seems to be happening here, but I never really know. I prefer to allude to narratives and let the viewer fill in the rest, which makes the piece more interactive, I think.
The Pact, digital Blender image |
I've been working on a series of around 20 (currently 18 done as of this writing) drawings that I've entitled The Chaos Series, as the intention was to do something more intense, improvised & chaotic than my usual work (which can often also be described in the foregoing terms to some extent). So, these are taken to some kind of an extreme & with little forethought, which might be a good recipe for disaster, but so far I'm liking the results. Here is one example, the rest are in an album on my Flickr.
A Head for Figures (Chaos Series), 2021, brush & soluble carbon on paper, 17" x 14". |
This is a 3D digital sculpture done in Blender. It seems to have a quite strong emotional resonance.
Head for a Pietà , Blender digital image |