SPACES
THE IDEA
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I wanted to put together a project for a digital art course at UC that could allow me to imagine various spaces I'd like to exist in rather than the drab environment of my real-life bedroom. My goal was to design fantastical spaces while utilizing my painterly perspective on composition and color, taking an interest in livable (and not-so-livable) spaces inspired by retrofuturism and fantasy in the digital space.
THE PROCESS
I took inspiration from various movie stills and famous illustrators to create sketches for each composition, focusing primarily on shapes and colors before considering how my own body would fit in the space. Rather than considering the entire space from every angle, however, I envisioned the final renders similarly to a finished painting with a singular fixed perspective.
This project was a challenge in considering environments after focusing almost entirely on portraits and figures for most of my college career, but the process proved to be a lot of fun and had some pretty satisfying results.
BUILDING THE CONCEPT
Throughout the process of designing each space, I found myself drawn to certain shapes, particularly circles. I was inspired by space and planetary elements, and decided to incorporate that theme into my compositions.
My artistic style leading up to this project had always leaned into a retro, nostalgic aesthetic more heavily characterized by themes of beauty and femininity from a queer perspective, so I naturally leaned into similar themes when coming up with each piece of this project. Color and lighting played an important role in the development of each piece, and I found myself experimenting heavily with how varying lights and HDRI textures interacted with the shapes I had so carefully composed.
Below are some examples of sketches and process shots created during the development of this project.
