CLIENT: Michael Graeme Smith
Michael Graham Smith is a Johannesburg based artist, specialising in large charcoal drawings with an incredible eye for detail. One of his regular subjects is an aesthetic approach to internet colloquialisms: arranging foil balloons into common internet acronyms such as WTF, LMAO and STFU amongst others. Similar phrases with some internet notoriety also appear in his subject matter. He approached us to assist in creating a reference image for two of these works.
Smith required a realistic recreation of a neon sign depicting his chosen phrases. The image needed to be as close to photo-real as possible so he could interpret the reference into charcoal with accurate light and shadow values.
The process of getting a convincing light took some R&D, a fun challenge that required some time spent researching in the Blender online community. Several options existed to get the desired required result.
This was a great collaborative effort between Jess' design eye for the layout and look of the neon, and Tim's 3D modelling and rendering. The final result was appealing in and of itself and it led to a great charcoal artwork by Smith. Such a fun and unusual project!
