Victoria Reiter – Looking Outwards – 05

Modeling Software

This week I got inspiration for my Looking Outwards post by viewing the 3-D art of artist Aldo Martinez Calzadilla. His work has been featured in such places as the movies Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Ant Man 2, and Black Panther.

Although this is very interesting, what truly struck me was his work reflecting realistic humans, which I thought was absolutely gorgeous.

I didn’t really believe how this could be produced…through code…so I did some investigation.

I found that he uses software such as Maya, Mari, and Z-Brush, which allows designers to manipulate texture and draw in 3-D on the computer. Below is a video demonstrating how images can be created and edited with Z-Brush as if they were physical things that could be molded and manipulated.

Z-Brush demonstration

I was really stunned by the beauty of Calzadilla’s work, so it was interesting to watch the Z-Brush video to work through how it was he was able to create something so life-like. I usually associate coding with being very cold and unemotional, so it’s an interesting contrast to see how he was able to capture such delicacy and vulnerability in his “subjects” through such a seemingly unfeeling medium.