2009-02-17

3D set design - City gate and old pier

all images in this post © Enrico Scheri / artFive 2009

Some studies for the sets I designed for Il Re dell'isola, an animated 3D short film directed by Raimondo Della Calce and settled in Genoa at the beginning of the 20th century.
We tried to reconstruct the appearance of the main pier of the old port, with the city gate called Porta Siberia, still visible today, and the head of the pier with its small lighthouse, demolished in the '20s.


4 comments:

Paresh said...

Hey there, I don't really know much about what you were doing here (this blog post seems a little old lol), but I just have to say that that first sketch that you decided to draw for your work is simply amazing!! =O

I was just looking browsing the internet, looking for a picture of a chalk pastel-like green egg (...? lmao don't ask =$) for a website logo I was trying to design, when I came across your image.

I felt inspired when I looked at it; so much so that as soon as I came across it in google images, I had to immediately stop what I was doing, grab a blunt pencil and a scrap piece of paper, find the biggest copy of the image I could, and try to sketch and copy at least a portion of it for myself!

The way that you drew that piece of architecture looks simply awe inspiring! I was thinking about doing some artwork for a video game I was planning a while back, but I decided to scrap because I took too long drawing and making initial sketches, etc...

...but simply looking at that wonderful piece of artwork that you have drawn has inspired me to no end. The SHAPE of your design in particular was what inspired me more than anything (lol it almost feels like a divine sign! lmao xD). The way that the design almost curves/bends inward, and looks 3D, while at the same time looking so distorted blew my mind, and gave me a huge rush. It was exactly the kind of effect that I was looking for, that I wanted to try to create for the structures that I was planning to draw (lol) but gave up because I had little experience in conceptualizing 3D space and shapes, especially in such an exotic way...

I really wish I had more experience with my artwork, design, drawing, and just creating the kind of effects that I want to create (much like your... movie...?) but I never had the chance in my life to simply sit down and draw what I like. All through school and at home there was never enough time to do anything, and things ended miserably for long a while. After a while, I just lost the will to draw anything...

But (at the expense of sounding like someone who needs serious help lol) seeing your artwork has really given me hope and inspired me to just look at the world and start drawing again. Things I like. Words can't express my gratitude =]

Thank you^_-
Paresh

Enrico Scheri said...

Wow. Thank for your comment! I'm a little embarrassed by all this enthusiasm... anyway, if you're still interested, I just drawn the first sketch depicting Siberia Gate trying to insert two different accidental points in the perspective view. The first accidental point is, as usual, on the virtual horizon of the image, but the second one is buried down in the ground (theorically pointing the center of the earth, I guess...). This way I gave the sketch that fish-eye like distortion you seem to like so much...
Happy to have been useful and inspiring for your work!

Enrico

Paresh said...

Hey, I recently saw a short animation movie on YouTube that reminded me again of your work, lol I lost track of your site, so I spent 3 days trying to find it through google based on keywords like "animation movie" and "short father animation" lmao (that one did the trick: http://webneel.com/webneel/blog/12-best-3d-animation-and-tv-commercial-videos-you-inpsiration lol)

Even though it's been a while, I'm really happy to see a reply =] You have a lot of skill as an artist! Some of your skill with architecture is particularly impressive, and I did really enjoy that animation lol

I was really drawn to the shape of this building. Drawing abstract archetecture and like this and creating bigger, more comlex storyboards are things that I haven't had a lot of experience in, even though I'm ok at sketching

I'd really like to learn more about computer graphics if I had the time, I only just know the faintest mechanics about sketching, modelling, animation and rendering. Most people don't understand how long an animation like this takes to do (especially with the sound sync)

Where does your inspiration come from as an animator? How did you get so good at what you do?

Enrico Scheri said...

Thanks for your appreciation! I don't think to myself as an animator, I'm just a storyboarder and set designer. My favourites in set design field are Hayao Miyazaki movies, with their full-round planned buildings (the thermal building in "Spirited Away" for example), with a rather realistic appearance (not too much distorted or based on visual jokes) but capable of creating a lot of atmosphere with their architectural shape combined with the right lighting.
I'm happy you like so much the shape of Siberia Gate, but always remember that this is a real building! Just check out Google Images with keyword "Porta Siberia", and you will find a lot of photos from every side.
So I think a great part of my work is to search inspiring buldings from which I take different elements to form a complete set with the desired atmosphere. That's all. I don't have a great animation school or architecture university background, Just a passion for ancient architecture and a constant thought while creating a set: "how would be walking inside the building that I'm drawing?"
Cheers.