#103 - end of summer 2023

You would think that this late into my creative journey that I'd know better than to try and stick to a reference too literally, but it turns out I still need to remind myself of just that. Trying to have everything (pose, setting, lighting, framing, etc.) resemble the reference ended up being horribly detrimental to my creative process. Rather than letting my thoughts flow freely as they normally would, I unwittingly smothered myself with pointless restrictions in an attempt to adhere to the reference.

It was only after I decided to distance myself more from the reference that the project really started to magically coalesce before my eyes. Most critically, the setting/lighting was changed to feature this intensely vaporwavey sunset.

Said lighting was pretty tricky, but I think I pulled it off. Though I'm still not the biggest fan of the pics with the moo. I feel like he's still a bit tainted by my insistence on originally sticking to that reference, but what's done is done. The other components of this project though, most notably the Orcs, saved this project.

The Orc(s) were always planned to be in the moo pic on the right half of the image. But after changing the setting and adding a visible "sun" to the background, I realized the Orcs might've been getting in the way. I originally intended to cut the Orcs completely and use them in a separate side-project. But in the end, I not only managed to pose them independently from the moo, but I was also able to reuse them in the actual moo project after all.

The Orc pictures were definitely a full realization of the vaporwavey setting. There was also the added benefit of having no reference being around to taint my creative process the way that it did with the moo pic. The lighting is extremely intense, yes. It's very much meant to be viewed on a monitor or device that is color accurate. I have a feeling it'll probably look awful on a less than accurate monitor, but for me it's perfect.

It was also a great way to finally showcase the updated Orc model that I kept talking about. You might not notice the improvements I've made to it but trust me: they're there. And of course he comes in many flavors too: chubby, fat, muscular, hairy, smooth, etc.

Lastly, there are the Siggy pics! The Siggy pic definitely wasn't planned to be a part of this project, but since I decided to expand the theme of this project to be about summer, it just felt fitting to put Siggy into this particular context. And yes, I did loosely follow a very famous reference for the Siggy pic. I won't link to it because it's a little creepy in a modern context, but I think if you're cultured enough, you probably have a good idea what it is.

There's several ideas from this project that I unfortunately had to cut due to logistical difficulties. Most notably, the little foam sword fight between the Orcs was supposed to end with Mr. Hornyfang floating with his ass sticking up in the air, but it wasn't looking quite right with the water reflections. It's a good idea though that I think I can reuse in the future. There were also several floating donut ideas that'll have to wait another time.