Cpt Budgie - Part 3 - the Base

Hi Folks,

here is the latest episode of Straight from the Desk!

This time we will build, and paint the showbase for our Captain Budgie.

Captain Budgie is one of those figures that could look good in all different kinds of scenarios.

As you can also see it here with Cpt. budgie.

The same model in a different environment will create a very different atmosphere and story and feeling

Bases are an often neglected topic, yet they are so important.

We have talked about it many times, a base gives you the unique chance to create an individual project even without converting the figure, it embeds the miniature in its own reality, in its own little world.

A well-done base has the potential to tell a story, to connect the figure with a specific environment, it can explain the reason the figure is in the current situation, we create context for the figure.

I wanted to create something quite different for this model, something unexpected.

Something that clashes a bit with the visual expectations of the spectators. What if Mr. Budgie is not the tough bird that he thinks he is, what if he is a pet bird in a cage, pretending to be king of the hill or the captain of a ship...

It deals a little with the question of self-perception, who are we, what is our role in this world, what are we fighting for and what grounds are we standing.

I wanted to create a base that tells also a story, so even if it has a little artsy meta-thought, I wanted to have a minimalistic setup that still allows you to discover a little story within.

All elements of this stage play their part in transporting the story.

The blue curved backdrop reminds you of the blue sky or clear water...

but it is way more artificial, it creates that almost uncanny feeling of a staged reality. The lack of texture and the glossy reflection in the center of the curve is so strong that you can´t escape it, it forces you to spot the dissonance between the main character and scene.

The bird is living his role, the role of his life, - he is the captain of his cage, and he is protecting what he believes is his.

The birdfeeder serves a few functions. It picks up the color of the jacket of our bird but in a purer form. The saturated color and the glossy rendered material help to attract attention to the little details of the scene, the bird seeds and the little feather. It also helps to expand the scene: only half of the birdfeeder is visible, the other half must be standing "outside of the frame". It tells our brain that there is more, it tells you the reality of the piece is larger than what we see.

It lets the spectator continue the scene in his head.

This has a huge advantage, you can not disappoint with something that you have not built. You can focus all your energy on the segment of the element you are having in the scene. this is a very important tool called "progressive reduction".

The bird seeds are the cause of the trouble that has just happened. It´s what Mister Budgie is protecting. Some seeds are scattered around the scene, which helps to break up the monotone blue base. One of the brighter seeds is directly in the center of the scene. It shows the importance of the seeds, to underline this I decided to render the seeds a little more glossy than they actually were.

The feather: The small feather on the right side of the base is a key element in reading the story. By choosing a yellow feather we clearly indicate that the feather does not belong to our Budgie. Our Budgie only has white and blueish feathers. It shows that there has been some action or even a fight going on just minutes before.

The Mirror:

While doing a little research for the project I found out that the bird toys that I remember from my childhood are super outdated and actually bad for the birds.

The mirror is quite an exciting element, it breaks with the logic of rendered surfaces of the rest of the projects. All surfaces are flat, and all the material qualities are rendered. The reflective surface is not, besides a few painted-on stains and streaks it remains in its real-life reflectiveness.

This is quite unexpected and I contemplated a while if I should paint in the reflection on the Budgie, or at least add some translucent cartoony reflection lines to blend in styles more together.

But I decided against it when I noticed a funny side effect when people looked at the unfinished piece. People start moving around to see their own reflection in the mirror. And I liked how this little interaction with the piece, really draws you into the scene, suddenly you are part of the piece, you are right there, in the cage with Mister Budgie.

The Bell is kind of a sum-up of the whole scene. It is a fantastic object to study and observe rendered reflections. A sphere reflects elements from all directions, we can see the blue cage walls and also the floor nearby, we can see the main highlight that illuminates the room, we can even see the Budgie himself and the bird feeder being hinted in the reflections.

We have all the key elements for a believable NMM.

main highlight

Horizon reflection

Bouncing lights

reflection of objects nearby

scratches and noise.

Recently I discovered a fantastic artist from Tokyo who works mainly on full 360° non-reflective-mirror spheres and objects.

https://www.daisukesamejima.com/

https://www.instagram.com/daisuke_samejima/

He proves how far you can take a nmm reflection, that works well in a 3 dimensional room.

Not that we are taking it this far, but overall our little base offers quite an amazing selection of different materials. To tie everything together it is crucial that we are using the same color for all of our shadows. I am also painting in a little shadow in between the different objects.

Even if it is only a tiny shadow it helps tremendously to connect all the single elements of the composition to one connected scene.

Anyway... I hope you made it all to the end of this little wall of text.

I think it's great to see that it does not take much to create a little storytelling project. I personally love it if a piece manages to reveal itself the longer you look at it.

I hope you enjoy this video! And as always thanks for your support.