Artist: Dragos Jieanu
3d Generalist
From: Bucharest, Romania
website

Some Matte Painting and 3d Work from Dragos Jieanu including Battlefield, Terranova and more!
Dragos is a self taught, 3d Generalist from Bucharest, Romania. For more information on him or his work – check out his website listed above. Enjoy!

Designer: Pat Panupaisal
Location: San Francisco currently // From Thailand
Academy of Art: Professor Kory Bieg

Proposal: Aquaria – The Floating Pavilion

This proposal explores the possibility of floating structures and the interaction between architecture and water level fluctuations. The form of the pavilion evolved from a series of formal explorations documented in a modifier catalogue. The form consists of a skeletal/structural frame that holds the floating clusters of pod-like volumes in place.

Surrounding the building are tidal walkways, which as the name suggests, can become inundated throughout the course of a day. As the tide rises, the movement throughout the walkways is affected, constricting circulation and disconnecting the pavilion from the rest of the expo.

The underwater aquaditorium provides a dynamic and lively backdrop to the performance space as sea dwellers underneath the bay swim by. The main concept for this pavilion is the interaction between architecture and the world of water by exploring new possibilities for underwater architecture as well as floating architecture.

Designer: John Becker
website
Location: NY, NY

Proposal: An Atmosphere Excavated

Dating back to the 18th century the Harnham Estate, located a short distance outside Salisbury England has documented regional techniques for harvesting water providing a rich history of the practice and the subsequent effects. The methods applied through the centuries reflect regional limitations, a shift in intention and attempts to amplify efficiencies. Although many of these techniques are specific to the region and time period, they are not necessarily unique to the site; it is the extent of the documentation of these exercises and the entrepreneurial achievements intent on monetary gain that make the subsequent story so fascinating.

After acquiring the Estate in 1786 following the death of his Father, Sir Edward Harnham commissioned a series of engraved maps to be produced of the Estate. Cataloging the boundaries of the Estate, as well as all landmarks within the terrain in a series of 4 maps and 2 scenic prints one depicting the manor, and the other the view of the Salisbury Cathedral from the manor. The 2 remaining images both display the dew ponds contained on the site. The large number and proximity of these dew ponds is rare, and is considered to be the largest concentration of dew ponds known in the South Downs. Located on large deposits of chalk the South Downs is essentially a large aquifer making the retention of water a difficult task. For hundreds of years residents if the South Downs have used a technique known as puddling to construct dew ponds which allow water to be drawn from the atmosphere and retained on the surface for long time periods to provide drinking water for cattle.

In the Early 20th century a catastrophic failure exposed a previously forgotten cistern located beneath the dew ponds. A local architecture firm was hired to survey the cistern and assess its potential threat to the existing manor. The conclusions presented stated that once the water had evacuated the cistern it was no longer a structural threat to the residence. No one was injured in the failure, however a large number of livestock were lost. The rupture left a large chalk scar on the landscape which could be seen kilometers away. Inspired by the still visible scar James Harnham and a business partner John Linski founded Ethereal 1. Providing premium bottled water harvested from the now locally known Harnham dew ponds, Ethereal 1 entered the market June 11th, 1991 at 14 £ a litre. After a slow start Ethereal 1 finally met with success in 1995 as the market for bottled water grew exponentially. In order the meet growing demands, a series of dew collecting nets were pioneered by a London based architecture firm MJB Architects which allowed for a 25 fold increase production. Due to peak production vs. bottling time, storage bladders were constructed on the hillside to provide short term storage for water during the process. The Bladders were placed under the surface of the earth to provide protection from the sun, and to retain the waters desired temperature.

This new system now mirrored the previous system harvesting, storing, and distorting the landscape, except on an exaggerated time scale. The success of Ethereal 1 is largely credited to the history of water collection from the Estate. Inversely this success in turn encouraged the use of these techniques in the region to meet growing demands for water during periods of drought. Once these techniques were spread over a larger region their success caused the near collapse of the water table in the territory north of the South Downs. In 2026 a bill failed to pass that would have banned all acts of poaching the aerial aquifers within Southern England. By 2035 desalination became the leading source of water for England followed closely by atmospheric stripping techniques such as dew harvesting. At present 3000 cubic miles of water exist in the atmosphere at any given time. 98 percent of this resource is replenished every 2 days, and most importantly only 2 percent of this moisture exist in clouds, the vast majority is found in ambient air. Since 2028 atmospheric aquifers have been tracked and traded as an asset in the global stock exchange. As waters value increases many countries inflate their economies based on water futures. Recognized as one of the most prestigious water companies in the world, Ethereal 1 began to capitalize on their long standing history of water collection. In 2001 the company began selling vintage bottles of water, allowing customers to hand pick select days in which their water was collected. In 2071 an addition to the manor is constructed to house Ethereal 1s reserve bottle collection. The building is constructed out of an amalgamated chalk solution that itself becomes a source of water collection and storage. Three years following the construction of the Reserve House a vintage bottle of Ethereal 1 dated prior to the millennium fetches over 40,000 £ at auction.

Artist: Neil Blevins
http://www.neilblevins.com/
San Francisco, CA

*Neil Blevins work has made me realize that I am in the wrong field. The worlds he creates are extraordinary and absolutely brilliant – so detailed and believable that you just want to jump right in and live in them. I highly recommend checking out his work if you haven’t already done so…

About the Artist:
My name is Neil Blevins, and I’ve been an artist as long as I can remember. Raised on a healthy dose of scifi and fantasy films, books, and videogames, I started off painting and drawing traditionally, and then got into 3d graphics while I still lived in my hometown of Pointe Claire, in Quebec, Canada. After getting a BFA in Design Art at Concordia University, I moved to Los Angeles where I worked for Blur Studio, creating graphics for video games, commercials, TV, feature and ride films. I was also a tester for the Brazil Renderer, which was originally developed at Blur. I now live in San Francisco working as a Technical Director for Pixar Animation Studios, primarily creating Environments and FX. In my spare time, I make sci-fi 3d/2d hybrid artwork depicting creatures, robots and alien landscapes, author tools and write art related lessons and tutorials to give back to the community who’s been so gracious at helping me get to where I am today.

Designer: Frederic St-Arnaud
http://www.frederic-st-arnaud.com/
Canada

About the Artist:
Recently, while flipping through Digital Art Masters: Vol 6, I stumbled upon Frederic St-Arnaud’s work. His work is inspiring, captivating and hands down awesome! Check out his website for more eye-candy.

Frederic St-Arnaud is a visual effect artist with 14 years of experience, focusing on high-end photo-realistic digital matte painting, set extension, concept art and art direction in the film industry.

He has contributed to more than 25 feature films, dozens of commercials for television and a few TV series. His film credits include Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Terminator 4,The Day the Earth Stood Still, Death Race, Babel, Silent Hill, Sin City, Sky captain and the world of tomorrow, Once upon a time in Mexico, Spy kids 2 & 3 and The Golden Compass which won the best visual effects Academy Awards in 2008.

St-Arnaud originally intended to pursue his life as a movie make-up effects artist while in his teens, until the first important computer generated visual effects appeared on screens such as the Abyss, Terminator 2 and Toy Story. After studying Fine Arts and Communication Arts at Université Laval, he moved to Montreal (Canada) in 1997 to study 3D animation and traditional cartoon animation. He began his career as a storyboard artist and character animator. In 2001, he decided to become a texture artist to finally end-up in digital matte painting and concept art field.