'Mutually Assured Fish'

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In response to the topic the first images that sprang to mind were those of 'man' lost within a landscape or a single cozy hideaway shrinking into its surroundings, however I felt that these suggest we are somehow at odds or out of touch with nature. I really wanted to depict a sense of harmony & genuine interconnection between humanity and the natural world, something that represents our mutual interdependence.

Initially 'Sled Dogs' seemed like an interesting example of a relationship between human and animal, but digging a bit deeper into working relationships between 'Man and Nature', I decided to look into the Traditional Cormorant Fishing that still takes place in a few locations around the world (primarily in Japan and China). This 1,300 year old tradition seems to embody a mutual respect between man and bird; although arguably not an entirely ethical practice, it does speak of a unique bond that proves beneficial for both parties.

It's also incredibly picturesque.

The Yi River in China is a stunning landscape with incredibly unique land formations, I took the artistic liberty of adding a few non-native aquatic plants but generally used this location as inspiration.

I also found this gorgeous poem (which has a short supporting cinematic) by Alexander Alexandrov, which really set the mood for how I wanted to portray the relationship between the Fisherman and his Cormorants:

'CORMORANT FISHERMEN BY ALEXANDER ALEXANDROV (2019)':

At darkness hour, every dawn
I took the light and you aboard

In our world, of force and skill
the silent bond that we both built

with bare purpose to provide
yet catching beauty with our eyes

not every turn the river made
I knew, yet didn’t hesitate

and through these moments flashing by
I felt the current of our time

With every chance we caught the stream
It felt as if I lived the dream
and marked with screaming scars of joy
the flow of passing silent void

And when the times took you away
I lived and saw up to the days
Of world so vast to comprehend
Of changing streams I could not sail

i thought as generations passed
if they relate to one of us

some other place, from dusk to dawn
the paths we cross, to rise and fall

to catch the moment of the day
and share it with you to stay.'
_

Personal goals and technical R&D:

I generally shy away from making people the focus of a scene, usually sticking to the rather soul-less Architectural 3DScanned-beings... Therefore as a bit of a challenge I gave myself a topic that required a specific pose and activity to represent. Digging out Adobe Fuse to create the character, mixamo to help with the rigging and final pose adjustments in Cinema.

Getting the balance of the lighting took some time. Based on the reference imagery I knew I wanted to include the lamplight, but having too dark a surrounding scene lost a-lot of the details in the image. I settled on a relatively simple evening setup with a few accent lights to pick out the key elements.

I didn't want to flood the scene with scattered assets, keeping the trees to the background and trying to distribute the aquatic flora in a realistic way. Hopefully this keeps the focus on the 'fishing event'.

The aquatic nature of the scene itself posed a slight challenge in the stick interaction with the water, simulating a ripple that was cohesive with the rest of the water-surface was good fun.

I actually quite like all of the camera views I played with, which made it really tricky to pick a final image. Hope you like the one I went for.

+ A bit of Photoshop post. I've attached a few passes and some WIP shots/ Alternative Views.

Thanks for taking the time to read my waffle & best of luck to all the other entries, some fantastic work on show!

Software and equipment used

Cinema4D, Octane, Adobe Photoshop, Mixamo, Adobe Fuse