Sketchbook 2009258

Sketchbook 2009258

Project proposal idea, sketch of cyberpunk dystopian city,
going from the idea of connection and “The Futurist art
movement”, I wanted to make a character from a dystopic
world, inspirations being movies like “Blade Runner”, “Alien”,
“Total Recall”.
I wanted to move from painting to sculpting, I like 3d
mediums, wanted to be more playful, think more about
story, connection.
Wanted to do a dynamic character and world, used
sketching, drawing, digital media, modelling with air dry clay
and oil-based clay to bring my ideas to life



Character sketches, buildings, city landscape, testing
perspective, sketching my character and colouring him in
digital media application “Procreate”

I want to make the character dynamic, representative of the
“Futurist art movement”, looking at “Umberto Boccioni- and
his statue Unique Forms of Continuity in Space”.

I modelled the character from air dry clay, made a wire
skeleton (I did not use the best wire for the first try, was the
only one I could find in store), wrapped it in aluminium foil
(which didn’t work and had to take of the foil cause the clay

was cracking). After redoing it I was much happier with the
result.

Doing some sketches in digital media using applications like”
Infinite Painter” and” Pret-a-Template".

“Infinite Painter”

“Pret-a-Template"
Used acrylic paint, fabric paint and fabric markers to paint
the figure.

Wanted to use metallic dark colours with red accents to give
effect of neon patterns.

I was happy with the result, had so much fun that I wanted to
make more.

Doing some anatomy sketches to get a better idea of my next
project, want to look more at posing in a dynamic position, I
will take inspiration from ancient mythology, futuristic and
science fiction concepts, comic books and super heroes.



Sketch of Medusa, mythological creature from Greek
mythology.

I am part Greek and I have always been fascinated with tales
of ancient gods and monsters from Greek mythology, I grew
up with “Ray Harryhausen” movies, his stop motion creatures
are what inspired me to become an artist, a sculptor, movies
like “One million years B.C. (1966)” and “Clash of the Titans
(1981)” these creations directly influenced my artistic drive
and the desire for stories and exploring connections in the
world. “YouTube” recommended this video for me and it was
amazing to see all the movies that I loved as a child being
connected to the same creative person “Ray Harryhausen”
link to his work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DgdJyOBN9Q



Started working with oil base clay, started doing my own
version of “Medusa” mythological creature from Ancient
Greek myths.

Doing the base from plastic lid, I modelled broken Greek
Columns and marble blocks to give it the impression of
ancient Greek temples.

Experimenting with head sculpts, facial expressions, I wanted
to make her scary but still human.

Work still in progress.

Learning about stop motion animation in the technical
workshop I was wanted to try it instantly, made a short
video, with clay figures and “VLLO stop motion application”



Used Polymer clay, wire armature so I can move the figures,
frame time was 1 and 2 seconds between each frame, took
around 40 pictures for the video.

I was super happy with the result.

Link to the video on my Instagram and full description:

dan_cutudi_artdesign@Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/CL9PSV6l6f6/?igshid=13pw0c
nl2p333

Screen Printing Technical workshop.



Learned different home printing techniques, kitchen
Lithography, screen print, using household materials, paint,
oil, fruits, aluminium foil, paint roller, brushes.

Wanting to do more character sculptures I decided to make
my own superhero.

I think it is good to have something to look up, I always found
joy and inspiration in myths, stories, comic book, movies
heroes have always been represented in different visions,
forms and situations, but it is always a deep reflection of our
own experiences and desires, to believe in ourselves and
overcome our own “Hero Journeys” in dark times, I think we
can now relate and connect to that more, cause of the
Pandemic problem.

Artist inspirations “Salvador Dali” who was the foundation for
a more bizarre and different view of the world, to Polish
Surreal painter “Zdzislaw Beksinsky” who’s work is inspired
by horrors of war, communist architecture and vibes of
depression, I felt connected to his work, growing up in

Romania after the fall of communism in 1989, the imposing
city architectures, the constant changes made me curious in
what seemed a giant world full of possibilities and to have a
broad perspective and understanding of different subjects.

I started doing my superhero from oil-based clay, aluminium
wire armature (was really good cause I could bend it quite
well and then I reinforced it to make it sturdy), a plastic lid
for a base, filled it with air dry clay and surface filler to make
it heavier, put the wire through the plastic to make both the
support and the armature sturdy, the size is around 11 and a
half inches tall (that is because of the position he is in, if he
was standing straight it would probably be around 13-14
inches tall).



Progress shots, I want to make the clothing look casual but at
the same time have armoured plating, patterns.

Inspiration from books and comics, sci-fi movies and my own
ideas of what I like to see and want to do.

Different views of my superhero character.

I want to paint him in dark colours with neon green accents
for his suit and the green nuclear flames forming around him.
I will use acrylic paint as well as paint extraction for base

coating, washes for shading, gloss acrylic paint for the base to
make a stone cracking effect.

Different variations of the figure, the base clay colour made
me keep wanting to work on it, the grey base colour makes it
look like a statue, and the full colour variation with I think
turned out great, this made me want to experiment with 3D
printing.
Finishing the figure, I painted the stand, made wear marks on
the suit, and used washed to shade certain areas.





This made me want to learn more about 3D printing

I did a technical workshop for 3D printing, I wanted to try
learning an application and do a model for 3D printing, I used
“Nomad Sculpt” apple store application, using an apple pen
and a tablet I started looking at tutorials on YouTube about
digital sculpting and how to use the application.

I started doing a skull, a symbol of the constant passing of
time, it always had a strong impact on me, making me want
to live in the moment and make the most out of my time on
earth, from Latin “Memento Mori- Remember you must die”
interpreted in many ways, skulls, clocks, hourglasses all
incorporate the same idea, that your time is limited and what
you do with it is your choice.

Memento Mori (Latin, 'Remember you must die'). (2018). In S. Dent (Ed.), Brewer's dictionary of phrase &
fable. (20th ed.). [Online]. London: Chambers Harrap. Available from: http://0-
search.credoreference.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/content/entry/brewerphrase/memento_mori_latin_remem
ber_you_must_die/0?institutionId=210 [Accessed 28 April 2021].

Progress shots digital sculpting, using “Nomad Sculpt”
application.

Working and changing the mesh resolution so it can be
prepared for 3D printing, starting at lower resolution meshes
to work out the shapes first and then changing to higher
resolutions to work out the details.

I wanted to make a broken skull mask, similar to Japanese
“Oni masks”, I used my skull support for reference which was
quite handy and useful, as well as drawing a sketch of the
shape I want it to have.



I did the details with carving tools in the application, I started
playing with the global illumination settings, ambient
occlusion, colour and intensity settings to make it look more
surreal.

I test if for 3D printing on the “Cura Ultimaker” 3D print
application, to see how long it will take to print, with
different qualities and at different sizes.

I did test prints in the application with the model in one part,
lying flat, on support, and split in 3 pieces, the time was
pretty similar for all prints so I might try it laid down in one
piece.

I managed to get it 3D printed thanks to Anna Kakovka, the
universities 3D Technician, and thanks to her tutorial on 3d
printing it made me quite interested to try it out.

I did the setting for the printer, at normal printing (can also
be done fine and extra fine which can removes the surface
marks but also takes much longer to print), the printing time
was around 5 hours.

Printed version with supports, that are removable, filed and
smoothened where there were any extra support bits and
imperfections.

The finished product, was super pleased with the result and I
definitely want to explore more with 3D printing.

Close up shots of the patterns and infill layer, I really like it
how it looks like this too, was super exciting and very pleased
with the result.
For my final piece I wanted to use digital media to draw a
poster for my superhero character, put him in a dystopic
world, similar to our own but with an eery vibe, maybe
another universe where the world has been devastated by
war and nuclear powers.
Inspiration for this world are the paintings of “Zdzislav
Beksinsky”, polish architect, photographer and painter, he
described himself as “A photographer of dreams”.

https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/the-dystopian-
surrealism-of-zdzislaw-beksinski/

His work captures death, light and dark, the horrors of war
and dark images from the depth of the subconscious mind,
his work is resembling that of a digital painting, he shows a
lot of dynamism and motion in his paintings, even dough the
subject matter is the opposite, he has created a vision of a
dystopian fantastic, but sad world, that can be real and
imaginary at the same time, a Hellish vision.

I wanted to show a similar kind of vibe in my hero's world,
working in “Procreate” digital drawing application, I mostly
used texture brushes to create a landscape of a ruined city, a
dystopic atmosphere.



This will be my final piece, I had fun doing it and I look
forward to doing more interesting works.

Time it took to make it around 6 days, working a couple of
hours a day, total time was around 20-28 hours, materials
used, aluminium wire, plastic lid, Monster Clay (oil-based
clay), air dry clay and wall filler for the base, a couple of
sculpting tools (mostly used to break pieces of clay), learned
that my left hand is very good for smoothing and detailing
the clay, digital media drawing application “Procreate”.