This is my first serious artistic commission for 2017, a 3d printed sculpture based on a digital painting by TV artist Ryan Cordin. It fits inside of an 11 cm (about 4.3 in) cube. My goal was to make it look as realistic and animated as possible for a static piece of plastic, while still matching the reference painting. Here is the final sculpture.
The client provided the digital painting below as a reference.
I was asked to produce a simplified version suitable for 3d printing at Shapeways in Frosted Ultra Detial (FUD). This was a challenge because of the required tiny size of the final sculpture and the difficulty of sculpting the animals, the angel and especially the wings for 3d printing in the small scale. Also, the tunic was more difficult than I expected to make look somewhat realistic. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to add more pleats and folds in the fabric before the deadline.
I see obvious political symbolism. I’m not sure if the Angle is preparing to strike down the elephant or if the elephant is preparing to grab the Angel, or both. Is the Angel proclaiming victory after a terrible fight? It appears they have been through a terrible fight and are emerging victorious. One thing is for sure. The elephant and donkey are founded in stone and the Angel represents justice.
I decided to use a non-symmetrical pose for the Angel’s wings in hopes of making the sculpture seem more animated. You almost always see angle wings perfectly symmetrical and unnatural, but I think an Angle would use her wings expressively in conjunction with her arms when moving around on the ground. The wings tend to focus light onto the Angel’s body creating a nice glowing effect.
These photos were sent by the satisfied client. The sculpture is shown on top of a LED display stand.
Limited edition prints of the sculpture are here in Frosted Ultra Detail at Shapeways.
Richard Swika Designs 