This wholly modern fantasy world was created by Rotterdam-based Erwin Kho as part of the exhibition, ‘Far from Fong’, which presented work by six Dutch/Chinese artists in relation to two pieces by fashion designer Fong-Leng. We like the contrast of the soft pastels against the sharp, geometric edges of his 3D digital designs. We find out more about how he constructs his work and how this project came about.
“The image depicts the trials and tribulations of a lonely sea-drifting iguana and his avian companion. A storm launches them from their home island into the open ocean and through the currents they end up influencing life and eventually the course of evolution itself on distant islands.”
“For my illustrations, I use a low-polygon look which was inspired mainly by 3D video games. This is all done in Cinema 4D. Most of the objects are drawn manually point-by-point and then connected with polygons. I could also start from geometric objects, but I’ve found it more difficult to achieve a free look that way.
For the coloring, I use simple materials that mostly consist out of a color and a specular channel. By using polygons selections (C4D geeks will know what this means), I can isolate parts of an object and give them a different color/material, which is perfect when you need, for example, rings around a tree trunk or spots on an animal’s skin.”
“Also, some minor Photoshop color tweaks are applied on the final render, to really bring the image to life.”
© Erwin Kho, 2012
