This is a reference sheet I used to make Horstmann. There are some other lamps on here for a variety of reasons. The chap on the right is George Carwardine, the inventor of the anglepoise lamp. The chap on the left is Charles Terry, son of the founder of Herbert Terry Ltd.
Another concept image of Horstmann within his environment. This one is made up of twenty or so other images that have been sliced up, masked, transformed and merged into one image. I have also worked into the image with Photoshops painting tools. I think this image is lacking some detail around the periphery but overall it’s beginning to take shape. The coloured tendrils stand out really well despite the deep blue saturation within the shadows and darker areas.
Click for larger image.
Okay, Horstmann is now mapped and shaded… He’ll continue to change but not by huge amounts. I might change his colour but for now I feel that a hugely desaturated finish will build more contrast between him and the colourful butterfly trails. Well anyway… Here’s Horstmann:
This is the finished model of Horstmann… It’s not a particularly complex model and the UVW mapping is also pretty straight forward. This is rendered with a very standard HDRI reflecting background and one-click lighting solution just for demonstrating the model without any special materials applied to it.
Well, as lovely as he looks with his polished glossy surface, it isn’t really the right look for the lamp in the story. Horstmann is old, he’s alone and he needs to look weathered by time.
I have a large collection of reference imagery of the Horstmann and Hadrill lamp and a good amount in battered and bruised condition, which is helpful to get achieve a certain amount of realism when making the textures. I’ve also got a good library of sourced imagery of metals either found on the internet from places like Mayangs free textures or photographed by myself.
Here you can see the texture map for the diffuse colour being built using a number of different source images and a good image of an old lamp to refer to. The UV template is used along with some added notes to guide where to place scatches or built-up dirt and I try to keep the layers seperate to help with the building of specular and bump maps.
Here’s some progress test renders of the diffuse colour map. I have a simple bump map on here as well but this will be worked on properly once the diffuse colour map is looking how I want it, as will the specular and gloss maps.
Meet Horstmann… This wistful chap is the main character in ‘A Siege of Colour’. His design is directly based on a Horstmann & Hadrill counterpoise lamp from the 1950’s. I love this lamp. I love how Bauhaus it is… It makes me feel all Berlin. I’ve been not winning this item on eBay for the past 3 or 4 years now. Anyway… Here are some early sketches I made of lamps with notes and ideas on how to build certain elements in the film.
Ink sketch with some digital colour added.
Horstmann encompassed by the gloom. He looks a bit sad but really he’s just lonely. Doo doo doo, de de de… dum dum. I think that’s a Phillip Glass piece.
An alternative Horstmann & Hadrill lamp that was considered due to its animatable magnifying lens that unfolds from the head. Could have been an interesting element… From an animation point of view and for the lighting effect possibilities… Not sure why I didn’t go with this one actually. Perhaps it’s a bit too squared?
I think I wrote this during the month I was learning how to sleep standing up.
Subscribe to Blog de Luniere
Send me something fun
