Spider Series
With this series the goal in mind was to create a narrative that would evoke sympathy for a creature which most people would find horrifying. She is a spider, which are commonly terrifying. But she is also a mother. Her appearance is ferocious, sharp metal and machine appendages but at the same time her organs are exposed. Only separated from the outside by a layer of glass. In this way she is delicate. Monstrous yet maternal, formidable yet fragile.
To look past her appearance is to see a parent with her children. A determination to defend her children against harm. And finally a willingness to give her life for her offspring however in vain.
Either that or I just wanted to make a bad ass spider.
These images can be purchased on Makersplace. Just follow the link.
01. Mother
02. Protect
03. Loss
Post Breakdown
Lighting and Reflection Passes
Lighting played an important part of this project. From a technical perspective to emphasize the character, create highlights on the metal and specular on the internal organs. But also to set the emotion of the image. Each scene has an ambient warm Sunlight combined with a cooler Rim and Key light. The reflection passes were used on additive mode to enhance the shine of the metal parts of the spider.
Materials
For the organs I created a variety of different shaders. Each uses a combination of a glossy, wet looking material combined with an SSS shader to interact with the light. For certain organs I used an Octane noise to create veins of fat running through the meat. The glass has a roughness map with a falloff so that the internal objects could be seen clearly from the camera but became more distorted around the edges. Below you can see how the various shaders interact with the lights of the scene.
