Inspiration: Timothy J Reynolds

Timothy J reynolds is a huge inspiration on my work and is really the first person that I saw using this extremely well lit faceted style, the first piece I saw was over a year ago now and I remember it standing out amongst other 3D art I was looking at.

This low poly mammoth piece was so full of character yet is portrayed in a simplistic way, but I also remember seeing things that I thought "that's not right, that's not the way I was taught to model" but at the same time it didn't matter because its visually engaging and it looks like the animal its supposed to.

Lighting and ambient Occlusion are both very important throughout Tim's work this is especially evident in these pieces above.

here are a few other of my favourite pieces, what seems to make a lot of Tim's pieces very effective is the way everything is made out of simply geometry including the sky and water, this creates a certain visual continuity that brings the scene together.

Below is a short interview with Timothy J Reynolds were I asked him some key questions about the art style. 

1. What do you think makes the faceted low poly style visually appealing for you?  

I think I like the idea of interpreting natural, organic content into sharp, faceted edges. I’ve always loved math so I feel like it could have something to do with that. More geometrical = numbers [in my head]

2. Did you ever establish a link between any of your work and an art movement like cubism or structuralism, were retro games more of an influence, or did other 3D artists inspire you?

No, not that I know of. I failed art history, probably because I never really showed up much or tried but got along ok in my art classes. :) I do love looking back at retro games that had no choice but to use lower polygon counts and getting inspiration from there sometimes. Especially video game level designs.

3. From my point of view it seems composition, lighting and materials are all very important for creating a good scene, but is there anything that you would spend more time on when creating a scene in the faceted low poly style?

I think that’s about it. Lighting might be the most important and overlooked with most artists. I spend a lot of time there and takes a ton of trial and error, usually lighting any given scene 2-3 different times before I’m happy.

4. The low poly models you create seem to be effective for games, magazines and illustration, do you think that faceted low poly environments could also be effective in animation?

Yes, I’ve seen more and more animations in the style. I should really learn how to animate.. I’m obviously behind in that department and would love to make more stuff “move.” Making a game is also high on the list but waiting to find the right partner. 

5. Do you feel that stylised 3D can be equally or more effective than realistic 3D, if so why?

I tend to prefer any 3D that is not realistic. I just think that realistic 3D can be so.. boring. It’s a weird thing to me, to know someone spent 100+ hours making/modeling/lighting/etc a perfect living room when the end result just looks like a photograph. Call me crazy, but I think that’s boring. It takes amazing skill and I can be impressed by it, but again, just not something I seek to ever do as it doesn’t excite me.

Reynolds, T. J. 2008. Turnislefthome.com | The Work of Timothy J. Reynolds. [online] Available at: http://www.turnislefthome.com/ [Accessed: 24 Jan 2014].