Week 3: Geoffrey; Rendered

    I chose Geoffrey as my object to render. Even before the critique, I was pretty dead set on choosing Geoffrey just because I was really proud of his concept and how he turned out. He was one of the ideas that came to me the most naturally. His concept also kept sticking in my mind, what was this creature, how did he come to be, where there more like him, what does he do? I kept wanting to expand his backstory, to keep fleshing out this concept. The critique was mostly just to see if any improvements could be made, but my partner could see none. The flower at the top of Geoffrey's hat was my own idea that I added when I started to add textures, further developing him as a creature. 

    Geoffrey is reflective of Remix culture because he is an object that is a mashup of other objects. He is generated from the ideas of read/write and mashup culture. The whole idea of taking two or more things to make something that isn't quite new but isn't quite like the parts that make it up. You can still see the skull, the gnome hat, the piglet body, and the flower, but together you get Geoffrey. It wouldn't be the same object if I decided to use a cat skull instead of a human one, and it wouldn't be the same object if I used a top hat like I originally planned. The sum of the parts is what makes the object important, and is what makes the object unique. 

    Geoffrey is also reflective of Remix culture in the juxtaposition that his parts bring to the whole. The contrast between the angular low poly skull and the smooth surfaces of the piglet body, gnome hat, and flower (which is a little obstructed by the textures). Even the choice to make the hat and the skull resemble grass and a flower bush (which is where the flower on top of the hat came from) and the body resembling bare dirt created the juxtaposition of life and death, reinforced by the skull and pig. Adding further Remix to the objects and their usage. 

Additional Objects: 

Maz's Flower by MazAndAttero - Thingiverse

Simple Pine Tree by Curufin - Thingiverse