Adamas Ruins by Blake Kathryn
Adamas Ruins
Bio
Blake Kathryn is a Los Angeles based visual artist working fluidly across the digital landscape. Her work includes influences of art deco and nouveau, cinematography, futurism, science fiction, and solar punk. Fusing vibrant palettes with ethereal undertones, Kathryn creates dreamlike experiences across various subject matter and forms of media. Kathryn’s work has been exhibited globally, both for her commercial collaborations and personal body of work.
About the Work
As a digital artist I work in the pixel realm. Specifically, I focus on 3D art and design primarily using the following software: Cinema 4d, Adobe Suite, Octane + Redshift render engines, and Zbrush. Within my generalist program I also use a handful of plugins, such as Quixel Bridge for scanned high fidelity textures and Forester for customizable foliage. My process is more analog in nature. I come from a traditional graphic design background so conceptualising and sketching are all essential early methods to any piece. As a past iconographer, these sketches usually appear minimal and thumbnail-like in execution with notes lining the margins. Upon finding a proper direction I dive in digitally and use the previously mentioned software as my tools and go between blocking out, kitbashing, organic and hard surface modelling, camera-work, etc. until I have a proper composition. Lighting and texturing are always my final steps as I feel when working those elements alongside the block out phase it's easy to lose focus on the core design. The final step in my process is a generous dose of post-work to give the final piece a painterly quality and slightly blur the lines of the 3d medium.
About This Piece
I chose a cube that structurally lent itself to being a larger than life construct. One, that while surreal would still feel functionally possible with a dash of the fantastical. While my process mirrored what we've already discussed in the previous question, the concept itself I can divulge further into. I knew immediately I wanted to counter the geometric sharpness of the cube structure with soft forms and organic compositional details that seemed slightly too perfect to have happened naturally - hinting at a human intervention in its conception of the path that leads to the ruin itself. The combination of these desired elements allowed for me to go on to create a work that blended my love for soft and hard, organic and geometric, surreal and fantasy. The name, Adamas, refers to the latin translation of Diamonds. I wanted to create something with the illusion of perfection and grandiosity while again being impossible without the humans before that crafted its existence to the pristine ruin that remained.
Future
Like many I am not recession proof and found a dip in both being fiscally successful and emotionally inspired, notably in 2023. That being said, I returned to my roots of creating when mentally happy to do so and commercial client-work that has always been a forcible blessing on teaching me techniques, workflows, and structure through its collaborative nature. For now, I'm continuing to enjoy this calmness as I go back into a healthy cycle of client, personal work, and my own physical health. I have a few things planned in the Web3 space coming up and approach it with humble expectations, simply happy to have found the desire to create again after such a draining drought. If I am blessed enough to succeed in these endeavours I can stand by saying: a happy artist is not a starving one and it will do nothing less than inspire me to create further.
