Emily Alston, aka Emily Forgot, teamed up with Kevin Shepherd, head of CG R&D at Saddington & Baynes to create the above image – one of the collaborations we instigated for our Joining Forces feature in our current (June) issue…

“For me it was a perfect project,” says Shepherd. “We looked through Emily’s book together and chose a few things that could work. Emily then just started doing sketches and I’d rough things up in 3D, trying to make the process more fluid. Once we’d found some models we liked we just built a small room in 3D and started creating scenarios.”

Alston says: “It’s difficult to know where the hand tree idea originated from as we discussed lots of different ideas, and things evolved very much as part of a conversation. Together we played with alterations, pushing the oddness, making some of the fingers longer and building on the idea of it growing out of the floor. It was great to see how Kevin uses the technology, sculpting all the elements and building the environment, setting parameters like where the sunlight came in from. It has made me curious about how I could push digital techniques further in my work and I’m really interested in making 3D sculptures in the future.”

Of the final image (shown above) Shepherd says, “It’s great to use 3D in a totally different way where it’s more fluid and a design tool. It was just a really good fun project.”

Here are some of the myriad visual ideas that were conjured up during the collaborative process that led to the creation of the top-most, final image:

Above: the original elements supplied by Emily Forgot to Saddington & Baynes

Above: Saddington & Baynes sent over this image to show Emily how the view point through a window into a room is set up in the 3D software

Joining Forces features the work of artists James Joyce, Emily Forgot, Seb Lester, Von, Andy Gilmore, and Solomon Vaughan – and also the CGI studios Taylor James, TIGERX, Happy Finish, The 3D Agency, Saddington & Baynes andRecom Farmhouse. An exhibition of the six images created for the project runs until June 30 at Concrete Hermit, 5a Club Row, London E1 6JX.