Thursday, December 4, 2008

An Artist in my field

 An awesome signature in MAYA 7 is well known in 3D animation field. This 3D artwork is a wired, intricate woman’s face and it comes out at the beginning when you are running this program, and it also gives MAYA users a great prospect and confidence. The impressive image was created by Meats Meier, a currently freelance 2D illustrator, 3D animator, award-winning digital artist and a teacher in Gnomon School of Visual Effects. As a teacher, he enjoys passing down his experience to the 3D artist beginners. His 3D training DVDs which are published by Gnomon, greatly help numerous people who want to enter the 3D animation art world. Meats Meier is not only a sophisticated 3D master but also a creative artist in the 3D animation field. Base on skilled drawing and painting, the intricate details and delicate characters literally present his talent and enthusiasm in 3D art. Further, his unique fiber-like style artworks are time consuming and stand out from other 3D artworks and are often shown on the cover of numerous books, magazines, and web sites. His main characters are usually very complicated but his unique composition is accessible. Also, his color scheme usually places his 3D artworks in a dreamy atmosphere and further cause me a strong feeling from the image. Two of his typical and most well-known artworks: Optic and Mother Nature would be the best examples.


 Meats Meier’s unique composition was first well-known in the signature of MAYA 7. His composition usually presents an extremely complicated artificial main character with a simple and clear background. The advantage of this style is that it makes his topic very clear and viewers are able to focus on his main idea easily, even though the character is extremely intricate. Optic, his most well-known 3D artwork is a typical example. This artwork is a wire girl’s portrait in a starry night. The girl’s head is in the center of the artwork, so that viewer’s eyes can be caught easily. Moreover, although the girl’s face is a complicated wired frame, the night background is relatively simple. This contract makes the topic very clear. Similarly, the main character in Mother Nature also is a girl, but she is not in the center of the artwork. The graceful girl is moving forward and is dressed in vines-fabric clothes, such as a belt made of vines and cloth made of leaves. She holds a radish and is in a relaxed pose. Although the plants around her are involved and crowded, the viewers can still distinguish her figure and face clearly from those complicated plants. Moreover, the background in Mother Nature is cloudiness. A simple background can further bring the girl into relief. Both artworks are classic examples of Meats Meier’s style and also well-known in our field.

 Besides individual composition style, the color scheme in Meats Meier’s artwork is also crucial. Due to the complicated character, he has to manage the color and the light carefully. Good color management not only betters the composition in his artwork but also shows a different atmosphere to the viewers. In Optic, the color scheme shows a science-fiction style scene. The girl’s eyes and the back of her head emit blue ray in a dark night. From the warm colors to the cold colors, the background is also dramatic. However, despite that the background is gorgeous, the radial blue ray naturally guides the viewers to the core of this artwork is. On the other hand, Mother Nature represents a pure natural color. The lighting and color scheme in this artwork are quite different from Optic. It’s a little bit dull and cloudiness. Further, the lively vines grow around and armored the girl’s body naturally, but they are brighter than her hair behind her. This contract indeed highlights her body and makes the girl stand out from those crowded plants. Although the color scheme in those two artworks is totally different, it certainly betters both of them.

 In my opinion, when I first saw Optic, the complicated wire face really impressed me, but I though it is just a science fiction scene. Meats Meier used a wide camera angle and different density of the wire to present a great perspective. Also, the blue ray and her fluttering hair present a vivid life and I can even see the floating air move through the girl’s face. Further, especially in the dark starry night, she faces to the natural light and the raising chin are presenting that this image is full of hopes and dreams. Although the face is artificial, it shows her emotion honestly. Yes, after watching this 3D artwork again and again, I finally realized why the authoritative 3D software company chose this artwork to be their signature, because the feeling which I get from this artwork is more than a science-fiction scene. Also, I get the strong feeling from Mother Nature. Same as Optic, the girl is also raising her chin, but it seems she is looking for something. In addition, the dull color scheme and her exuberant hair of vines show that she is mysterious and has the magic power from the nature to protect her plants and her environment.
 Meats Meier’s artworks honestly present his personal esthetics and his enthusiasm in digital art. As I mentioned above, both Optic and Mother Nature are marvelous 3D artworks. However, although the composition, color scheme and the extra feeling in his 3D artworks are unique and accessible, I still realize that there might be some details or ideas out of my head. He is a very good role model to me and I believe that the more great artworks I see, the better I will be.