Greek Statues: Textured and Colored!

[HomeSlice]

I made a Flash presentation for the author of a book I've been helping to illustrate that showcases all the models I made for the reconstruction of the East Pediment of the Parthenon. The book is called The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble. These models are textured and in color! This was alot of work but well worth it

http://www.holmesbryant.com/east_ped/

[HomeSlice]

The link above takes you to the Flash presentation(page sizes are 200K-400K). The picture above is one view of what the author identifies as the Hesperides. There are several views of each model in the Flash presentation.

 

Homeslice

[martin]

Wow!

[heyvern]

Wow!

 

Oh, sorry. Martin already said that...

 

You know it is interesting, all this time when people called me a "Nimrod" I always thought it was an insult.

 

Apparently they were complimenting me on my Herculean physique!

 

Learn something new everyday.

 

Vernon "blasphemer" Zehr

[HomeSlice]

Yes Vern, I'm sure they were! I can tell you have an unnattural god-like power, charm and physique just from watching your avatar cycle from "Fro" to "Benny Hill" to "martian"

[pabloschmid]

hi HomeSlice

I like your work alot! specially the modeling and texturing, but I think you could have done more with lighting and rendering, in my opinion it distroys alittle bit the beauty of the work, do you use any skydome or so?

[HomeSlice]

Thanks for the comment Pablo. Please give me some more details about your perception of the lighting. I did use an 8 light skylight with 4 rays each, a couple warm Kleigs as keys, a light blue sun as fill, and a white kleig for rim lighting. What is the effect you are percieving and what is the effect you would *like* to percieve?

 

Thanks

[Dalemation]

A fantastic piece of work. The detail in the models is incredible and the presentation you`ve created really shows this off.

[HomeSlice]

Thanks Dalemation,

 

It was a huge learning process. Hopefully, I can use what I learned as a springboard to develop my rigging,smartskin, and lighting some more. None of the cloth is rigged adequately for animating. At the time I just didn't have to time to learn how to rig it so I posed all the cloth in muscle mode in the choreography. But I want to rig it at some point, and maybe even see if cloth dynamics will work on certain portions.

[ChrisThom]

That's neat.

 

We actually have the worlds only full scale reproduction of the Parthenon here in Nashville and I always wondered who all those dudes on the top of the building were

 

Thanx for the enlightenment.

[heyvern]

Wow!

 

I find this whole topic absolutely fascinating! I read the whole darn thing! I had no idea there was this "connection".

 

Can you enlighten me though, is this a widely accepted interpretation or is it a theoretical interpretation?

 

To be honest I have never heard of these connections of Greek mythology and old testement characters. Of course being raised a Mennonite if I had I would have been cast out... or I would have had to baby sit in the nursery during the sermon as a punishment.

 

That whole idea of Herakles ousting Noah is cool as heck... okay I think it is cool. Maybe cool isn't the best word.

 

I did ask my father, the minister, about Nimrod. There isn't much in the bible about him, just a few references... of course I haven't read the whole thing... waiting for Mel to do some more movies.

 

I am going to look into this some more. Thanks so much for posting it.

 

Not only are the images fantastic but the content is very intriguing as well!

 

I guess buying the book might be the first step.

 

Vernon "Blaspheming former Mennonite" Zehr

[Rodney]

Holmes,

 

That is some awesome stuff all the way around!

Incredible detail in your graphics and the site is designed in an outstanding way.

How much of the non graphics part were you involved in?

 

Way to complete a project!

 

Vern,

For what it's worth, most people use the simularities in stories, primarily pre-flood, to discount scripture instead of what looks to be portrayed in the book and in the website. The claim would be that scripture is a derivative of these myths and therefore must be discounted also.

 

It's refreshing to see someone get it right for a change.

 

*I should add... I don't know what the content of the book is other than Holmes's incredible art. So no endorsement intended except to say if the artwork in the book is like that on the website. Probably worth the price of admission.

 

Here are the stats on the book:

Price: $29.95

Specification: Hardback, 7 x 10, 288 pages, 251 b&w illustrations, east pediment sculptures restored by computer artist Holmes Bryant.

[mediaho]

I find this whole topic absolutely fascinating! I read the whole darn thing! I had no idea there was this "connection".

 

Can you enlighten me though, is this a widely accepted interpretation or is it a theoretical interpretation?

 

To be honest I have never heard of these connections of Greek mythology and old testement characters.

Hey Vern,

 

If you're not already familiar with his work, you may want to check out Joseph Campbell. A good place to start would be his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces or the DVDs Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth or Joseph Campbell - The Hero's Journey. He spent his career comparing and contrasting the mythology of various cultures throughout the history of mankind to learn universal truths about us humans. Jews and Christians were certainly not the first people to tell these stories that teach us about ourselves.

 

Straying off-topic, but Campbell is a great read for anyone interested in creating original stories.

[modernhorse]

Just plain ole WOW !

 

 

Doug

[gschumsky]

Wow!

 

Oh, sorry. Martin already said that...

 

You know it is interesting, all this time when people called me a "Nimrod" I always thought it was an insult.

 

Apparently they were complimenting me on my Herculean physique!

 

Learn something new everyday.

 

Vernon "blasphemer" Zehr

Well, now that we know that, we'll make sure no one calls you THAT anymore...Goofy

[gschumsky]

hi HomeSlice

I like your work alot! specially the modeling and texturing, but I think you could have done more with lighting and rendering, in my opinion it distroys alittle bit the beauty of the work, do you use any skydome or so?

I have to disagree with this (or agree to disagree??).

I think the lighting is spot on, as in feels not like it's outside but actually inside a museum (or shot in a controlled studio). I think the light and color bring them out and they seem pretty darn realistic. This is an awesome piece of work (and prbably extremely time consuming as well), and the composition and lighting feel very much like this was shot professionaly in a studio with soft boxes galore. Something like this in the real world, if it could fit in a studio, unless it was to scale, would take quite some time just to light evenly and get it "just right".

Nice depth, soft shadows, etc.

Good job, and as Martin said "Wow!"

 

Maybe the next image contest should be mythology...

[HomeSlice]

Can you enlighten me though, is this a widely accepted interpretation or is it a theoretical interpretation?

 

Not only are the images fantastic but the content is very intriguing as well!

Hi Vern,

 

I've never encountered a theory of a Genesis-Greek connection before I started this project. I'm not sure anyone has even thought of it quite this way before, so I don't think it's a widely accepted theory. But I think it's intriguing too! It seems reasonable to deduct that the Greeks and Hebrews share some of the same collective memories. They "evolved" in the same geographic areas. They worked and lived side by side in Egypt and the eastern mediteranean region. Greek, I think,was the accepted written language in the middle east for quite awhile. The two cultures seem to have alot in common once you begin to look for the connections. To me, the idea that the Greeks may have thought it was a Good thing that Eve ate the apple fits with the rational humanist view of the world very well.

[HomeSlice]

Holmes,

 

That is some awesome stuff all the way around!

Incredible detail in your graphics and the site is designed in an outstanding way.

How much of the non graphics part were you involved in?

 

Way to complete a project!

Thank you Mr. Baker Sir!

 

I was not involved in any of the research or writing of the book. My area of activity included reconstructing the figures of the east pediment under the direction of the author, designing and building the Flash presentation (there is also a basic rich text editor right in the online presentation hidden behind a password protected doohicky) and allot of editing of the text in the presentation. As I worked with the author, it became evident he has done a heck of allot of reading and research, but sometimes he has trouble presenting his conclusions in a way that leads the reader from one piece of evidence to the next. He didn't change the text I edited, so I guess he likes it :-)

[HomeSlice]

hi HomeSlice

I like your work alot! specially the modeling and texturing, but I think you could have done more with lighting and rendering, in my opinion it distroys alittle bit the beauty of the work, do you use any skydome or so?

 

I think the lighting is spot on, as in feels not like it's outside but actually inside a museum (or shot in a controlled studio).

Thanks Greg,

 

I was actually going for the "shot in a studio for documentary purposes" look, but after reading Pablo's comments I was wondering if I had made the right decision.

[Rodney]

Holmes,

I won't pretend to subscribe to everything presented on the site but there is no doubt that he did his homework! As did you! You are a master spliner and more!

 

I apologize for taking liberties with your images below but if I was going to do a cover for A:M Digest for you sir... well... I kinda already did one test.

 

Holmes Bryant spotlighted in A:M Digest? One could hope!:

[HomeSlice]

Cool cover Rodney! Thanks. I'm not as exhuberant about self promotion as I should be, but if you want any pictures for the Digest, just let me know what they are and I will Happily send them.

[Rodney]

Holmes,

I had been to your site before but went there again recently. I don't remember seeing a lot of the work you have there.

Your "Who I am" and "Who I was" were quite a read. You've been on quite an adventure and that journey has certainly shaped your art.

 

I'm just a little bit afraid of you! Most artists scare me though so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

I do thank you for the offer and will let you know more as soon as possible. I am still zeroing in on the exact order of spotlights on various artists in A:M Digest and where all the themed issues fit best. I think I'm narrowing it down.

 

Please let us know more about your current work! It sounds like there is a lot more to it.

[SotirisGougousis]

Is the URL still active?

I tried to see your work,

but got a "server not found" message.

Your work looks very good,

and i'd really love to see more details.

But i'm not so sure about the fabrics'texture you used.

The use of multi-colored fabrics was not so common in ancient Greece.

Most, but not all, were "monocolored".

Can someone inform me about the correct URL?

[HomeSlice]

Hi Mr. Gougousis,

 

I just checked the URL http://www.holmesbryant.com/east_ped/ and it seems to be working now.

 

I may have gone a bit overboard on the coloring, but I couldn't find much information about it. Perhaps I was just looking in the wrong places. I found a few scant paragraphs that talked about the possible coloring of some portions of one or two of the sculptures based on chemical analysis. Other than that, I used a drawing by Peter Connolly, artist and author of The Ancient City, and a fragment of a painted 6th century BC statue found on the Akropolis as guides. If you have some web links or names of some publications that give good information about how the statues of the Akropolis, or of Classical Greece in general, were colored please give them. We are trying to get a grant to finish the reconstruction of the whole Akropolis and I would like to make things as accurate as the available information allows.

 

Thanks for your comments.