I always wanted to make a portrait of a real person, I just needed to find someone inspiring. I actually started this before he even got elected, but I only got time to finish it much later. My ambition was to portray him in a more human way, thoughtful and slightly troubled. I chose not to simply recreate one particular photo of him taken in a given angle, but instead modelled him in a pose and lighting of my own. I used Silo and ZBrush for the modelling and sculpting, Maya/Mental Ray for the rendering and Photoshop for the textures and post. I painted the finer features (like the specular highlights of the eyes) directly in PS in order to have more freedom.
Staff pick for 7th May 2009
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