Abstract Landscapes

Daily 3D Renders To Challenge Landscape Forms With Surrealist Content

Introducing Filip Hodas, a 23-year old designer and DJ from Prague. With his brooding landscape images created in Cinema 4D, the young artist makes daily renders that take 2-6 hours each to complete. “I started doing these ‘dailies’ last year in March with plans to get better at 3D and I still don’t know when I’m going to stop,” he tells us. “I’ll probably just keep on doing them until I feel like it’s enough.”

His style is quirky, playful and surreal. See, for example, a snow-capped mountain reshaped into an egg, equipped with a Saturn-like ring and thrown into orbit with bubble-gum moons. More mind-boggling is the fusion of mountains and waves, conjuring dystopian scenes of rising sea-levels, where the jagged top of the world and the fluctuating ebb and flow of the oceans are no longer distinguishable. Palpable textures of slippery ice and silky, flowing water are juxtaposed with other-worldly shapes; a teal-coloured hexagon and a bright pink circle invade the natural landscapes like an injection from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Such contrasts transport us into Filip’s imagination and the potentials he sees for content and abstraction in the 3D graphics form.

While we admire Filip’s ambitious strides into unknown imaginative territories, ultimately there is an overriding tone of calm that filters through. Landscapes in art will forever be associated with the breathtaking ache of the sublime. On this note, the surrealistic fervour of Filip’s work presents itself as a challenge.

We caught up with him to find out more:

The Plus: What do you like about 3D?
Filip Hodas: I love about 3D is the possibility of creating anything you want, from super-realistic landscapes to abstract blobs and alien creatures.

TP: You’ve chosen a lot of landscape images to create 3D results, why landscape?
FH: I’ve always loved landscape photography, so I wanted to explore the possibilities of creating them in 3D. I used to do loads of abstract stuff, but I always felt it wasn’t “real” enough. I wanted to make them seem more believable, while keeping them abstract. Not just a floating blob on gradient or studio background. That’s when I realized I can use the landscapes to create illusions of reality and scale.

TP: What’s the creative process?
FH: Apart from Cinema 4D, I use few other tools and plug-ins for more specific tasks: World Machine for landscapes, Zbrush for sculpting, Xparticles for simulations and Octane render for rendering. My creative process is very limited because of the time restrictions I’m facing. Some days I have an idea I work with some days I just slap random stuff together hoping for the best.

TP: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
FH: I’m currently working full time as a graphic designer in local agency. I enjoy art, music and movies. Oh, and I love my crazy cat Ferdinand!

TP: You’ve been travelling, is that how you get your inspirations?
FH: Most of this landscape series was made while I was in the UK visiting my family for Christmas, but I don’t really travel that much. Usually I’m so swamped with work I can’t even afford to go on a weekend trip. Hopefully things will change this year!