I wanted to create an image of deep solitude. I had in my mind many ideas to convey this and this is just one of them. I thought of the many image elements used to exude emotions, like a very bright light that means hope, a dark atmosphere that makes one feel absence and a reddish color to make one feel a warm security.
After those ideas rolled through, I thought to use a wheelchair because when I see people in these, I don't know why but I always wonder if they will ever walk again. And I wanted to convey the tough reality of someone having to redirect their life if they lost the hope to walk again. I put the chair there, kind of half-in, half-out of an empty room, to give it an even more lonely unsettled ambience, like if nobody hears you and only a miracle will make you go on. The name ‘Solitude' was given after a popular song I like, called 'Solitude'.
Conceptualization Each time I start any scene, I try first to model all the forms and never rush into rendering or texturing. I always try to work on all the details of every model, taking into consideration the canvas area I have set and the theme of the piece. Modeling for me is the most important thing to do. It's like a house; if the first floor is not well done, it will collapse.
I made all the models as detailed as I could. When I am at this stage, I use only poly-modeling in 3ds max. Every edge in the whole scene is rounded, even the tiniest details. This helps a lot for showing correct reflections. Then I move all the objects I've made and try to fit them on the screen taking into consideration future steps like lighting. When I see my final models in the right composition, I make more if required, and erase the ones I don't feel I need there anymore. In this case I have modeled old things, the only reference used was a real wheelchair. The rest of the props and elements were just drawn from ideas I had.
