Full illustration
"Wrong Song" Mock Nature Cover
Client
Jennifer Fairman, Jeff Day
Year
2024
Media
ZBrush, Cinema4D, Redshift, Adobe Photoshop
Description
I was inspired by an article about the hidden fitness of the male zebra finch in Nature magazine. This mock cover depicts an isolated zebra finch, highlighting its struggle to join the communal song.
Read the orginal article:
“The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song” (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07207-4).
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Thumbnailing
After reading the article, I sketched several different concepts for how to best show what was described in the article. I especially wanted to highlight the solo bird and the long phrases used by the finches that have a community. After settling on the general idea, I ideated several different enviroments and methods of showing music visually.
Modelling
I made a zebra finch using ZBrush, giving it a wood-carved texture and hand-painted color because I liked the “hand-made” feel. I cleaned up the mesh, and built a simple rig for the bird consisting of head, body, wings, ankles, and toes. I sculpted the phone lines in Cinema4D, then proceded to pose the birds.
ZBrush Model
Posed models
Completing the Image
After posing the birds, I made the background in Cinema 4D and designed the swirls in Illustrator. I set up my enviroment, and rendered several passes so I could composite the image together.
Posed birds in Cinema 4D
Background in Cinema 4D
Animated gif
Bringing it to life
Once I was done compositing the piece, I animated the music notes in Cinema 4D and added them on top of the image in AfterEffects to make an eye catching gif!