Vogel Farina Advertising wanted 4 images of the Statue in the Lincoln Memorial where he was seated, then rising from his seat, walking across the floor, and then putting on his top hat as he prepared to leave the building.

They were not sure what would be the best way to approach the project. Stock photos existed of the seated Lincoln, but how would the rising and walking statue be produced: photo composition or 3D illustration? Either way, this was going to be a difficult project.

Big Al Gruswitz was asked to prepare 3 estimates for the project: 1. using stock photos for compositing; 2. having a photographer shoot original photography of various statues of Lincoln both in the Lincoln Memorial and other standing statues of Lincoln for compositing; and 3. creating everything as 3D illustration.

Challenges:

1. Few stock photos existed of standing statues of Lincoln and those that did exist had very diverse lighting as some statues were outdoors and others indoors.

2. Getting permission to photograph various statues for advertising purposes was going to be problematic especially in places like the Lincoln Memorial and the Capital building.

3. All images needed to be completed in 19 days!

Everything, including cost, pointed to using 3D illustration.

First the interior of the Lincoln Memorial was created mapping 2 types of marble texture on the appropriate surfaces. All models had to be made with the exception of a purchased Ionic column. Lighting was created to match as closely as possible the lighting in the stock photo used for the agency’s rough image.

Starting with a generic Poser head, it was first morphed in Poser as close as possible to look like Lincoln. Next, in ZBrush, the head was “molded” much like a clay model—only in polygons. Rough hair and beard were added with further molding. Details were added to the hair and beard to finish the head. The finished head then had a marble surface texture applied.

Lincoln’s wardrobe was also molded in ZBrush for each scene to match the actual Memorial statue’s clothing and to make it appear to drape with gravity and motion.

All 4 images were completed, on schedule, in 19 days.

The Lincoln Memorial illustrations won Gold for the Illustration Series category in the 2008 Creative Shake International Illustration Show.