Scorn of Men

[It seems like this wall of text doesn't want to get nicely edited. I am using numbers to mark my subsequent entries] (1) Hi. I've been considering it for quite some time now but I have eventually decided to submit my entry here. I've been working on my personal short movie for quite some time and it just happens that this year's challenge subject is pretty well aligned with it (and it's always nice to have an extra push). Certainly, I've already managed to accumulate some materials (some of which I will post here later on to explain my process) but my submission here we'll be made from scratch especially for this competition. It might be not the best possible entry since it's to exist in the overarching story of the movie (instead of being a compelling story within a single image) but I see it as a necessary compromise. My very first idea was connected with the subject of nuclear waste storage. You see, all of this kind of sites has been labelled as "temporary" since decades and after eventually it was decided to construct the first permanent storage (Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository in Finland), some curious architectural dilemmas emerged. Due to the relatively long half-life of materials to be stored, there would be a significant chance for them to constitute the threat for a much longer time than mankind is to exist. Therefore, it would be required to design such a place in a manner that would transcend the human means of spatial communication and become some universal message for whoever evolves later (or comes from the outside) that this very site is dangerous and they shouldn't dig in. I strayed from this concept later on but the overall mood prevailed. My new version is the story about an astronaut accidentally experiencing pretty extreme time dilatation and coming back to Earth only to find out that the rest of humanity is long gone. I will write more about it in the next posts. As for now, I put together some already made frames to set up the tone.  (2) Picking up from where I finished last time: my Earth of tomorrow is a barren place with humankind long gone. The protagonist merely stumbles upon some crumbling menhirs which feature wriggling humanoid characters. I post three example images which I used to set a creative direction (I merged them into one image later on as I have hit 10 images cap). I am strongly inspired by Rubens' "The Fall of the Damned" and Scott Eaton's neural networks. I use some existing fine art photogrammetry (various sources) which I pose in 3ds max and sculpt upon in ZBrush. In the first place, I also used Substance Painter but unwrapping was painful and changed my workflow into parametric. (3) I attach the short video to show some of them in motion. Please, note that this is by no means executed or edited the way it's going to be featured eventually and I am displaying it to support the idea. (4) I don't want to reveal too much of an overarching story of the movie but I will have to describe some background to make just a bit of sense. In this reality, humankind kept exploiting and destabilizing its environment. Simultaneously, they grew fonder of living within simulated virtual worlds which didn't restrict them with any pragmatic limits or the very sake of mortality. Humans fled into them, leaving the external world out of balance, on the brink of environmental collapse. However, being able to experience everything had turned out to be a mere joy for a moment and the only real solace was found in the ultimate expiration - call it a mass suicide or dissolvement of any egocentric individualized patterns. Humankind quietly faded away and the only thing left behind it was an AI called the Caretaker - the algorithm designed to oversee the external setting of the mass simulation. Now placed in the entirely unknown situation, bereft of the subjects to be taken care of, it turned towards the last resort known to it: the very last man coming back from the space - the protagonist of this story. The Caretaker 3d printed all structures shown in the movie, trying to include cultural imprints which would direct the protagonist towards its interface (and eventually get the new instructions from him). (5) I sculpted the central structure. This place was originally a simulation CPU (read the backstory above) but it was enclosed by the AI printing. Associated keywords: radiator, cathedral, ribcage, ark, caldera. I also attach the additional perspective which I don't regard as my final image (I made the ground here before the competition started so I wouldn't consider it fair). (6) I attach the image showing the search process for my final image. (7) I attach my final image. It is the long focal length view of the protagonist approaching the AI erected megastructure over the mass-simulation CPU. The foreground is littered with eerie crumbling statues of squirming human shapes. I used 3ds max, corona renderer, zbrush, substance painter, quixel mixer, marvelous designer, photoshop and after effect. I utilized some megascans and substance source materials but they were all pretty heavily processed. I also used 3d scans of sculptures and human bodies (various sources) which were used as a base for sculpting. Thanks and best luck to everyone.