ART

by Chrysoula Xouveroudi

Art Historian

Quiet recently George Eliades, a painter who lives and works in Thessaloniki, Greece has been introduced to the art audience as a promising contemporary artist.

ADVICE

Readers’ question
“According to your experience is it a good solution to install grass pavers on the outer garage ramp floor? We prefer planting grass than installing concrete floor on the yard. However we do not know their resistance and the care that they might need. Would the grass maintain its look? How could I water it?"

DESIGN

Decosoup selects outdoor fire pits from Ak47 collection to keep you warm and cozy on cool summer and winter nights. They are beautiful, versatile and functional as they add warmth and fun to outdoor ambience. Outdoor fire pits are a great addition to the backyard as they offer a cozy place for enjoying outdoor life, even during the cold nights.

KNOW-HOW

Over the past few years, I have been watching a lot of cartoons with my 4-year-old daughter and I have noticed that the art of animation has changed a lot. As an architect and design blogger, I couldn't help but notice that some of the interior spaces in the cartoons seem to have been taken out of architecture magazines, or even professionally designed by architects and interior designers. Glossy materials, designer furniture, modern lighting, and minimalist aesthetics are just some of the contemporary design elements seen in animation today.

Today's children's 3d animations often portray living spaces designed with aesthetics in mind. Is it possible that the animation industry has created a new profession in designing and architecting? Perhaps in a few years, an architect or designer will be a required member of the larger team working on an animation project. After all, architects and interior designers are among the first to adopt 3D software for modeling and rendering their architecture drawings, even making video fly-throughs. The 3D digital drawing has also seen a revolution in recent years with the introduction of software like SketchUp, Blender, 3DS Max, Cinema4D and much more. This powerful digital tools, some of them free, enable designers to create three dimensional photorealistic images of their concepts. Most colleges in the world offer courses in digital drawing and 3D modeling and rendering.

This thought occurred to me while watching Booba, an animated series in which the main character is an anthropomorphic animal. The houses in which the hero lives are well-designed, with modern materials, carefully chosen colors and furnishings. One has to wonder if the production team consulted an architect to design the show's 3D scenery, which ranges from airports to gyms to lofts to old single-family homes.

Screenshot of the TV animation series, Booba. Τhe setting seems to have been created by an interior decorator.