Harriet Davey (AKA @harriet.blend) is a 3D Artist, Graphic Designer, and AR creator based across London and Berlin. Obsessed with "questioning what it means to be fluid and human in a digital world", her work examines and interrogates the ugly and the beautiful; the maximum and the minimum; the online and the offline.
From Instagram filters to workshops on Twitch, Harriet is definitely one of the young creative minds at the forefront of contemporary digital art.
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To inspire those of you submitting work to our Augemented Reality contests with Facebook (big money up for grabs!), we caught up with Harriet to find out more about her creative process, inspiration, and tools.
TH:Your work is very character-based - whats your reason for being drawn to creating futuristic identities and personas?
HB: Often my favourite part of videogames is the character creator - sometimes I'd spend hours in there, tweaking to perfection. I see these virtual characters as an extension of my own identity and their exploration into my own self-expression. I'm interested and intrigued by virtual worlds or metaverses, but it's the creatures or characters that inhabit these worlds that pique my interest even more.
TH: Do you have a favorite piece you have created? Why do you love it so much?
HB: Yes! [it's the image below] I never particularly strive for perfection - I'm not a perfectionist! I like to leave myself wanting more with a piece often, as I find it drives me further on the next piece of work. However this render, I do believe is pretty perfect. It was also a really fast one, I didn't spend longer than a couple hours on it, which to me is such a joy.
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TH: Do you have a favorite program to use for your creations?
HB: I mainly use two free programs; Daz Studio for the character bases, then Blender for additional sculpting, lighting, materials, animation and rendering etc. Sometimes adobe suite for post processing. For fun I sculpt in VR with Oculus Medium. I'm also trying to learn Unreal Engine at the moment.
TH: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
HB: I'm not sure I have certain distinct pools I draw from - I'm constantly inspired by my fellow Digi-Gxls. I also play a good amount of video games - lots of single player RPGs (lots of character creators ahaha), I love a great fantasy book or film. My dreams are often pretty crazy drawn out entire quest sagas, visited by funny twisted creatures. Additionally in the shower, on the toilet, or the Ring Bahn train are all peaceful places my mind often wanders and subconsciously explores ideas for me.
TH: Who is a big inspiration to you in the digital art world / digital side of the crrative industry and why?
HB: Every single member of Digi-Gxl! I love you all. Digi-Gxl is a group and community of women, trans, intersex, and non-binary 3D artists. There's 300+ members and everyone is so incredibly inspiring.
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TH: What are your hopes the future of technology?
HB: I hope the future is fluid! I hope the future doesn't look like the present. I hope the future is diverse and accessible. Put the corporations in the bin. Heteronormativity can join them in the bin too. Less bros in tech! I have a lot of hopes, and I'm not sure how viable they are - but I do see things slowly changing.
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