Who created this?
August 23, 2007 9:45 PM   Subscribe

Who made this neat picture of an abandoned and decaying New York City?
posted by cmonkey to Media & Arts (21 answers total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Looks similar to those in this Scientific American article.
posted by asuprenant at 10:05 PM on August 23, 2007


Best answer: Kenn Brown's blog has some larger images.

To my untrained eye, the style does seem awfully close.
posted by mochi crunk at 10:55 PM on August 23, 2007


this seems like it might be it.
posted by jak68 at 11:05 PM on August 23, 2007


oh, looks like that refers to the same scientific american article that asuprenant posted.
posted by jak68 at 11:07 PM on August 23, 2007


Both the Empire State Building and the Manhattan Bridge south of the Brooklyn Bridge? What kind of future is this, anyway??
posted by DefendBrooklyn at 11:14 PM on August 23, 2007


They're different. The OP's image is a montage of photographs, at least in part. The SciAm stuff is paintings. They're conceptually similar, but stylistically different.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:59 AM on August 24, 2007


That looks like such an awesome book. I can't wait for it to come out in paperback.

The graphic design on the cover of that book is very clever.
posted by wannalol at 5:38 AM on August 24, 2007


The OP's image is a montage of photographs, at least in part.

Huh. I've seen plenty of paintings with that level of realistic detail. What makes you sure it's a montage of photos?
posted by mediareport at 5:44 AM on August 24, 2007


mediareport: "The OP's image is a montage of photographs, at least in part.

Huh. I've seen plenty of paintings with that level of realistic detail. What makes you sure it's a montage of photos?
"

It isn't a CGI rendering?
posted by Drexen at 6:37 AM on August 24, 2007


Response by poster: Hooray, thank you!
posted by cmonkey at 6:38 AM on August 24, 2007


It isn't a CGI rendering?

I don't know, but I use "painting" for computer painting, too, so it doesn't matter. Bottom line is that I don't think it's a montage of photos and would bet that it's not "stylistically different" at all, but part of the same series, the one linked above.
posted by mediareport at 7:34 AM on August 24, 2007


It isn't a CGI rendering?

Speaking of which - does anyone who plays PC video games recognise any of the models or textures in the NY sinkhole image? Looking at it, the lighting and texturing, and (lack of) shadows suggest that it may be rendered via a video game engine, and video games also happen to be the mother-lode post-apocalyptic textures and models of decaying urban objects, and user-friendly to boot, so I'm curious if a video game might be one of the resources he tapped when making the book.
posted by -harlequin- at 8:50 AM on August 24, 2007


Response by poster: I think people misunderstand - "World Without Us", the book, has nothing to do with these graphics. I'm reading it right now, and there isn't anything remotely close to these in there, so don't buy it expecting pretty pictures.
posted by cmonkey at 9:54 AM on August 24, 2007


The two sets do look different, though, and so I'm not sold that they're part of the same series and/or done by the same person. The OP picture has definitely incorporated photographs of real items (like the rusted car) with CGI/painted ones (the Brooklyn bridge). The pictures linked by mochi crunk, on the other hand, have almost an impressionist element to them.

My first thought was that the picture referenced in the OP almost looks like a production still from I am Legend, that new Will Smith movie.
posted by shiu mai baby at 10:00 AM on August 24, 2007


Best answer: François Baranger
posted by GeekAnimator at 10:34 AM on August 24, 2007 [1 favorite]


(found by searching for "New York" at forums.cgsociety.org and coming across this thread.)
posted by GeekAnimator at 10:39 AM on August 24, 2007


Response by poster: Oh awesome! "Matte painting for the cover of the book "Homo disparitus" (Flammarion)".
posted by cmonkey at 10:45 AM on August 24, 2007


Response by poster: (But the Kenn Brown paintings are cool, too)
posted by cmonkey at 10:46 AM on August 24, 2007


Not only abandoned and decaying, but the bridges have moved too!
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 3:10 PM on August 24, 2007


Funny bit of trivia to complete the circle: "Homo Disparitus" is in fact the title of the French translation of "World Without Us." Baranger was commissioned to do the cover for the French edition.

Brown's artwork appears to only have been used as spot illustration in Scientific American article about the same book.
posted by mochi crunk at 6:16 PM on August 24, 2007


That looks like such an awesome book. I can't wait for it to come out in paperback.

I couldn't wait. Bought it hardcover, and it was terrific. I loved seeing these pictures-- even though they aren't meant to illustrate the book, they bring his ideas to life. But lots more in this book than just buh-bye NYC. Highly recommend (and by the way, I found out about it in the blue!)
posted by nax at 8:08 PM on August 24, 2007


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