Kiwi Bird and Kiwifruit

Kiwifruit, or just kiwi, is a large oval berry that is grown in several countries, most notable though is New Zealand. Originally, it was called... more

by Daniel Eskridge

Title

Kiwi Bird and Kiwifruit

Artist

Daniel Eskridge

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Painting

Description

Kiwifruit, or just kiwi, is a large oval berry that is grown in several countries, most notable though is New Zealand. Originally, it was called yang tao and was grown in China. When New Zealand farmers started growing it, they called it Chinese gooseberry, but later, importers in California called it kiwifruit after the bird which is associated with New Zealand.

Kiwi birds are flightless birds that are local to New Zealand. The are cousins of ostriches and emus but are the smallest of that family.

Growing up here in North Georgia, exotic fruits like the kiwifruit, were not particularly common at stores. As a result, I was not familiar with the fruit until one day my wife asked me to pick up a kiwi from the grocery store. I had heard of the kiwi bird. So, naturally, I went to the meat deparment thinking it would be similar to Cornish game hen. No dice there, so I wandered the store looking around. Of course, I could have asked for help, but, it's not really in my nature to do so. Eventually, after wasting twenty minutes, I found the fruit, which looked to me a bit like a lemon-potato hybrid.

So anyway, for those easily confused like me, I decided to make this artwork showing both the bird and the fruit. This would actually be a kiwi chick, by the way, as and adult bird woud be much larger next to the fruit.


About how I create my artwork:

Rather than traditional forms of art such as painting or photography, I use a computer to create my images., It's called 3D Rendering and works like so: I make a scene by sculpting and arranging digital models in a virtual 3D space., After stipulating lighting and atmospheric effects, I have the computer create a simulated environment from which I take a virtual snap shot of the scene. Then, using image editing software and something more akin to traditional painting techniques (via a Wacom tablet), I go over the work adjusting colors, adding brushwork, painting in details, etc. to produce the final image. Software I use includes: Sculptris ZBrush, Blender3d, Vue, Daz Studio, and GIMP.

Thanks for looking!
Daniel Eskridge

Uploaded

June 12th, 2014