Kids fLY HIGH
Hello this is my most recent piece titled "Kids Fly High". This piece is dedicated to the Kids in the Democratic Republic Congo that have dreams of a brighter future which were cut short due to no fault of their own. These kids are forced to grow up so fast that they never get the chance to find out who they really are, their youth got stolen from them. Kids young as 6 years are groomed to be child soldiers, to participate in senseless violence. The title “Kids Fly High” has multiple meanings. One of the meanings which I chose to focus on is that kids are the future, and they are the ones with the most potential and they are the purest form of energy. The other meaning is rate at which these kids face death.
Breakdowns
All Videos
Child Soldier Turntable
Child Soldier Turntable
child soldier passes
Kids Fly High
Outfit
The oversized jacket represents forced maturity, the blood on the jacket tells the tales of having to commit a crime to survive. The Angel on the shirt represents both death and innocence. For the clothing I used marvelous designer and substance painter to design and texture it.
Gray scales Wire Frames and UV's
Bolingo
The word “Bolingo“ /bəʊlɪŋgəʊ/ comes from the language Ngala spoken in Congo which means "Love". Bolingo is the name I wrote on the gun to contradict the fact that it is a killing machine. I added the smiley sticker on the gun to show hope in some dark times and the angry face to also show some anger and bitterness the children in Congo feel for having to live in these conditions.
Reference Board
For the head reference my main inspiration was the Moonlight movie star Alex Hibert and the pose was mainly inspired by the black and white photography of the child soldier by Jonas Ekströmer. When modeling the kid I tried to create an expression of a child who lost hope and feels dead inside.
I tried complex hair styles using software's like Yeti and X gen only to end up using the simpler version which was a lowcut because it was the most fitting for the scene.