2. Digital bodies¶

Research & Inspiration¶

The human body has always fascinated artists. Sometimes it was celebrated as perfect, sometimes treated with suspicion, or transformed into new, strange shapes — but it never left the spotlight. Every generation of artists found its own way of looking at the body, and through it, at what it means to be human.

For the Greeks, the body was perfection itself — balanced, harmonious, almost divine. The Romans admired this ideal but also loved realism: their portraits show wrinkles, age, even flaws. In the Gothic era, the body lost its importance; the focus was on the soul, so figures became elongated, spiritual, and symbolic.

1 Michelangelo Buonarroti — David (1501–1504)

2 Auguste Rodin — Eternal Springtime (1884)

With the Renaissance, the body was rediscovered. Michelangelo saw it as a vessel of power and spirit, full of energy and tension. Later, artists each took the body in their own direction: Rodin explored emotion in raw, unfinished surfaces, Dalí turned the body into dreamlike distortions, Picasso fragmented it into multiple views and Serov painted it with both classical skill and psychological insight. In our own time, Antony Gormley uses his own body as a universal symbol of human presence.

3 Salvador Dalí — Burning Giraffe (The Burning Giraffe, 1937)

4 Salvador Dalí — Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (1936)

5 Pablo Picasso — Naked, wringing out her hair (1951)

6 Pablo Picasso — Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)

7 Valentin Serov — Portrait of Ida Rubenstein (1910)

So, the body in art has never been just about anatomy. It has always been a mirror of how we see ourselves — as ideal, spiritual, fragile, powerful, or simply present in the world.

For me, Antony Gormley is one of the most powerful voices in contemporary art, because he treats the human body not just as an object of observation, but as a universal language. His sculptures are never about him personally. They become everybody, a reflection of what it means to inhabit a human form.

What inspires me most is how Gormley redefines sculpture. He does not create perfect bodies like the Greeks, nor fragmented ones like the modernists. Instead, he places the body in dialogue with the world — with the sea, the sky, the walls of a gallery, or the vastness of a city. His work makes me pause and reflect: what does it mean to be here, right now, in this body?

That quiet intensity, that ability to transform something so simple — the human form — into a meditation on existence, is why I find Antony Gormley’s art endlessly inspiring.

Antony Gormley

Tools¶

Make Human¶

First, I made the body in MakeHuman. I did not need any very specific result, so I was just modifying the body, intuitively changing some parameters and exploring the new soft.

I tried to modify the body by changing metrics.

And them I have chosen some haircut.

I've selected the pose.

Then I Imported the result in OBJ format.

Blender¶

I opened the Blender and switched on the Fabricademy Tutorial in parallel. Thanks to Ricko, I started to feel myself not to unconfortable rather soon. I dragged my file to the Blander.

I pressed Shift+A from the coming menu, I selected Mesh -> Cube, and put it on the level I need.

Then I add one more cube.

To be sure, that cubes position is correct on all 3 axes, I opened the second window and fixed there the view from -X position. Then selected the Body. 1) Select Modifier 2) Press Add Modifier 2.1) Select Boolean (on search mode) 3) Press the Pipette button and select the Cube

Do not forget to press Apply button.

Doing the same manipulations I added to more cubes and cut arms.

Hands I deleted in Edit Mode by selecting and deleting alternately Vertex, Face, Edge

In the process of working in Blender, you see the possibility of making a lot of beautiful options. I will continue work in this derection next time.

The ready Figure I Exported to STL (.stl) file and Wavefront (.obj).

Slicer for Fusion 360¶

I opened Slicer for Fusion 360 and imported the file in STL or OBJ. I opened the menu of Manufaturing Settings. Pressed + and filled requested units. I changed data as on photo below. For my project I selected cardboard, so I checked it's thickness with calliper.

In Object size, I changed Units to cm and fixed Height to 55.000. In Construction Technique, 1st Axis, 2nd Axis, ans Slice Direction, I started ot expperiment with different options to achieve the result I like and without red details on Cut Layout

Eventually, I stopped on this option. There were not many Layouts in red, and I liked the design.

I opened Get Plans, selected file type DXF (or EPS) and Export to My Computer

I opened the downloaded file in CorelDraw and proceeded with cutting of 2 pcs of layouts to check joints. You need to press CTRL+Shift+L to go from CorelDraw to LaserCutting mashine soft.

Laser Cutter¶

We use a Chinese production laser machine 70 W.

First of all, we make sure that we do everything to follow the safety guide. Always keep the machine cover closed during operation.

Never leave the laser cutter unattended while it is running.
Ensure proper ventilation to avoid inhaling fumes from cut or engraved materials. On our laser, it's done by switching on ventilation in 2 places.
Keep flammable materials away from the work area.
Know the location of the emergency stop button and fire extinguisher.

Then we need to do the correct beam alignment.

Correct beam alignment and focus are essential for both safety and quality.
A misaligned or unfocused beam can cause burning, excessive smoke, or fire hazards.
Proper focus ensures clean cuts, efficient energy use, and protects the machine’s optics.
Always check and adjust the focus before starting a job to guarantee precise and safe results.

In my case I joints were too tight, but I did not have to mucch time so I decised to go on with them. I made the optimal layout and proceeded with cutting.

I put all pieces on 2 sheets of cardboard to avoid material waste.

I put the following parameters for cardboard. For inscriptions (Layer 1) as below.

For cutting (Layer 2) as below.

And the magic started!

Photo by Mariam Baghdasaryan

After cutting, I assembled the body using instructions in Assembly Steps

And here are the process and the result!

Photo by Mariam Baghdaaryan

Photo by Mariam Baghdasaryan

3D scanning¶

I did the 3D scan with KIRI Engine application on my phone (I used iPhone 15 version iOS 18.6.2 (22G100)). I checked tutorials, which you can find right there in the app.

As it was advised in the video as well as we were taught by instructors in Fab Lab, the object had to be with textureв surface, niether tranperent nor shiny. I've chosen Photoscaner mode and made a scan with photos (I did about 45 photos) and gained the result I really like.

I edited it in the Kiri application and cropped the bottle as I did not need it. So here is my scanned 3D already opened in Blender.