This right here is shaman steve.
should he approach you for aNY REASON AT ALL OUTSIDE HOT YOGA, the crystallarium OR THE SMOOTHIE BAR AT EREWHON, be advised you should not engage. rather, look at your shoes and keep walking.
I TELL YOU THIS FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION. THIS IS NOT A SACK ONE SHOULD HACKY. He’s a huckster with a didgeridoo, not some benign yet eccentric Buddha.
should he approach you for aNY REASON AT ALL OUTSIDE HOT YOGA, the crystallarium OR THE SMOOTHIE BAR AT EREWHON, be advised you should not engage. rather, look at your shoes and keep walking.
I TELL YOU THIS FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION. THIS IS NOT A SACK ONE SHOULD HACKY. He’s a huckster with a didgeridoo, not some benign yet eccentric Buddha.
the cruel tutelage of shaman steve - clay render (2025)
Always aiming for a vibe and aesthetic akin to a blend of fritz lang and carl dryer films when working without color.
Always aiming for a vibe and aesthetic akin to a blend of fritz lang and carl dryer films when working without color.
I often prefer it, truth be told. Black and white is the bizness.
Gears - Color
Gears - Grey
So, this is how I'll go about composing a piece like this:
starting with a central figure and working my way out from there, I'll add new elements one by one, focused on telling a compelling story while maintaining compositional balance. i'm discovering who the character is pretty much on the fly. not a lot is planned in advance. it just kind of propels itself forward.
Here then are 10 sequential renders showing that process of discovery. no need to share the dozens of others i discarded along the way.
starting with a central figure and working my way out from there, I'll add new elements one by one, focused on telling a compelling story while maintaining compositional balance. i'm discovering who the character is pretty much on the fly. not a lot is planned in advance. it just kind of propels itself forward.
Here then are 10 sequential renders showing that process of discovery. no need to share the dozens of others i discarded along the way.
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I started with this well fed chap seated in lotus pose, then basically turned him into the lorax with requisite shaman beard. Was thinking at first he was to be an aghori sadhu of northern India, covered in human corpse ash. Spent a week or two down that rabbit hole, and it's well worth a google, I promise you.
However, I am but a humble vessel and My subjects go their own way. My job is simply to listen and execute once they've told me what's what. And this one revealed himself at some point to be something closer to home - less true believer, more cosplaying charlatan: a Hollywood snake oil mystic.
So I set him on a bed of nails and fashioned a spiffy langot.
added third eye, skull and jewelry, refined nails and blood.
added a base with rocks and weeds, established this as my frame.
sculpted a snakebeast and gave him arms. Because plain old snakebeasts are ass.
Enter twin snakebeasts, smoothie & straw, ashtray, cigar and some spiders.
added tiki torches in recognition of Shaman Steve's Fascist proclivities, adjusted size and placement of various assets in order to optimize balance.
added tentacles of an octopusmonster as a further hat tip to Fascism - and a not so subtle further reveal that our guy's a malignant douche.
kitbashed a bunch of old gears from I Yam (2016).
had to take three separate cracks at it before I got something good.
added gears fading into the dark. Thinking Modern Times, Metropolis.
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Now you're asking yourself, if this indeed is a snake oil shaman, why is he willingly self-mutilating? And what's with the third eye and monsters, huh? How is this not on the level?
Answer: It's the drugs, you goof. Can't believe I had to explain that. You're looking at him ten seconds in to what's already a very bad time... And he's yet to even begin with the yodeling/blowing smoke in your face.
I told you not to engage at Hot Yoga. Now you done gone and got traumatized.
added paint and a variety of materials.
and voila…
it's shamantastic!
it's shamantastic!
