Sapiens
I am documenting an enterprise 'Sapiens' from international character artists Ten24, in order to consider representation, authenticity, moral & ethical rights & the portrait in the digital age.
Ten24 seek to create 10,000 superhi-res scans of faces to address diversity & the rights of individuals over their image in gaming character design.
Local to my home in the suburbs of Sheffield in northern England, their work is internationally focused and a key part of the gaming and character design industry. Ten24 are at a pivotal moment, having worked on a major new computer game, Undisputed, with an immenent release date. Sapiens is also gathering pace.
The company begin their character designs with photogrammetry scanning techniques - 71 cameras taking a photograph from differing angles simultaneously, covering a range of expressions, which will then be available for download for fellow character artists internationally. Ten24 pioneered the photogrammetry technique around 15 years ago.
Participants in Sapiens volunteer to be involved and are paid for their participation, and can withdraw consent at any time, meaning that all character design via Ten24 is ethical and GDPR compliant, and importantly, a kick back against tech giants with a less ethical approach to data and identity capture.