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Digital Skeletons: Artist Creates 100 Varieties Of Radiolarian "Ooze"

Forget Pokemon, start collecting protozoa.

When digital trading card network Neonmob asked Chaotic Atmosphere (aka Istvan) to create a series of 100+ illustrations for a collectable “pack” of cards, he needed each depiction to look unique but related to the group. The Geneva-based illustrator and digital artist was inspired by the variety of nature and created a set of fake radiolaria, tiny protozoa that produce intricate mineral skeletons. Even better, those fossils cover large areas of the deep ocean floor to make something called siliceous ooze.

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He defined each radiolaria’s base shape in TopMod, a topological mesh modeling software and used Cinema 4D for fine tuning and rendering. He then finalized in Photoshop, adding titles that refer to the geometric base of the model and a European city that relates (Istvan has various reasons for the cities: personal, aesthetic, and historical). The final designs fluctuate between plantlike, snowflakey, and sponge-esque. They also all appear to be 3D-printable, in which case they could become a collectable sculpture series soon. Gotta catch 'em all.

Chaotic Atmosphere's previous work includes glowing icebergs and a tangled tribute to mathematics. He told Neonmob, "I never trade off between digital and organic because I use the former to achieve the latter…math helps us understand nature." His creations are perfect collectibles for former Pokemon enthusiasts who have grown into digital art sophisticates: trade in a Bulbasaur for a Barcelona/Tetra or get Glasgow/Myria in exchange for your Garchomp.

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