Hayden Clay is a visual artist currently living in Brooklyn. Hayden focuses on feel-good surrealism, using 3D art to explore a variety of ideas, often through simple natural themes such as water or clouds. In particular he is interested in blurring the line between dreams and reality. We spoke to him about his art and working in 3D.
Surreal, playful, colorful
I make 3D art, but everything starts with a sketch. I sketch out a rough composition and then set out to create it as a 3D environment. I want each artwork to feel like a dream, so it should look real enough to feel immersive, but without extraneous details to give a sense of calm beauty. I'm quite the perfectionist, so I spend a lot of time making sure every detail looks as good as possible.
The most exciting thing about 3D is that you can make absolutely anything. I used to be a photographer, but I began to feel a little limited by my surroundings (as well as the laws of nature). With 3D, you can make anything beyond your wildest imagination.
Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are my biggest influences. I love their approach to magical realism, and their ability to create such lush and vivid imaginary worlds.
Colour communicates feelings. I aim to capture a feeling with my work, so I take great care to choose colours that communicate what I want. Usually, I imagine the colours one would find in a garden on a warm summer's evening: warm and saturated with notes of dreamy pastels.
