Sweat drips down from your brow.  You look up to see the low beams of light from the evening sun painting its fading rays throughout the dense foliage of the jungle floor. The air seems thicker the deeper you go. You know why you’re here, it’s the Legend; the Emerald Jaguar.  Its been whispered by tribesmen, etched in stories from treasure seekers, and sought after by money-hungry men. And it led you, hot, sticky and tired, here, deep in the jungle with a lust to have the ancient antiquity, the last of its kind. Few know its exact location, but many have attempted to obtain it. The Emerald Jaguar has been buried and lost by time. The Natives remember this ancient relic as a protector of the jungle, much like the Jaguar is today. Of course, these could all be stories, but for you, it’s as real as the sweat, the heat, and the sun that beats on you throughout your journey through the jungle.
-Nikisha Ryan

—

A personal project of mine, brainstormed with my Husband one day while driving home, to come up with a render that has a story behind it.  I modeled the Jaguar by hand in the Forger app on the iPad Pro to represent the Mexican Folk Art wooden Jaguar carvings.  It was exported out as an OBJ and brought into Cinema 4D.  Then it was placed into a volume builder using random noise generated fields, textured from scratch and lit, and placed on a Quixel Rock scan to be rendered in Octane. 

Special thanks to Billelis for sharing a preview of his Octane Material Nodes with me on a project of his that inspired this idea, and to Nikisha Ryan for writing up a caption to go with this image.

https://ninamariephotography.com/portfolio/golden-jaguar/