Chimerical Sinister Shrine Gallery
The Imaginarium of Heretical Shrines is Yiting Guo's virtual digital gallery. This project seamlessly integrates web design, graphic design, 3D modeling, architectural design, and game design into a cohesive and immersive experience. The gallery exists solely in the digital realm and exclusively features artworks created by Yiting Guo as an artist. Every aspect of the project was independently developed from start to finish.
Role: Branding, Content Write, Graphic Design, 3D modeling, rendering, game development, online experience design
Tool Used: Illustrator, Magicvoxel, Unity, Wix web desgin
Year:2023
Background Story
Before conceptualizing the idea of this gallery, Yiting was a senior college student suffering with ADHD. The condition disrupts dopamine transmission in the brain, leading individuals to struggle with maintaining focus or, conversely, to become hyper-focused once they do concentrate, making it difficult to stop. Since kindergarten, Yiting has held a deep affection for painting and this passion carried through to her university years. She aspired to develop a distinctive style, one that would be immediately recognizable, akin to successful artists. To achieve this, she experimented with various materials, hoping to find the one she loved the most. However, she faced setbacks.
Yiting realized that, like many with ADHD, her interests often waned quickly. During this introspective period, she was reading a book titled "The Elephant and the Elephant Rider." The book emphasizes that it's challenging to rectify one's flaws, but it's easier to amplify strengths. Instead of resisting your nature, it suggests embracing it. If your enthusiasm is fleeting, then produce results within that fleeting timeframe. Instead of forcing oneself to persevere past this period, it's better to switch tasks, investing that short burst of passion into something else. Perhaps, over time, a renewed interest in a previously abandoned project might arise, and you can build upon prior progress, allowing the results develop further based on previous results.
Inspired by this perspective, Yiting ventured into previously unexplored territories, such as 3D gaming, 3D scanning, website development, UI, and UX. She showcased her diverse body of work, created using different mediums. This reignited Yiting's passion and interest, making her feel she'd found her unique path. Her talent for diving into new realms flourished, and the challenges ADHD posed transformed into her strength.
Yiting's creative inspirations often spring from pure, childlike impulses, like a child wanting a pet dog and drawing one out of desire. In such spur-of-the-moment bursts, she creates. The Chimetical Sinister Shrine Gallery embodies Yiting's dream, a space housing her favorite creations. A person's living space often provides insights into their psyche, with every object reflecting a fragment of their consciousness. By either interacting with someone or observing their living space, one can infer aspects of their character. The Chimetical Sinister Gallery serves this purpose, symbolizing Yiting's personal space, the physical embodiment of her brand, and her gallery. It not only mirrors Yiting's ADHD but also embodies her aesthetic tastes and philosophy.
Description
This virtual building serves as my personal art gallery, designed to showcase my artwork in an immersive, digital format. I created a 3D model inspired by Nanyang-style architecture and curated my scanned artworks within the space. Like a traditional gallery, I also developed a full visual identity system, including a website, brochure, and business cards. During exhibitions, visitors could take home brochures and cards with QR codes that led directly to the virtual gallery via mobile or desktop access.
Process
I began by researching and collecting reference images of Nanyang-style architecture, analyzing key elements such as color palettes, structures, and signature design motifs. Using Procreate, I illustrated four orthographic views of the gallery design, then imported the sketches into MagicaVoxel for 3D modeling.
I digitized my artwork through photography and scanning, then placed each piece into the virtual gallery space. To enable interactive exploration, I used Unity to build a virtual simulation where users could navigate the gallery and engage with the artworks.
For branding, I designed the official gallery website using Wix, ensuring the visual style aligned with the architectural inspiration. I also wrote descriptive content to introduce the space and its concept.
To complete the identity system, I used Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator to create brochures and business cards. I incorporated intricate cut-out detailing into the card design to enhance visual appeal and reflect the ornate style of Nanyang architecture.