I used a pixel sorting plugin to add a little more visual interest and unique style to the portrait. One of my favorite details was how the plugin stretched her backside on the right iteration. It reminded me of a cape, so I exaggerated the effect by painting in more fabric on her backside. The end result is reflected in the gifs above.
I really loved the ornate details of the reference image on the left. I used it as inspiration for my frames for the portraits. I played around with the background design, thinking it might be interesting to see patterns of gold resembling fire formations, but later decided that the symbolism surrounding the portraits with artwork depicting adoration of the flame or some form of reverence to light, had more impact to the design.
Also, wanting to create more realistic lighting in the final composite, I recreated the layout of the wall I designed in photoshop, in C4D, rendered it out, and then brought everything into After Effects to create more ambient movement and a little sound design.
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