Towel Swan, final render. 3D.
SELECTED WORK
TOWEL SWAN
3D / MOTION
A digital sculpture: the hotel-room swan, left alone in the dark.
A towel folded into a swan is a small act of hospitality. Here it is also a still life.
Towel Swan starts from the ornament on the hotel bed, that slightly kitsch gesture of luxury, and lets it drift towards another white bird: the dead swans of Dutch still-life painting, laid out and lit like a trophy.
Nothing here is actually towel. The fibres, the folds and the weight are built in 3D. Soft and heavy, ornamental and a little ominous, the figure holds still against black.
Animation
Towel Swan, animation, 10 s. 3D.
The sculpture turns slowly and the folds change their mind about what they are.
Format
Vertical, 1080 × 1920, 10 seconds
Motion
Slow rotation, black background
Render
Cinema 4D, Redshift
From one side it is a bird, from another a heap of cloth. The animation keeps both readings open.
Details
The textile is the subject. Every ridge and fibre is there to be looked at, which is rather more attention than a hotel towel usually gets.
Folds and fibres: the body of the swan.
Neck, head and red beak.
Drawing
Swan, drawing. Original.
The drawing came after the sculpture and does the opposite: fast, scribbled, all feathers. It turns the folded towel back into a bird, or tries to.
Line study of the folded forms.
Posters
Drawing over the render, then out onto the street.
Swan Lake, poster artwork. Render with hand-drawn interventions.
Mock-up: poster pasted on a street wall.
Swan, poster artwork.
Mock-up: weathered wheat-paste.
References
Dutch still life with a dead swan. Historical painting; artist and collection to be confirmed. Not my work.
Folded hotel-towel swans. Third-party photograph. Not my work.
Technique: 3D modelling, texturing and rendering in Cinema 4D and Redshift; animation; digital drawing; poster mock-ups
Year: 2026
3D / Motion
2026
TowelSwan
A digital sculpture: the hotel-room swan, left alone in the dark.
Towel Swan, final render. 3D.
A towel folded into a swan is a small act of hospitality. Here it is also a still life.
Towel Swan starts from the ornament on the hotel bed, that slightly kitsch gesture of luxury, and lets it drift towards another white bird: the dead swans of Dutch still-life painting, laid out and lit like a trophy.
Nothing here is actually towel. The fibres, the folds and the weight are built in 3D. Soft and heavy, ornamental and a little ominous, the figure holds still against black.
Animation
01
The sculpture turns slowly and the folds change their mind about what they are.
Towel Swan, animation with hand-drawn interventions, 10 s. 3D sculpture, drawing over the motion.
Format
Vertical, 1080 × 1920, 10 seconds
Motion
Slow rotation, black background
Render
Cinema 4D, Redshift
From one side it is a bird, from another a heap of cloth. The animation keeps both readings open.
Details
02
The textile is the subject. Every ridge and fibre is there to be looked at, which is rather more attention than a hotel towel usually gets.
Folds, fibres, neck
Swipe →
The body, side on.
Neck, head and red beak.
The neck, close.
Drawing
03
The drawing came after the sculpture and does the opposite: fast, scribbled, all feathers. It turns the folded towel back into a bird, or tries to.
Swan, drawing. Original.
Line studies
Swipe →
Line study of the folded forms.
Line study.
Posters
04
The sculpture without drawings — then drawn over, and out onto the street.
Towel Swan, the clean animation: the sculpture alone, without drawings. 10 s.
Swan, on the street
Swipe →
Swan, poster artwork.
Mock-up: pasted on a street wall.
Mock-up: weathered wheat-paste.
References
05
Two white birds
Swipe →
Dutch still life with a dead swan. Not my work.
Folded hotel-towel swans. Third-party photograph. Not my work.
Technique
3D modelling, texturing and rendering in Cinema 4D and Redshift; animation; digital drawing; poster mock-ups
Year
2026
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© Liza Benesh