Statue of Liberty
2025
Client ~ York Work Shop
The Brooklyn-based company contacted me to create a short social media video for their upcoming collaboration with the New York Sign Museum. They wanted an almost PSX-style, lighthearted rendering of the Statue of Liberty walking down the street from the Nassau Ave. G train station to their store and exhibition space just a few doors down. By collecting bits of hyperlocal New York history—such as the Cellino & Barnes sign visible in one of the shot, and the characteristic mailboxes of their Greenpoint street—this project bridged the real and unreal in a way that both paid homage and represented the brand.
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Images below are from the Blender development. First, a street scene was built based on the real-world block. Liberties were taken in slightly reducing street length, as well as in adding a deli immediately upon exiting the train, for style. Then, the scene was slowly built out in terms of complexity. Finally, an HDRI was added to emulate a sunny day.
Most assets were built to scale elsewhere and then brought in to the main project. The Statue of Liberty herself was as well, but her animation was done in this scene. Nearly all of the textures used are from image references I took on Nassau Ave., around York Work Shop. This includes the facade of the storefront, the train station, the mailboxes, the deli awnings, etc. A notable exception is the Cellino & Barnes sign, in which archival, free-use images were used.
