Resident Alien
For those not familiar with the expression, in the U.S., "resident alien" is the term given to immigrants who are legal in the country but are not citizens yet. As one of these people, I often get teased by my friends and especially family. So I thought it would be an interesting theme for a free representation. :-) The challenge was also to depict a sci-fi theme -- so popular these days -- without falling into the cliche of a metallic silver, harsh environment.
And if you ask me what he's watching on TV, it's alien soap opera, of course!

This image was created just for fun, using Nendo and 3D Studio Max 3.0 as modeling packages. All textures where handpainted using Photoshop and especially Painter 5.0.

©1998 Eni Oken

Click here to purchase prints of this image at Cafepress.com!

Finalist for the 2000 category: Storytelling

1999 DIGITAL ART GALLERY BEST OF SHOW
 

Image chosen for the cover of the Inside 3D Studio Max 3.0 book!

Tip: This image relies heavily on hand- painted texture work. The chair was particularly challenging, because of its odd shape. To apply the coordinate mapping to it I used a software called Tru-V, which is excellent for these odd shaped objects, because it allows you to "open up" the object (like a fried egg) so you can see all sides at once.

The image shows the texture that used for the armrest (lateral elements) of the chair.