Art in Japan>Contemporary Art 1930-2004>Digital Beauties

Original articles on art, artists, architecture, exhibitions, galleries, museums and cultural institutions around Tokyo, Japan.

Digital Beauties

by John McGee

Webbie Tookay got her first modeling contract with Elite in 1999. Since then, the long-legged Australian has appeared on TV and in print worldwide. Not bad for a virtual girl: Tookay is a CG-animated model, one of nearly 200 featured in the new Taschen book "Digital Beauties," the first title in the German publisher's new digital culture series. 

Kaya by Alceu Baptistao

Editor Julius Wiedemann says he wanted to showcase "beautiful women in normal situations," meaning he chose mainstream images like those found in Japanese computer magazines rather than the hardcore erotic material often found on the Internet. With section titles like "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns," "Canadian Techno-Fantasy Warriors," "Cyber Native Schoolgirls" and "S&M and Motorbikes," Wiedemann's idea of "normal" is broad. In these 2D and 3D-modeled CG scenarios, semi-clad fantasy vixens ride dolphins, naked European women with bad boob jobs hold hands and kiss, and Japanese teen idols—in bikinis—look vacant and cute. 

Webbie Tookay, the first model to sign
with Elite Models digital agency, 
by Steven Stahlberg

Most of the animators (98 in total, from 15 countries, including 40 Japanese and 10 women) work full time in film, game or other CG-intensive industries, dedicating the hours or months it takes to build a model in their spare time. "They don't do it for money, but for love," Wiedemann says. 

What they love is fairly predictable. There are a couple of darker-skinned women, a number of mutant aliens and several tattooed ladies, but there's apparently no Affirmative Action in cyberspace—the majority of these figments of desire are young, lithe, and white or Japanese. Wiedemann suggests that these types mirror the beauty standards of the artists' home countries. "In Japan, for example, the digital model is pretty much what you see in Harajuku or Shibuya," he says. For their contemporary take on bijin (beautiful women) paintings, most of the Japanese artists recreate the big eyes and perfect outfits of manga or idols. Western artists mimic fantasy illustration, Vargas girls and Playboy. A few men and animals make appearances in select scenes, but only as accessories. 

Model with flowers by Sasahara

Wiedemann sees this book as an important document of a new movement rather than a technical production guide. "With this book, I wanted to focus on the look and style, not the 'how to,' which changes too frequently," he says. Basically, though, 2D computer animation is like traditional illustration or photographic retouching, whereas 3D modeling is closer to traditional sculpture—animators build a wire frame of the body parts, then apply layers of skin, clothing, hair and other features. 

From wire model to supermodel—
the making of YAMAG's Ryoko

Most animators are eager to share their work online (the book includes the bios and websites of the artists), but some avoid the spotlight, concealing their identity to promote their characters as autonomous stars. 

To some degree, CG models are already sending out head shots. "This is leading to a point where the industry will have to choose between a digital or real model or actor," Wiedemann says, adding that the commercial failure of the film "Final Fantasy" (in which all characters were computer-generated) was due to a weak plot, not talent. 

Besides losing work, real-world actors may lose their identities to technological doppelgangers. As constructions of famous talent get more convincing—"Digital Beauties" features Angelina Jolie, Marlene Dietrich, Ryoko Hirosue in a bikini, and Elizabeth Hurley in period costume—Wiedemann says that flesh-and-blood stars may have to copyright their own faces.

"Digital Beauties," published by Taschen, is available at bookstores and online at www.taschen.com.

©2007 John McGee

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