Page 126 - Decadence

Unique & Limited’s spectacular artworks demonstrate a fresh and original way of bringing automotive stories to life
Few areas of history are as story-rich as our automotive past, but too often these stories are lost, under-appreciated, or untold due to the technological shortcomings of the era.
Unique & Limited are a team of creative thinkers; artists, automotive enthusiasts and perfectionists. Their mission is to recreate moments in automotive history in a way they’ve never been seen before, using a clever blend of computer-generated imagery and digital photography. They create artworks in a way that re ects the name - their methods are unique, and their nished pieces are limited.
Their journey began by pursuing a passion for history, precision and technology and so far, its taken them places they’ve never dreamt about. Although they haven’t reached their nal destination yet, they continue pushing the boundaries, because they go the extra mile for their art.
Going the extra ‘Mile.’
Unique & Limited’s small but dedicated team is commited to recapturing historic moments with fresh angles and original perspectives, no longer restricted by limitations of the past. Meticulously developed, they spend weeks and months on research to guarantee every detail is accurate from the grandest sunset, down to the smallest nut and bolt, thus creating an astonishingly accurate, brilliant picture allowing the observer to get close up and personal to the peak moments of automotive history.
With the modern day demand to make classic race cars look as though they have just left the production line, no one can really ever see them in true race conditions so these artists go to great lengths to depict them exactly as they were at the time, a moment frozen in history, something you would only ever have seen if you were actually there experiencing the atmosphere of a bygone era. It is not only the cars that receive this extremely detailed treatment, the same level and detail and research goes into the locations, the characters and the supporting props that are used to set the scene and tell the story.
Usually the team gather over 2000 original historic pictures for reference in each project. Unique- Limited like to involve car owners, manufacturers, historians and eye witnesses where possible.
It is a process that can take a team of ve highly skilled artists on average three to ve months to complete.
Rebuilding some of the worlds best cars through CGI. Once the concept is established, they set to work creating a 3D CGI model, studying every piece of reference material available.The artists essentially build a car from scratch, slowly constructing layer upon layer of detail-even down to the correct number of coats of paint!
Each car is built from the ground up according to the models exact historical speci cations, taking the specialised artists up to two months to complete- striving to depict the cars authentic racing condition at the time including any dirt and damaged it sustained.
Next step in the creative process after the preproduction is in place is the photo shoot, capturing the highest quality of images to work from. The team go out on a location shoot, this can often last for days with crews of up to 70 people, depending on the concept, even building detailed sets when required. Travelling to real locations involved in the history of the project and using actors for maximum authenticity.
The nal step is composition, the process involves bringing all the elements together to form the artwork. All of the nalised 3D renders are composited with the photo-shoot images, with the further layers of light, smoke, dirt, ames or whatever it takes to bring the piece to life.
Only by adding these bits of magic, scratches, dirt and other aws and then by matching the lighting conditions to the photographs is it possible to achieve a truly realistic and believable image.
The resulting end product or to give it its true de nition, work of art, is a one of a kind limited edition of prints.They are usually available in ve large format (220 x 94 cm) and twenty- ve medium format (110 x 47 cm) signed copies, so once these have gone, they are gone and even more collectable.
The current topic is classic cars featuring legends such as the Ferrari 250 GTO, Porsche 917, Bugatti T35, BMW 328 or the Ford GT40 in action. With the technology behind this it has opened up a new market for Unique-Limited, letting private collectors and companies recreate their own special, moments from the past. Two such cooperations to date include McLaren (Project Hunting for Victory) and Maserati (The White Dame).
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