Technique Research- Low Poly

Low poly is a polygon mesh in 3D computer graphics that has a relatively small number of polygons. Low poly meshes occur in real-time applications (e.g. games) and contrast with high poly meshes in animated movies and special effects of the same era. The term low poly is used in both a technical and a descriptive sense; the number of polygons in a mesh is an important factor to optimize for performance but can give an undesirable appearance to the resulting graphics.

This has carried over to 2D images to create stylised works of art. Usually portraits or landscapes, the image is converted into a series of coloured triangles after the initial "mesh" has been created


I enjoy looking at and creating low poly art. Though tedious and time consuming to create, the final result is well worth the wait. I prefer clean designers and movements such as Minimalism and low poly fits well with that. Since "low poly" comes from 3D model making during development of games it makes sense to include this style in my work.


Low Poly portraits are usually made as such:
1) An image is used to trace over in Adobe Illustrator.
2) Using the pen tool the mesh is created by drawing triangles over the image.
3) Once the triangles are in place the eye dropper tool is used to change the colour of the triangles to       the most prominent colour underneath.
4) Use the direct select tool to clean up the triangles and connect them.