Sex and the City Challenge

There are three reasons why I’m a hard core fan of Sex and the City.

1. As a woman, I can relate to A LOT of the storylines (unfortunately);
2. It tackles taboo subjects head on, and
3. It’s funny.

Actually, it’s very funny.

It gets a pretty hard time from our male counterparts because it’s deemed feminist drivel, however whilst they ultimately want to retain their identity and independence within their relationships (and what exactly is wrong with that??!!), these characters most definitely find fulfilment in their interactions with men, to the extent that their weaknesses are often exposed in their (sometimes) fruitless endeavours to meet and keep ‘the one’.

No one, NO ONE deserves being dumped via post-it…or text! And I’m not speaking from experience. I’m NOT, ok?!

It’s true that most female viewers identify more with the character of Carrie as they follow her journey of highs and (mostly) lows when it comes to meeting Mr Right.

Yes, even Feminists believe in love.

I’m such a devoted follower of Carrie’s fictional greatness, that I was extremely amused and secretly chuffed when my friends drew comparisons between her life and mine, with the purchase of a desk for my city centre apartment.

Although, this was out of necessity, due to the onset of Repetitive Strain Injury.  Yes, really.

Seriously, how cool is this little vintage, urban and funky corner of my pad? I stop and look at it at least 3.84 times a day.

I found myself with a few hours to spare recently and decided to set myself a challenge.  It’s one thing to build a 3D model and present photo-realistic renders to a brief but what about replicating an interior?

I’m fond of  Carrie’s apartment, (the old one, pre-being jilted at the altar), it has a very comforting ‘lived in’, shabby chic vibe, although parts of it are a little too shabby for my liking.

This little exercise was not only going to put SketchUp and Maxwell Render to the test but also my abilities as a 3D Visualiser.  I rolled up my sleeves, dug out my box set of Sex and the City and got to work.

I should point out that the shell of this room was already available via SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse, but I did transform the interior into the apartment we all know and love.

Frustratingly there weren’t that many clear photographs of the bedroom area, so I used a combination of the two below and referred to some interior shots from the series.

Believe it or not, the most challenging aspect of this project was getting the wall colour right.  It doesn’t help that in both pictures the wall colour is different shades due to the lighting but I used the grey/green shade of the image to the left, just in case you’re squinting at your screen right now and judging my efforts.

Did I meet this challenge?  I’ll let you decide…

And just for the nostalgic factor, I’ve added this little close-up.  Die-hard fans will unquestionably be aware of its significance.

I think I’ve illustrated something very important with this blog post: never underestimate the power of photo-realistic rendering.

And just to humour my love of this show a little more, I’ve compiled my top 5 favourite clips.  I had to weed through quite a few on YouTube because many of the clips I actually like are too risqué for insertion on my blog…eek.

‘It’s Preventative’!

Say it, Don’t Post-it

Brace Yourself

A Windy Dilemma

Fashion Roadkill