Sapiens Project

Documenting enterprise Sapiens from international character artists Ten24 to consider representation, authenticity & the portrait. Ten24 seek to create 10000 superhi-res scans of faces, addressing diversity & rights in gaming with ambition & significance

I am documenting an enterprise named 'Sapiens' from international character artists Ten24 in order to consider representation, authenticity, moral & ethical rights & the portrait in the digital age.

Ten24 seek to create 10000 superhi-res scans of faces to address diversity & the rights of individuals over their image in gaming character design. I recognised this enterprise as holding key significance in my field of interest (specifically, photography, representation and the portrait) and approached them to discover more through my photographic enquiry.

Local to my home in the suburbs of Sheffield in northern England, their work is internationally focused and a key part of the gaming and character design industry. Ten24 are at a pivotal moment, having worked on a major new computer game, with an immenent release date. Sapiens is also gathering pace.

The company begin their character designs with photogrammetry scanning techniques - 71 cameras taking a photograph from differing angles simultaneously, covering a range of expressions, which will then be available for download in a data bank for fellow character artists internationally. Ten24 pioneered the photogrammetry technique around 15 years ago, and director James Busby is a leader in super-realistic human characters.

Participants in Sapiens volunteer to be involved and are paid for their participation, and can withdraw consent at any time, meaning that all character design via Ten24 is ethical and GDPR compliant. This is also industry-leading, as many big tech companies have a less ethical approach to image use.