Eponymous Forms: Digital Avatar Creation

Reshaping the body through digital systems. Led by Ahmed Nader & Raneem Elhaddad “Information is becoming disembodied even as the bodies that once carried it vanish into virtuality.” — N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman (1999) How do digital bodies change the way we think about identity, representation and ourselves? Eponymous Forms: Digital Avatar Creation is a practical workshop exploring digital embodiment, avatar-making and the increasingly blurred relationship between physical and virtual identity. Led by Ahmed Nader in collaboration with Raneem Elhaddad, the session considers what happens when the human body is understood, reproduced and reshaped through digital systems. Participants will explore these questions in relation to histories of representation and image-making, connecting contemporary digital forms with wider visual and cultural practices. The practical part of the workshop introduces participants to avatar creation and digital character design using tools including FaceGen and Daz Studio, with the potential to work with CLO3D and Blender. Participants will construct and experiment with digital bodies while considering the politics of fashion, skins, self-representation and identity in online culture. No advanced 3D modelling experience is required, but participants should be comfortable working independently on a laptop. What participants need: Please bring your own laptop. Before attending, participants should download and install: Blender 4.4.3: https://download.blender.org/release/Blender4.4/ Daz Studio: https://www.daz3d.com/get_studio/ Please install and open both programmes before the workshop to check that they are working correctly. This workshop forms part of an international exchange supported by the British Council through the Connections Through Culture programme.