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I recently found out about a fantastic project called the Shah Nameh (thanks to reader Sepehr) and I was very impressed by the undertaking.

Originally, the Shah Nameh or the "Book of Kings" is a 10th century epic poem written by Iranian poet Ferdosi, narrating stories of ancient Persian heroes and myths.

Project Shah Nameh, as its press release states "consists of a succession of four feature length films based on the original text by Ferdosi."

The man behind this project is Mehrdad Mojir-Shirazi, and Iranian raised in France who is self-admittedly getting in touch with his own heritage and aims to "revive a part of the Persian legacy along with its culture, lifestyle, and mysteries."

From the teaser it is apparent that the project is a mix of 3D animation with more traditional illustration techniques.

I'm digging the environment and background art. The character concept sketches also look wonderful, and I feel that a lot of their charm is lost in the 3D modelling.

Regardless, with a Persian director in charge, I feel a great deal of satisfaction in that we are finally in charge of telling our stories ourselves, allowing us to maintain historical and cultural accuracy. From the director's statement, it is apparent that his goal is to remain "faithful to the historical merits of the narrative and the Persian cultural identity (notably in terms of clothing and architecture)".

I can't wait to hear more about this and hopefully see the whole thing come out. Meanwhile, I have included some of the concept art here. To see the rest, check out the project's website.

While cg painting and illustration have only recently become popular among Persian artists, their involvement with 3D modeling and design goes back far earlier. With the release of the first versions of 3DStudio, many persian artists became interested in 3D art and numerous 3D animation studios were launched, mainly producing TV commercials. Unfortunately, not being involved in 3D, I don't know much about the community and the 3D big shots, but the other day I came across the website and portfolio of Ali Rahimi, and I was impressed with the depth of his work. While his 3D images and animation projects look incredible, he has an interesting twisted style with his "sketches" as well. I strongly recommend browsing his portfolio.

Another incredible 3D artist I came across a while ago is 42-year-old Adel Adili, who I believe is a veteran of 3D art in Iran. His versatile body of work varries from architectural landscapes to disney-style character modelling. Don't miss out on his 2D gallery either, where he clearly shows his skills as a CG painter. Finally, he's also has an active presence on cgsociety, taking part in numerous challenges (and winning quite a few!)

Finally, I like to introduce the portfolio of our very own Ali Jalali. His Project 300 contribution was one of the most viewed pieces in the gallery and was circulating in the Persian blogosphere for some time after it was featured here. In his submission, he had combined traditional Persian Miniature paintings (see this too) with 3D art, and had created a breath-taking image of a woman with her harp. Miniature Paintings are a corner-stone of Persian arts, and you can't grow up in Iran without seeing this artform everywhere. Interestingly, before this piece, I had only seen one other instance of trying something new with this type of art (I'll get to that in another post). Anyway, Ali Jalali has a few other pieces in his portfolio at cgsociety which deserve a look.

There are many other accomplished 3D artists to mention. If you know some of them feel free to leave a comment.