This piece was influenced by Jökulsárlón Lagoon, a beautiful and serene place in the Southern Iceland where a glacial tongue comes down into the lake and calves off icebergs.

Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Iceland 2006 view 01

Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Iceland 2006 view 02

Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Iceland 2006 final background plate

The 3D sculpt, as always, was done in Zbrush from only a few scarce references I could find online.

whale fetus ZBrush sculpt

Here’s an unfinished composite done in Photoshop with an alternative angle of view of the sculpt.

alt composite view

The final composite work-in-progress. Individual icebergs were cut out from the background view 01 (see on the very top) and transformed to better match perspective of the shot.

comp view wip

final composite ready to be taken into AE

A total of 15 individual icebergs were animated inside After Effects as well as smoke elements were added to enhance the ambiance.
click to enlarge:

AE set-up

view the final animation here