Created as a partial-spoof, partial-homage to Dutch paintings of the 16th Century, "Still Life With Cardboard Ostrich (2014)" is my senior project for Animation 3 at Northeastern University. We were given total freedom to pitch a solo project of our choice focusing on our main interests in 3D, and I chose to hone in on modeling, sculpting, texturing, mapping, lighting, and rendering. My subject matter of choice is a twist on the traditional still life, an artistic study of various objects that usually centers around food. Often in a still life, the food is meticulously rendered to look real (maybe even hyper-real), and more often than not is depicted as being a delicious feast of some sort. I was inspired by Dutch still life painters in particular because they do not focus on the delicious, but often the less appealing sights on a table - flies, old food, dead things, etc. Using this as a springboard, I chose my still life's theme: allergens.