Why this page?
Welcome to my playground! This page will be updated periodically when I have something new to add.
In recent years, artists in the CG community have been normalizing sharing the more unpolished sides of our project creation process, which I find refreshing and essential for a healthy community. In many ways, I enjoy viewing the drafts of artists more than the finalized product because you see so much more of the artist in it. You get to observe their strengths and the unique way they bring out exactly what they want from what's in front of them. It's like the difference between knowing someone on a superficial level versus knowing someone on a deeper, personal level. So I want to treat this page like a 3D sketchbook/playground that will evolve alongside me. The tone here will be more casual, and I'll pretend I'm just writing notes to myself.
For me, this drafting process usually starts with a random thought or spark from something I've seen, and I feel the urge to get it out of my system. The way I do it is to block it all out in 3D. Most of the things on this page will be in the blocking and initial visualization phase.
I often use the collaboration software Miro for my annotations, so if there are screenshots with drawovers, sticky notes, and arrows, they're from Miro. Kudos to Miro!
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"Magical Water-side Farmers Market-ish multi-shot"
(Recently I've been really into drafting in 3d, and getting shapes and environments out of my system in that way. I find it much more satisfying to quickly iterate and throw things into 3d space and find what looks interesting.)
These are two separate "shots" from a cinematic I had in mind, which would introduce the world the story would take place in. The location and architecture take inspiration from Phoenix Ancient City in Hunan, China. I was thinking this would be a magical world filled with potions and mantras, and this place serves as a market-y area (kind of like farmers market) for magical locals to restock their equipment, amulets, Chinese herbal medicine, etc...
Some things would be autonomous -- all hopping, floating, writing, sparkling, opening/closing, sort of like Hogsmeade from Hogwarts Legacy. It should feel whimsical and dream-like, with things that have a mind of its own.
Made in Autodesk Maya (I threw a simple shader on, just to show the shapes)
(If I wanted to take it to the next step, I might do some preliminary dressing)
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"Nezha, if he was forced to run the hulu (葫芦）stand as punishment"
this is a hulu (葫芦)
this is nezha
I was watching Nezha (the animated film), and thought it would be funny to have Nezha sent down into the mortal world to run a hulu (葫芦) stand as punishment for his misbehavior. He probably counts the days by carving markings into the wood of the stand and doesn't bother to organize the stand at all. Probably doodles on the scrolls meant for keeping track of sales. Feels like something he would do.
Made in Autodesk Maya - I might find some time to flesh it out a bit more, making a Nezha model would be cool too. I'm thinking both a night and day version could be sick
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"Going into town with an oxcart"
(I originally only had the blocking done, but I wanted to spice it up a bit with dressing, and maybe even include a human character that serves as the center of the shot and gives it a bit of motion.)
She’s the daughter of a farm owner and is probably helping out with the family business by transporting produce between the farm and the city. She is clearly a little careless and inexperienced—one of the bags of rice has a hole and is spilling rice along the path behind her, and will probably be empty by the time she gets to her destination.
Blocking, prior to dress + character
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"Curtain Kiss" - pending idea
""The right compartment" - pending idea
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"Opening the saloon door in a dramatic manner so that light floods in and highlights the character as a silhouette, wild west film style"
Blocking, modeling, visualization, and experimentation in Maya
Made during my Indiana Jones rewatch era