Personal Projects
In this section of my portfolio, I want to showcase work that I haven't been set or commissioned for (work I've made to improve my skills or stuff I've made that I feel hasn't been good enough for a full showcase).
Bathroom Render
The project below is something I started to improve my skills and knowledge with Blender. I found reference images online of a modern design bathroom and decided to redesign it in 3D. I used many different skills for this, such as arrays to duplicate specific meshes without having to manually do it myself, UV mapping for textures that didn't quite fit right and Boolean's to cut shapes from different objects (e.g. the window-frames on the left). I also used cloth simulations for the towels hung over the metal bars. I added lots of meshes that are readily available to download and use online for things such as the plant at the back and soaps on the sink. The render below is a shot from the door as you enter the bathroom.
The render on the left shows the shower area of the bathroom, where I used dark granite textures to create a clean, stone aesthetic. I also added a copper shower-head, handles and hangers for the towels. The render on the right is a close up shot of the sink area, showing the lamps, as well as the different objects underneath, such as the hand towels and soaps. It also shows off the mirror and the reflective texture that I added to it. On the right of this render, you can also see the toilet that has a modern and unique look to it.
Character modelling
This project was completely different to anything I'd tried designing in Blender. I mainly focus on room/building modelling so creating a custom character was so fun. I decided to make a short-stubby Viking, as I wanted to play around with facial features when modelling. I started with simple shapes and used subdivision modifiers to create the rounder shapes that you see in the final model below. This allowed me to warp it in ways that were beneficial to the aesthetic of the model. I then designed different assets such as the axe and shield, which were simple compared the the Viking itself.
Even though the final product looked great, I wanted to take it all a step further and add texture and depth to this character. On the materials that I'd already made for each separate part of the model (which were only created for colour), I added a normal map, using a clay normal image to add the fingerprints and bevelled depth. This worked so well and from the final renders shown below, looks like it could actually be a clay model made in real life.
Jelly soft body simulations
This project was a silly experiment with soft body simulations in Blender. Again, I'd never really expanded from my comfort zone in this program and wanted to test some features that are provided. With soft body simulations, the object selected becomes a jelly like substance that interacts with other objects in the scene that you define with a collision modifier. I added translucent textures to each of the objects to further add to the jelly-like appearance which work very well in the lighting from the final renders. Shown below are 2 videos and 6 frames from the final animations.
Buzzin' Brews Coffee
This project was something that I created in my free time. I'd just bought a lino kit and wanted to test it out. I drew out a plan for the logo and cut it out, using black ink to print it on paper. I then took it into Adobe Illustrator and vectorised it (coffee bean bee logo shown below). I loved the rustic style that it had to it, especially with the dark brown background. I then added the name next to it in a lino print typeface and lay these components out like a business card. On the other side, I lino printed several hexagons, tiling them together to create a bee hive effect. I wanted this to be a loyalty card where the customer would get stamps for buying drinks.
Blender Scenes
These three renders below were experiments whilst I was starting to properly get into Blender. The first two are isometric scenes that I created using different techniques that I have now applied throughout my actual projects. The isometric camera angle gives it a feel of a big room in a condensed space. The third render was a test at creating low poly models, giving a mesh detail but at the same time keeping the style very simple.
Courting Logo Animation
This project was a quick experiment with Blender. I used the logo for the band Courting and extruded this in Blender. I then bevelled the edges to make it look round. I added a chrome material to the logo to make it shine and simply animated it by making it spin around a bound axis.