3D Modeling & Animation

Career & Employability Skills

Artist Statement

My work is inspired by fantasy and myth. I try to create models that Invoke the same feeling that reading a fantasy novel makes you feel. I use 3D modeling to create the things of my imagination and give them life. I will often draw from folk tales and myths to inspire me. My models are an attempt to give my dreams a form. My ultimate goal is to share my love of fantasy with others. 

Resume

Artifact 1: Use 3D primitives to create and render a complete scene

I used 12 polys to make this pigeon. I used many modifiers and compound objects  to smooth and shape the pigeon including mesh smooth, edit poly, and proboolean. I decided to make a cartoon pigeon because it provided a good opportunity to make something that looked and felt pristine while also using many of the skills I had learned over the past year. I encountered a problem with the tail along the way. The tail was much too long and was also too thin to look the way I wanted it to. I eventually used a combination of uniform scaling and rotation to get the tail to look thicker and shorter. At the end I used pro boolean to combine most of the polys into one to keep the poly count nice and short. I ended up with a scene with only three polys, two of which were the feet. After that I added some walls and a floor using a plane so that I had a backdrop for my pigeon.

 4/11/2025

Artifact 2: Use UV wrapping to texture a 3D object

I had a rough time texturing the pigeon. I encountered a problem when unwrapping it that stalled the actual texturing. When I selected the edges that I wanted to make the seams of my pigeon, it wouldn't translate to the UVW map. Eventually we figured out a series of conversions and transformations to make it work but it took a long time. Coloring it wasn't a problem in the slightest. The map fit seamlessly onto the model without much adjusting and worked well with the style of the model. It looked clean and streamlined with no errors. Overall I think this turned out quite well.

4/23/2025

Artifact 3: Develop a scene using detailed lighting

To make this project I had to think about what I often see pigeons doing. My mind immediately landed on bird feeding. Pigeons are a common bird in cities and like to hang out in public spaces to get food. I decided that a park bench made sense with the idea of bird feeding so I went with it. It was quite hard to texture the bench because there were so many edges that it had been cut with. I had a hard time discerning which of the many sides of the object I was selecting when I made the UVW map. I eventually figured it out and colored it accordingly. The lights were much easier. I made one light to simulate a setting sun and two others for ambient lighting in the scene. I wanted it to seem strangely wistful and I think I achieved that with my color choice. I am quite proud of this.

5/1/2025

Artifact 4: Develop an animated loop using a custom object

I am quite proud of this one. I struggled a lot to make the beginning and the end flow together. At first it looked choppy and like it just jumped to the beginning again. Adding the amount of time that was required helped me space out my animation so that it looked smoother and more natural. the lighting made the animation look much better. I really like how it turned out in the end.

5/5/2025

Artifact 5: Develop and animate a complex scene

This is my finalized pigeon project. I am incredibly proud of how this turned out. The way the camera moves is fluid and clean and somehow makes a cartoon pigeon vaguely menacing. The animation and lighting help sell the effect I was looking for without being over the top. I animated the camera to fly towards and around the pigeon to make it more interesting. It was honestly kind of shocking when I saw the effect it gave.  The entire project blew me away in terms of what I could do. I truly love this finished product. 

5/9/2025