Having a specific order is optional, but I always go for the easy forms first and the hard ones last. Also, I divide the meshes into different collections, Background, Midground and Foreground.

I use a lot of Visual Thinking, when I have a new render test of the WIP (Work in Progress), I draw over the missing parts so it’s clear what to focus on next.

1. Use primitive meshes to get the basic shapes. After that, join them together with “Control + J”

1. Make a Retopology

1. Sculpt the final shape with the Multiresolution modifier

The brick wall in the Background started as a plane, then divided into small planes, and the Modifier Solidify with Random Weight Strenght was added. (2.3.1)

To do this, go to Properties > Object data Properties > Vertex Groups and create a Vertex Group. In this case, I name it Bricks (2.3.2)
Go to Edit Mode, select random planes, Select > Select Random and determine the weight. I usually use four values (.25, .50, .75, 1) for different planes.

In the Solidify Modifier, go to Vertex Group and select the Vertex Group you created before, in this case, Bricks (2.3.3)

There are some things to think about when doing the UVs

1. Apply Transform: Always apply All Transforms with “Control + A” to avoid scale errors.

2. Make a UVs Material: To see the quality of the UVs, create a material with colored UVs.

3. Face Orientation: It’s easier to texture if you have the same orientation on every UVs.

4. Smooth Types: If you are having some pinching problems in the UVs, try different Smooth Types.

5. Texel Density: You want a uniform Texel density, but sometimes it’s impossible. For this project, I divided it into Four areas: the BG with the lower texel density, the midground with a mid-texel density, the foreground with a big texel density, and the faces and hands with the highest texel density.

6. TexTools: With this Addon, you have several tools at your disposal, but the main ones I use are Rectify and Align.

Go to multiple sites like Pinterest, drag and drop images of all sorts (webp is supported) and divide it into different concepts, like texturing, illumination or anything relevant to your project.

You can find all the shortcuts on their webpage, but my favourites are:

Align Left: Control + Left

Align Top: Control + Up

Normalize Size: Control + Alt + Up

Arrange Optimal: Control + P

Substance Painter (SPP) and Substance Designer (SD) are two different software applications developed by Allegorithmic (now owned by Adobe) for 3D texture painting and material creation, respectively.

SBS stands for Substance Designer graph file, which is a file format that contains the nodes and graphs used to create a procedural texture or material. This file can be opened and edited in Substance Designer.

SBSAR stands for Substance Archive, a file format containing a compiled version of a Substance Designer graph file. This format exports procedural textures and materials that can be used in other software applications that support the Substance engine, such as Unreal Engine or Unity.

In summary, SBS is the editable file format used in Substance Designer, while SBSAR is the exportable file format used to distribute procedural textures and materials created in Substance Designer to other applications, like Substance Painter, Unreal Engine or Unity.

Use this to get a more natural variance between objects of the same material. In this project, the wood cabinet has a different tone for each wood part, and every brick in the background wall is slightly different.

Texturing is the process of adding a two-dimensional image to the surface of a 3D model. Shading, on the other hand, is the process of determining how light interacts with the surface of a 3D model.

There are some limitations in texturing, you can not add a fresnel effect to a texture, but you can do this with a shading technique. In short, use Shading techniques to control the behaviour of the surfaces.

I used the wine’s exported texture(Left) in this project and added some shading techniques to get the final version(Right).

Hue Saturation: Change the Albedo non-destructively.

Map Range: Change the Roughness Map non-destructively.

Mix Color: Mix multiple Albedos, or mix it with an Ambient Occlusion.

Fresnel: Use as a mask for a physically accurate fresnel effect.

Layer Weight: With this one, you can achieve an unreal fresnel effect.

Noise Texture: Add extra noise to the texture with this one.

You do not need to use them all, but at least start playing with each one. Eventually, you will know how to use them to your advantage.

After checking out the new system to create hair, I was ready to dive, but I found an Addon that makes this task a lot easier. This Addon is a payment one, and it’s worth it.

This Addon uses Geometry Nodes as a base system, so you can modify it if you understand GeoNodes. Remember that the supported versions of Blender are 3.3 and 3.4 for this Addon, but when finishing, you can open the asset with the 3.5 version without a problem.

1. Select the mesh.

2. Click on New Groom > Create Groom.

3. In the Generator tab, you can change the Lenght and Density.

4. Add the Guide Deformer to add some guides to manage the hair effortlessly.

5. Stack as many deformers as you want, like Noise, Curl, Clump and Trim.

This system takes less amount of memory to make a complex hair system. For the samurai, the hair is divided into multiple parts:

1. Small Hairs

2. Pony Tale

3. Side Head Hair

4. Inner Ear

5. Inner Nose

6. Eyebrows

7. Eyelashes

8. Small Beard

9. Goatee

10. Moustache

I used GeoNodes in multiple areas of the project, but I will show you one of the simple ones, creating the Rubberset Hair Particles.

Get the main idea of what you must accomplish. In this case:

1. Noise on the hair

2. A curve form on top

3. Two colors for the hair

1. Select the Mesh and Add a Geometry Nodes Modifier(5.2.1)

2. Distribute Points on Selected Faces and use Curve Line as an Instance(5.2.2)

3. Resample the Curves Instances and Add some Noise(5.2.2)

4. Convert Instances to Mesh(5.2.2)

5. Set Material & Join Geometry(5.2.2)

EmberGen is a real-time volumetric fluid simulation and particle rendering software. Making the coffee steam and the sword fire using EmberGen was excellent. The premade projects available were very helpful. I got what I wanted fast because the program is user-friendly, and you can export a frame range in a VDB format that Blender can use.
Instead of exporting just one frame, I exported 200 frames to select the best frame. Also, the trial period is more than enough to learn the basics of the software and get great results.

It helps explain form and color, and it is necessary to understand it to create different atmospheres and influence the viewer’s eye.

When creating an image, it is always necessary to think about Tonal Values and plan where to place the light and dark areas for maximum impact. Use them to guide the viewer through the image.

The image gains strength if we have a substantial variation in these values, making it easier to know what to focus on. There are various combinations to explore with tonal values, and each combination balances the use of light and shadow differently to generate different moods and drama.

In this project, the concept art is a High Key + Dark Accent tone value combination, in which most of the values are medium and high, generating a clear image. But it has a dark accent, which is the most crucial part, the characters.

This color management tool is available in Blender, allowing you to visualise your scene’s luminance or brightness values more intuitively. It’s very helpful when you’re trying to balance the lighting of your scene.

In the image above, we have an overexposed illumination and in the image below, a more balanced illumination.

Each render pass represents a specific aspect of the image, and Blender offers a wide range of render passes, which can be accessed and customized in the View Layer Properties > Passes. For this project, y selected these:

1. Combined: To have all the render passes in one image.

2. Denoising Data: Mix with the Combined Pass and get a new denoised version of the image.

3. Mist: Calculates depth from the camera.

4. Diffuse Color: A flat color of the image.

5. Glossy Direct: To compose direct reflections in the image.

6. Transmission Indirect: To improve glass materials.

7. Volume Direct: To Increase the amount of steam of the coffee.

8. Emission: To have the emission objects separately.

9. Ambient Occlusion: To add dirty creases to any object.

10. Cryptomatte Material: to have an easy selection for each material

The 5760 x 2411 Resolution size is huge, but the 1024 Samples are lower than my previous projects. The 512 Tile Size was necessary to remove many problems trying to render a bigger size. Also, I have used the new Path Guiding.

Marine Kim For contacting me to do the project and support.

Stefan Mayr Gave me more knowledge about Blender than anyone else in my history as a digital artist.

Owen Jackson For helping me develop a critical eye and explaining how render passes work in post-production.

Juan Gea The person who made it possible for Light Groups to be present in Blender and from whom I have learned a lot about Geometry Nodes.

Julio Benavides For always giving me great technical advice in the worst possible way.

David Zavala For the emotional support and his advice on human anatomy and character textures.

Mr Kone For allowing me to use his great art and for this to be just the beginning of a future collaboration.

Nina Lagler For always supporting me in every project and believing in me when even I do not.