GET READY FOR THE FIGHT | Nalin Nuphan

GET READY FOR THE FIGHT | POST-APOCALYPTIC AXE

Concept by: johnsonting

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My name is Nalin. I'm a 2D artist from Thailand who's currently a student at Gnomon School of VFX enrolled in the Digital Production program. I started my 3D art journey on October 6, 2023, after I decided to study at Gnomon.

The transition from 2D to 3D was like traveling from Thailand to United States... a huge change. So that's why I decided to challenge myself and create something new and inspiring such as this concept art from Johnson Ting. Overall, this project was created for my Hard Surface 1, Texturing & Shading 2, and Lighting & Rendering 1 classes. The variety of materials and its unique design helped me become more comfortable with using new 3D programs. It also allowed me to showcase modeling, texturing, and lighting skills that I've acquired from these classes.

GET READY FOR THE FIGHT presents the story of a survivor crafting a deadly weapon to be ready to fight any threats in a post-apocalyptic world.

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1 | MODELING

I started by gathering real world reference in PureRef. Doing this helped me understand how to break down the weapon to translate it from 2D to 3D.

After that, I used Autodesk Maya to block out the design from the concept art and then began adding more details.

2 | TEXTURING

After traditionally being a 2D artist, the switch from canvas to 3D space within Adobe Substance 3D Painter was a new experience which has now made me more comfortable using. The Axe has a variety of material like wood, metal, and tape so I had to view many real world references to help me with the texturing process. 

I also used Quixel Bridge for the background assets/texturing to help build the scene. This was important for me because I didn't want to only model the axe but I wanted to share a story for it. 

3 | LIGHTING & RENDERING

I used Chaos V-Ray for lighting and rendering. However, I wanted to push the lighting to create a more dramatic feel. So, I gathered references from multiple video games to understand how to present the axe. 

4 | CONCLUSION

After dedicating extra time into this piece after it was originally created during my second term at Gnomon, I'm very proud of the final outcome that I was able to achieve. I realized how important it is to refine lighting while having references to help guide the way because there is more to it than I thought which resulted in improving this piece.

The amount of time put into this project was worth it. I learned so much and now I'm excited for future projects that I plan on creating since this one gave me better insight on what to do and not to do.

 I'm grateful for all the support I received. Thank you to my teachers, friends, and classmates who helped me during this creation period.