Ever heard of Pelopoly?

He’s a professional low poly 3D artist, a guy called Evgeny.

He agreed to record an interview with me. We’re on opposite sides of the planet, so it was late at night for me and early in the morning for him.

On top of that, the call was a bit laggy.

But he had a ton of great things to share!

So new format today: I’ll go over some of the main points we covered in the interview. You can watch it here if you like:

Here’s some of the things Evgeny shared about his own process and how he does things.

Keep an idea notebook.

Evgeny writes ideas in a notebook whenever they come to him. Since he’s always recording ideas down right when he thinks of them, he never has to worry about not having enough ideas.

He also recommends drawing ideas instead of just writing them down. It’s easier to remember your original art idea when you can see what it looks like.

Constraints are useful.

Evgeny created a single new render every single day for 100 days. That’s a ton of work. To make it more manageable, he gave himself a constraint: he could only spend 1 hour on each artwork. This made him waste less time on things that didn’t matter.

Color-correct your render.

Color-correcting is simple editing you do when your render is complete. Simple changes, like contrast, exposure, saturation. Once you learn to do this you won’t be able to go back. It’s crucial for an even half-decent render.

“Low poly” is not always “low poly.”

People often refer to “low poly” models, or objects, or scenes. But often, they simple mean simple, optimized 3D objects.

Low poly has another meaning, though. It’s an art style where the complex is simplified. Where everything is simplified, but rendered in a realistic manner. You might even find a higher poly model in a a low poly scene (though very rarely.)

Knowing about photography can improve your renders.

If you know some photography basics—things like camera settings, basic lighting—you can apply this real-world knowledge to Blender. IF you are able to understand these kinds of principles in real life, Blender will make more sense and you’ll have a better understanding of how to achieve what you want.

Ok. Now you really need to watch the video for the rest. ↑

Can't think what to blend?

Anything with fire. Candles, missiles, forest fires, demolition fuses, solar flares

P.S. Finally released a new story! It’s an interesting new format. I think you’ll like it; I did.

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