Inspiration

Inspiration

Get inspired by hearing from other Rookies, our alumni success stories, industry experts. Throw in a bunch of visual goodies to get the creative juices flowing and you are in the right place.

Creating a 3D Cartoon Character with Maya and Substance 3D Painter

Creating a 3D Cartoon Character with Maya and Substance 3D Painter

Rubén López Fernández took on the challenge of creating a cartoon character from concept to final 3D Render. This is how he achieved the final piece, and some tips he has for other artists looking to embark on a similar project.

Design, Detail and Animation: Creating Custom Clothing with Marvelous Designer

Design, Detail and Animation: Creating Custom Clothing with Marvelous Designer

Nina Chernyshenko, a freelance digital artist from Ukraine, gives you the tools and tips to create 3D custom clothing for your portfolio, using Marvelous Designer.

20 Amazing Projects That Bring Characters and Environments to Life with Marvelous Designer

20 Amazing Projects That Bring Characters and Environments to Life with Marvelous Designer

Marvelous Designer is arguably the world’s most powerful solution for making, editing and reusing 3D clothes and cloth simulations.

Cinematic Environments
From 2D Concept to Final 3D Render

Cinematic Environments From 2D Concept to Final 3D Render

In this article, Naja Jelec dives deeper into her workflow of bringing cinematic environments from a 2D concept to final 3D render using Maya, ZBrush, Substance 3D, V-Ray and Nuke.

Game-Engine World Creation Using Unreal Engine and Cinema4D

Game-Engine World Creation Using Unreal Engine and Cinema4D

Get inspired by how Senior designer at FOX Sports, Jesse Larson, is creating 3D Worlds straight out of fantasy movies, with Unreal Engine and Cinema4D.

Little Hmong Harvester: An Expression of Feeling in 3D

Little Hmong Harvester: An Expression of Feeling in 3D

Recent Think Tank Training Centre graduate and 3D Character Artist, Houra Eshad, shares with us how she evokes expression and realism in her digital 3D piece: The Little Hmong Harvester.

Bringing an Everyday Object to Life Using Maya and Adobe Substance 3D

Bringing an Everyday Object to Life Using Maya and Adobe Substance 3D

Giulia Greggio has a passion for bringing realism to her work, and in this article she shares how she does that with every day objects, using Maya and Adobe 3D Substance.

Hard Surface Props: A Collection of Game-Ready PBR models

Hard Surface Props: A Collection of Game-Ready PBR models

Tatiana Devos, a second year game art student at Howest University of Applied Sciences - Digital Arts and Entertainment, shares how she textured and curated a collection of game-ready props for her 3D portfolio.

Realistic 3D Character Workflow Explained

Realistic 3D Character Workflow Explained

If you are approaching your first realistic 3D Character Model, this article is for you! Han Jaepil, a student at CG5 Academy, has written this article explaining his workflow for his latest project, "Daniel Day Lewis".

How Lenovo is Working to Power Human Connections and Creativity

How Lenovo is Working to Power Human Connections and Creativity

From real-time rendering to editing and designing, Lenovo is listening to the needs of the digital industries, and delivering a machine to power your amazing entries and portfolios.

Creating a Realistic 3D Character from Photography

Creating a Realistic 3D Character from Photography

Nayoon Levitin is a Freelance Graphic Designer and Student at Think Tank Training Centre. In this article she shares how she approached the creation of a realistic 3D character from a photograph.

26 Top Rated Vehicle projects for all you Revheads

26 Top Rated Vehicle projects for all you Revheads

Check out these sleek, fast, and original 3D vehicles that will be sure to make your heart jump a beat... or at least be inspired to build your own vehicle for your next digital project.

Create a Character Turntable for Your 3D Portfolio to Impress Recruiters

Create a Character Turntable for Your 3D Portfolio to Impress Recruiters

3D Artist and Animator Marten Zander is guiding us through the process of creating his graduation project called "Tricky Turntable". From the initial idea over animation to the final rendering with Google and Blender, he covers the most important steps to complete the project.

Using Unreal Engine 5 to Design and Create a 3D Environment

Using Unreal Engine 5 to Design and Create a 3D Environment

In this article, Think Tank Training Centre student Shakhzaman Kasteyev, describes how he created this stunning Rookie Awards entry using Unreal Engine 5.

3D Environment Creation: Steampunk Videogame Level

3D Environment Creation: Steampunk Videogame Level

Álvaro Garcia gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his final Master's Degree project: A Victorian Steampunk style Video Game level in Unreal Engine.

Giving a Studio Ghibli Environment Art a New Look in 3D

Giving a Studio Ghibli Environment Art a New Look in 3D

Brenda Santos is an aspiring Materials Environment Artist, undertaking her Intermediate year at Think Tank Training Centre. In this article, we take a look at how she gave a Studio Ghibli style environment, a new look in 3D.

Storytelling With 3D Environments: Creating Immersive Scenes

Storytelling With 3D Environments: Creating Immersive Scenes

Lightbox Academy student, Laura Suonpera Lozano, shares how she created an immersive scene with 3D, with hopes to inspire you to tell your own story through CG Environment modeling and lighting.

Have your mind blown by these Rookie Awards 2022 entries

Have your mind blown by these Rookie Awards 2022 entries

We might be a little bit over-excited, but honestly, the work that is being submitted to Rookie Awards 2022 is truly amazing. Coming from all corners of the globe, these non-professional digital artists are making a big impression with our judging panel and members alike.

Translating 2D Concept into 3D Portfolio Pieces for Film and Cinematics (Part II)

Translating 2D Concept into 3D Portfolio Pieces for Film and Cinematics (Part II)

Fiona Ng walks us through the process of creating her latest project Countess and Dog, sharing her workflow and techniques in Character and Creature modeling, texturing, as well as grooming.

Translating 2D Concept into 3D Portfolio Pieces for Film and Cinematics (Part I)

Translating 2D Concept into 3D Portfolio Pieces for Film and Cinematics (Part I)

Fiona Ng walks us through the process of creating her latest project Countess and Dog, sharing her workflow and techniques in Character and Creature modeling, texturing, as well as grooming.

Creating an Environment from Concept in Unreal Engine

Creating an Environment from Concept in Unreal Engine

Danielle Villacorte, a 3D Environment and Prop Artist from the Philippines describes how she creates 3D environments from a concept, in Unreal Engine.

Modeling and Texturing a Photorealistic Gramophone Using Maya, ZBrush and Substance 3D Painter

Modeling and Texturing a Photorealistic Gramophone Using Maya, ZBrush and Substance 3D Painter

In this article, Lightbox Academy alumnus, Nico Ferotti, shows us how he approaches the modeling and texturing of photorealistic props to make your 3D portfolio stand out from the crowd.

Career Advice - Working as an Illustrator and Design Artist with Tiffani Brown

Career Advice - Working as an Illustrator and Design Artist with Tiffani Brown

Want a successful career working as a 2D Design Artist? Tiffani Brown, a Design Artist/Background Painter from Toronto, sits down with us to share her journey and advice to aspiring artists looking for an exciting and challenging career like her own.

Creating a Dynamic Cinematic Shot in 3D

Creating a Dynamic Cinematic Shot in 3D

Looking to create your own 3D cinematic shot for your portfolio? Henri Gatard, a 4th year 3D Animation student at ECV Nantes, shares his tips and tricks in this article.

Top 30 Digital Characters created using Mari texture painting tools

Top 30 Digital Characters created using Mari texture painting tools

With all these crazy new features for Mari 5.0, we thought it would be a good idea to dig and find our favourite projects that Rookies have shared with the community.