Working on Low Poly Scenes in Blender

Introduction

My name is Ângelo Fernandes and I’m based in Lisbon, Portugal. I got into 3D around 2013 and at first, I started working in archviz. Our renders had to be super realistic and pass as real photography. I’ve always liked to create stuff like photography, illustration, etc. and 3D was an opportunity to explore other means. So I decided to give it a go.

One of the companies I’ve worked for was Visual Method, and I really liked it because of the nature of the work and the company policy regarding the well-being of each collaborator. They are based in Manchester, UK, and in some other places around Europe. They are amazing, their portfolio is unique and it was a pleasure working with them for around 3 years.

Choosing Blender

I started working in Blender around August of 2019. At that time, I had been following Blender's development and updates and I’ve always been fascinated by its possibilities and potential.

I’m working with the 2.83 version and for me, one of its greatest introductions is Optix AI. The real-time viewport helps a lot with shading and light. Also, since I’ve decided to shift my work from hyper-realistic renders to low poly, Blender fits my needs perfectly. It’s easy to learn and quite user friendly. I think it’s a tool overlooked by many professionals.

Japanese Restaurant: Inspiration

I like Japanese culture and from time to time I tend to create a personal work that is Japan-inspired. This time, it was this small and cozy restaurant. I like to keep things minimal/simple but at the same detailed and with various props. It’s kind of a contradiction that I enjoy. For ideas, I normally browse Pinterest, but sometimes, I already have something in mind and do my research just to get better references and tune my initial thought.

Modeling

I really like modeling those little assets. At the moment I don’t have any add-ons that I rely on to save time, apart from Loop Tools and its Circle option. It saves me tons of time. I normally use Mirror to model symmetric objects like the tables in this scene. Array is good for tiling or stuff that needs to be spread evenly.

I am also not afraid to screw up the model. When I was working with 3ds Max I would add Edit Poly on top of another Edit Poly, just to be safe and use it as “Control Z”. If something went wrong I would delete the last mod. But with Blender, there’s no Edit Poly and that led me to trust my modeling skills even more.

Lighting

Normally, I go with a three-point lighting approach for this kind of environment. When it is just a model to render, I tend to use an HDRI instead. For this scene, I used a top light just to get a fill light with low intensity, then I used another one which is the main. Normally, the main is the one light that has a higher intensity, I like to place it in the way that gives some shadows and highlights some contrast within the scene elements. Lastly, I use another light, normally on the opposite side of the main with a low intensity just to smooth some shadows so that they don’t appear so strong and dark.

Ângelo Fernandes, 3D Artist

Interview conducted by Arti Sergeev