Exclusive Interview: How Ted Heemskerk Placed 2nd in Rampage Rally Using Only Blender

In an exclusive interview with Fox Renderfarm, Ted Heemskerk, the talented 3D artist behind the award-winning animation "Tornado Rescue," opens up about his creative journey. Ranking 2nd in pwnisher’s Rampage Rally challenge, Ted delves into how he crafted his photo-realistic and charming short using solely Blender. Discover how he drew inspiration from his immediate surroundings in the Netherlands to build a grounded yet exaggerated world. In this exclusive interview with Fox Renderfarm, the industry’s top cloud rendering services provider and render farm, Ted shares the creation process behind his project.

Fox Renderfarm: Hi Ted! It’s a pleasure to have you with us. Could you briefly introduce yourself to our audience?

Ted Heemskerk: Hi, my name is Ted Heemskerk. I am a 3D artist from the Netherlands. I fell in love with film from a very young age. I had always aspired to become a filmmaker, so I attended film school eight years ago. I discovered that I liked every aspect of filmmaking, but when I touched my first 3D program, I immediately knew that this would become my biggest passion. Since then, I have enjoyed experimenting with 3D in various ways.

Fox Renderfarm: Huge congratulations on ranking 2nd in the "Rampage Rally"! What does this achievement mean to you? Also, we’d love for you to introduce your project—its name, concept, and what inspired you to create it.

Ted Heemskerk: Thank you, it really means a lot to me! I’ve watched these challenges for years now, and I was always blown away by the amazing talent and creativity that I saw. All those different ideas and those beautiful worlds gave me a lot of joy when I watched them. It motivated me. I really wanted to be able to make something like that. When I started with Rampage Rally, I knew I had to push myself to the limit. I ended up making something that was way beyond my expectations. When I ended up in second place, I got a lot of amazing reactions from all the other participants. It was an amazing feeling to be such a part of a community that inspired me for years! That really felt like a huge achievement!

My submission is called: Tornado Rescue. It is about a heroic farmer and his dog, who took matters into their own hands to save their cat from a big tornado. I didn’t have the idea of the story right at the beginning, but I knew I wanted to make an animation that was based on my surroundings. I really like to get inspiration from real life. So I took a picture of my dog and made that into a 3D model. I also created a background that was based on the place where I live. I really wanted to create a kind of stormy environment. Then I realized I had to do something with a tornado and something that had to be rescued from the tornado. That could give the main character a good reason to jump in the air, since it was an important part of the Rampage Rally to make our character jump.

Click to view more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdw8U2rbvVc 

Fox Renderfarm: Are there any artists or works that particularly inspire you?

Ted Heemskerk: This project was heavily inspired by the real world around me, and not really any specific artist. There’s maybe one artist who had some influence on me while making this piece. That artist was Wes Anderson. I’m not talking about any specific work from him, but more about his workflow. Almost all of his movies take place in a fictional world. But those fictional worlds are still based on real locations. He really makes a very exaggerated version of that world. For example, The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is a completely fictional building in a fictional country. But it still feels grounded. He used real-life locations and combined them with miniatures to make a very typical and exaggerated version of Eastern Europe. I also like to use real-life locations and try to make my own exaggerated version of them on my computer.

Fox Renderfarm: We’re really curious about your creative process. Could you walk us through the tools and software you used? Did you encounter any technical or artistic challenges, and how did you overcome them?

Ted Heemskerk: I made this piece completely in Blender. I started with my dog and the motorcycle.

After that, I took pictures of my hometown in the Netherlands. Those pictures became an important reference for me. The reason I used my own hometown as a reference was that I could literally walk through my reference. I could look around and really feel the atmosphere. That was really important to me. If I decided to create something that was based on a place that I had never visited, I would never be able to get a good connection to the reference as I did now. I really wanted to make something that felt photorealistic. Most of the time, I make things that look a bit more cartoony and stylistic. So this was really a challenge for me. Luckily, I found a way to turn the pictures that I made into something that I could use in Blender. Like, for example, the trees and the houses. I took those pictures and placed them on a mesh so I could use them in a 3D space. That really helped me to achieve the look that I wanted.

Fox Renderfarm: Had you heard about or tried Fox Renderfarm before this project? We’d love your honest thoughts on your experience with our cloud rendering services.

Ted Heemskerk: I heard of Fox Renderfarm before in some of the previous challenges. But I did not use the service for the Rampage Rally. I have a little bit of regret that I didn’t use the service for this challenge because it took way too long to render. Luckily, I could finish this piece in time. I’m sure I’m gonna use Fox Renderfarm in the future, so I can prevent some stressful moments.

Ted’s Social Media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted.heemskerk/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ted-heemskerk-38a6b02b8/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@tedheemskerk?si=7-Uc_TnQpHrTiMmR

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@animeerbeer?_t=ZG-8zkzbhFfctl&_r=1