How to Make a Stylish Spacecraft in Blender

Imagine if we humans, in the distant future, exploring the borders of our dimension, rediscovered ourselves in the past, thinking that it is another species.

The third place winner in the Student category of the FGT3D Explorer Challenge goes to Andrey Oliver with his work, Explorers from the future.

“Great combination of painterly looks and 3D rendering. who didn't ever park his ship in a no-parking spot? The cartoony and still technical design of the vehicle looks absolutely stylish. The colors of the paint finish pop out greatly surrounded by this rough and hazardous landscape.” One of our judges, Kariem Saleh said, who is an award winning film director and animator based in Berlin, Germany.

Let's find out how Andrey made the amazing artwork through the exclusive interview with Fox Renderfarm.

Explorers from the future © Andrey Oliver

Fox Renderfarm: Hi, Andrey! Thank you so much for accepting our interview! Could you give us a brief introduction about yourself?

Andrey: Hello! Thanks for the opportunity. My name is Andrey and I have always been interested in 2D and 3D art, as it was a way I found to release my creativity and thoughts, the art world.

Fox Renderfarm: Congratulations on winning 3rd place in the Student Category of the FGT3D Explorer Challenge, how do you feel about that?

Andrey: I feel extremely happy to have won third place and to have competed with exceptional artists. It's great to see your art on the podium.

Fox Renderfarm: How long did you finish the work, Explorers from the future?

Andrey: On March 24, 2021 I found out about the contest through @tonycartoonish, a great artist, and since that day I have been thinking about what to do. It must have taken me 5 weeks to model and render all the art.

Samantha Donut @ tonycartoonish

Fox Renderfarm: What software and plugins did you use?

Andrey: I used Blender and Substance Painter to model the ship and scenery, and also used and modified some Quixel Bridge props to complement the naturalness of the scene with secondary elements and textures. In the end I used Photoshop for retouching.

Fox Renderfarm: What’s the inspiration behind your artwork? Any references?

Andrey: For the Explorers theme, I thought about making a spacecraft, after all I've always admired the Star Wars or Guardians of the Galaxy spacecraft designs, and so I made my spacecraft inspired by them but stylized.

Fox Renderfarm: The believable lighting, mood setting, attention to details, even the No parking sign are rendered nicely. How did you make it?

Andrey: As a 3D artist, I have always sought to add naturalness to the works, observing the real world and the behavior of nature and light. I think that the small details make the narrative of the scene more complete.

Fox Renderfarm: How did you make the great combination of painterly looks and 3D rendering?

Andrey: I think a stylized modeling with a hand texture painting in Substance Painter and small touches in photoshop were essential to achieve this effect.

Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when creating this work? And how did you solve it?

Andrey: Yes, the biggest challenge was the complexity of the shape of the spacecraft and its numerous parts, but after a long time of testing, the best way was to divide the spacecraft into several categories of parts, so I was able to have greater control in the modeling.

Fox Renderfarm: Any artists or artworks inspired you most?

Andrey: @thisnorthernboy was an artist who inspired me a lot in the design of the ship.

Deep Space Fleet II @ thisnorthernboy

Fox Renderfarm: Could you briefly tell us your educational and work experience along your CG journey?

Andrey: I am self-taught in 3D. I started studying when I was 13 years old out of curiosity, learning everything from internet videos and manuals and today I have a great experience with these programs. To complement my learning, today I also study Animation Design at college.

Fox Renderfarm: Do you have any recommendable learning methods to improve professional skills?

Andrey: If you really want something, you will get it, the beginning is always the hardest. Draw what you like, model what you like, so you will have more pleasure in what you are doing and learn better. Look at the great artists and get inspired.

Fox Renderfarm: What do you think of the FGT3D Challenge, any suggestions for us?

Andrey: I think FGT3D is an amazing idea, which stimulates the contact and minds of countless artists to show their potential to the world.

Fox Renderfarm: Do you have any advice for future participants in the competition?

Andrey: Enter the contest, do what you like, gain experience, have fun!

FGT3D Explorer Challenge organized by the TPN-Accredited cloud rendering services provider, Fox Renderfarm, was started in March, 2021 and sponsored by our amazing sponsors, including Xencelabs, Corona Renderer, TopoGun, Friendly Shade, Graswald, Raysync, Textures.com, Texturebox and iCube R&D Group. After the selection by our jury, 3 Professional artworks and 3 Student artworks were picked and would be awarded the prizes provided by our amazing sponsors. Congratulations to all the winners again! And thanks to everyone for participating! See you at our next FGT3D Challenge!