We are glad that we invited Quinn VB for an interview, who is a photographer and a self-taught 3D artist for only one year. Quinn participated in the 3D contest, Abandoned Spring Sanctuaries, which was organized by True-VFX and won first place in the competition. Congratulations! As the industry's leading cloud rendering service provider and render farm, Fox Renderfarm was proud to be one of the sponsors of this challenge and we witnessed many outstanding entries!
Let's start our interview and learn more about Quinn and his amazing works.
Arriving at Paradise © Quinn VB
Quinn VB’s Artstation
Quinn VB’s Deviantart
Fox Renderfarm: Hi Quinn! We are honored to have you here! Could you please introduce yourself first to our readers?
Quinn: Hello! I’m Quinn (she/her) and I’m a 30-year-old self-taught amateur hobbyist from Canada. I’ve been a hobbyist photographer for around 10 years but I am still very new to the world of 3D. I spend my free time making things in Blender, gaming, and taking care of my fish!
Fox Renderfarm: Congratulations on winning 1st Place in the Abandoned Spring Sanctuaries organized by True-VFX! How do you feel about it?
Quinn: Thank you! It took me entirely by surprise. There were many absolutely stunning entries to the contest and I was confident that I wouldn’t even make the top ten. I was very shocked when first place was announced and it was my entry that won.
Fox Renderfarm: How did you find out about this competition? Would you like to participate in more 3D competitions in the future?
Quinn: I’ve been somewhat active in True-VFX’s community Discord for a while and I have used their products before, so I found out through them. I’m absolutely interested in more contests; it has been a ton of fun!
Fox Renderfarm: Could you elaborate a bit on your workflow/pipeline of this project? And how long did it take you?
Quinn: I’m still very much a student when it comes to 3D/CG artistry, so I’m sure my workflow is far from the best. I first started out by collecting various reference images in PureRef that best fit the rough idea I had in my head of what I wanted. Then, using those images, I blocked out some basic shapes in Blender (the stairs, room shape, etc) and moved them around to find a composition I was happy with. The hardest part was translating my mental image into 3D and I rebuilt the scene several times. The scene was made in Blender with some textures being done in Substance Painter while others are procedural. The True-Terrain easter egg was made in an entirely different scene by reverse-searching the font True-VFX uses and placing some text in the grass and rendering it. It’s hard to see in the scene, though.
Arriving at Paradise © Quinn VB
Fox Renderfarm: Could you tell us the story or the idea that you want to express in this work? And what is the inspiration behind your work?
Quinn: I wanted to convey the idea that the viewer wasn’t in the sanctuary yet, but it was just slightly out of frame or out of reach, that it was a destination and we (the viewers) were just about to step into it. I felt this also meshed with the idea of something being abandoned or neglected. The image is a transition in numerous ways both literal and otherwise.
Fox Renderfarm: Could you please tell us a bit about your use of colors, materials, lighting, and overall composition?
Quinn: I come from a background of hobby photography and one of the best things I ever learned during my photo days was “photography is painting with light”. I think this translates to any type of visual art medium, including 3D, so getting the light correct was extremely important. I spent a lot of time tweaking the light just right so the sunlight interacted with the foliage in a pleasing way. Secondly important was making the scene look adequately dirty and grungy. I really wanted to make it look like this train station hadn’t seen any servicing or cleaning in a long, long time.
Fox Renderfarm: We noticed you added words in your artwork, is there any special meaning behind it?
Quinn: The “Paradise” text was added in because I felt it added some character to the scene and also acted as a sign that people have been in this space before. The sign is a custom texture made in Substance Painter and I wrote over top of it with my drawing tablet.
Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties during this work? How did you tackle them?
Quinn: I find the hardest part of any project is translating my vision to 3D. One thing I think helps with that is to find as many reference images as I can to help give me a visual idea to work with; something to wrap my brain around. I can think of “abandoned train station” but putting that on the screen isn’t as easy. As for the scene itself - the escalator stairs were tricky to get looking how I wanted. Also maintaining accurate scale throughout the entire creation process.
Fox Renderfarm: What is the most satisfying part of your work?
Quinn: The best part for me is when I hit render and see everything come together. Seeing light interact with the things I’ve created, appearing as real, physical things, is awesome to me. It never gets old!
Fox Renderfarm: Do you have any favorites from previous productions that you can share with us?
Quinn: One of the pieces I made before my contest entry was this one I made of a dystopian-styled cistern. I quite liked the way it turned out.
Regrowth © Quinn VB
Fox Renderfarm: How did you encounter CG and become a CG artist? Could you share your educational or professional experience with us?
Quinn: I am 100% self-taught and have been on the 3D journey for just over a year now. 3D was one of those things I considered too advanced or too difficult for me to ever attempt so I put it off for years and years. One day I decided to download Blender simply to play around with because I was both curious and highly bored. 200 tutorials later, here I am!
Fox Renderfarm: Is there any artwork or artist that inspired you the most during your CG learning journey?
Quinn: No specific artist, but I’ve always been fascinated by old 3D landscapes made in Terragen and the like. I remember trying my hand at making them years and years ago and being very confused as it was way beyond my skill level (and patience!).
Fox Renderfarm: Do you have any plans or goals for your future CG journey?
Quinn: I would really like to advance my sculpting skills and learn character creation. Most of what I do is hard-surface modeling and I’d like to branch out a little and learn some new things. I am happy to learn anything new though, and thankfully there are always new things to learn and improve on.
Fox Renderfarm: Have you ever tried cloud rendering services from Fox Renderfarm? If you did, what did you think of our services?
Quinn: This is my first time! I am entirely new to render farm’s services and I am excited to learn how they work and how they can speed up my rendering process.
Fox Renderfarm: As a CG artist, do you have any advice for people who are still new to the CG industry?
Quinn: Set goals. Always have a goal in mind for you to work towards. Even if your goal is as simple as “make a wine glass” or “make a happy face out of a sphere”. These little goals give you something to focus on, to learn from, and to get excited over as you accomplish them. And, even more importantly, don’t give up! CG art can be quite complicated and there is a lot to learn but at the same time the potential is limitless - you can create anything you want.
Thank you Quinn for taking the time and wish you all the best in the future!
Let's take a look at some of Quinn's other stunning and fantastic works:
The Basement © Quinn VB
Firefly © Quinn VB
The Gardens © Quinn VB
Learn more about Quinn: Quinn’s Artstation & Deviantart.
