Before I do any work in 3D modelling, I had to planned out what I want to create with the 3D space so I’ve created a mind map to help brainstorm some ideas that I might consider modelling based on the world having a narrative around it.
This was later expanded upon with a mood board complied of images of different art and screenshots from video games as well as a colour palette that I wanted to utilise in my 3D model. The aim I wanted to go for is a bird styled treehouse on a island in the sky which would be the main character’s home in my story world.
After I’ve done some mind mapping and creating a mood board surrounding my concept, I’ve then illustrated a 2D version of my story world in my sketchbook with colouring. Within this illustration, I wanted to expand upon the bird themed around this treehouse whilst having human like characteristics so I’ve added in a birdbath, windchimes and a post-box to further express the lifestyle that the character in this world would have.
Once I’ve opened up Blender, I’ve gotten to work on my 3D story world. The experience was tricky for me at first since I was using my laptop to model within the software and it’s not the most confrontable device to use for modelling. Especially using a trackpad. If I had a computer mouse, it would of made this experience less of a pain to do, but after a couple of video guides on how to use the trackpad in Blender along with key shortcuts, my confront started to reel back in.
One video tutorial I’ve used to help me design the tree part of my story world was this video by YouTuber user, CG Geek. I found this tutorial really helpful as it’s short and easier to follow. It also taught how to stretch out and create more faces on an object. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7PdiGXbrD0)
Once I have finished designing my model, I used the colour picker tool and select the faces I want to be coloured in a certain colour.
Below is the finalised design of my 3D story world. It’s not how I originally wanted it to look from my 2D illustration, but the minimalist look and size sort of made itself more appealing. As you can see, I’ve added a door where the bird hole supposed to be as I had some trouble trying to create an inner hole within the birdhouse. Although I didn’t get to add in the other elements from my illustrated concept, the door accidently fits the concept I wanted so it didn’t bother me as much to leave it as is.