Behind The Scenes: Cyberpunk Car Shop

I've been doing these project rundowns for some time time and there are lots of new faces out there, so I thought I'll circle back to some basics of how I approach my weekly projects for you to catch up.

Staring at blank scene is bad way to start any project, especially one involving complex workflows like 3d modeling. To prevent any demotivation, the best thing you can do is come prepared. First of all, even thinking about what to do might throw you off, so I recommend to keep a list of ideas at hand. Nothing serious, it can be a simple note in your phone, as long as you keep returning to it and mark down any inspiration that comes to you during the day.

I have a list like this (at this point, it's a Trello board to keep it better organized) and always refer to it, if I'm looking for a new project. even if I think of something new on the spot, I have the list to bounce my idea off. This particular design is a part of ongoing cyberpunk series, and I marked down possible extensions of this project long ago. It's a simple bullet list with possible environments like fast food, garage, bar, etc.

Since I've done a car model recently, that would fit the theme, I went for a garage / workshop idea.

Visit the full Pinboard here

The next step for me is to get bearings on which way I want the aesthetics to go. I bet you experienced that feeling, when you looks on someone else's work and can't comprehend, how they come up with ideas like that.

Surprise, they don't. Even the best in the field (probably them the most) understand the importance of references and inspiration. Of course, they understand copyright and plagiarism too. It's a very delicate balancing act of finding the right inspiration, but doing a lot of work on your own, so that you can come up with something original.

I use Pinterest and PureRef software for these purposes. I go and search all the possible sources (pinterest, google images, artstation, even stock photo banks) and put together a mood board. 

It serves multiple purposes. Moodboard as a whole offers me a glance on how I want the final result to feel, about color combination and overall vibe. The separate shots give me hints on what not to forget include in my project. And finally, some close-up shots serve as a hard reference (for example how the littered street can look like, what kind of litter is there, etc.).

And finally, the most important of them all - the sketch. Lot of people fear this stage, because they lack the confidence to draw. And this is not about that, far from it. It's about getting to think about your project, blocking out the composition, trying different ideas before you commit to them. It absolutely doesn't matter how the sketch looks like, because you're doing it for your brain, not for the audience.

It's a place where it all comes together and you get to cross-combine all the reference and idea images and try them out in a layout. There are several details, that wouldn't exist in my work, if it weren't for the reference board. For example, the verticality of the design and the way it goes deeper to city underbelly is a result of me seeing a strong vertical cyberpunk composition. Even if my result has no common elements with the original, that one simple idea helped to steer the design in some direction.

And as you can see, if you inspect the board, there are lots of elements, that come from there, even if they are designed in a different way. Spherical sentinel droids, rhythmical repetition of bulky pillars, large propellers, pipes and tubes. All of it was marked down during the research stage and cherry-picked while sketching.

This way, I go to Blender prepared with a clear vision what to do :)

You can watch the process video on Youtube