How did you get started in art? Love your stuff!

Thank you! ^^

"Art" is a bit subjective term in this case, because I started 3D modeling when I was like 12 or 13. I was playing a lot of Team Fortress 2 in those days and I found out that if you made a weapon design and submitted it to the workshop (or whatever it was called back then), they might add it in the game. That was my goal, I wanted to have my own weapon in my favorite game, so I started learning how to make them. But of course I was still 12 and I didn't know much about anything, so it wasn't even close to happening. But I modeled some weapons and that's how I got into 3D modeling. ^^

It was in 2016 when I actually got into art after getting inspired by the first Zootopia movie (and some other movies as well). I actually just re-uploaded my first ever "art upload": https://www.furaffinity.net/view/63144889/ And I have some more info about my early art days in the description as well. ^^

I’ve always wanted to dabble in art, but I find it rather intimidating! Thank you for sharing your story!

Yeah that's true, it is very much intimidating if you think about it. But that's the trick, just go for it and don't think about it. That's what I did, and in half a year I went from almost zero to having a somewhat functioning character model that doesn't look too bad. ^^

So, are you interested in doing some fan art for stories you never heard of? I have done my first novel and wish to send you an invitation for something that might be of interest in you.

For me to be interested in something I would of course have to know what it is. And even if I got interested in something I would need the time in my life to do something with it. And time is unfortunately something I have very little of. So I think it's quite safe to say that unfortunately I don't have enough time to do fan art just like that, even if I would like to. :(

Always love working with your models even if the fur adds 5 years to my render times lmao.

I have lots of ideas for 3d projects but I always get bogged down by the scope and amount of work involved. things like enviornment design always feel like such an extra hassle and more linear animation sequences always end up turning into a mess of keyframes. So this is a little vague and broad but what is your workflow/pipeline like?

also a more fun-ish side question: what is something about 3d that took you a little too long to learn but ended up being a lifesaver/game changer? For me it was learning to use low poly proximity meshes for simulations (especially those of the jiggly variety), as well as using the shrinkwrap modifier to alleviate clipping in some instances. (though now I use Bradely geometry nodes presets which comes with a really handy collision deformer that is a little less glitchy than regular shrinkwrap.)

anyway, congrats on 3k fren! well deserved cuz you do amazing work!

Heyyy, that's awesome! :3

My workflow of course depends on what it is I'm making.
For characters I of course start with the idea and with the gathering of references. Then it's just modeling -> rigging -> texturing -> adding fluff, and that's pretty much that.
For animations it starts the same. I start by figuring it out what it is I'm making. I write the script down, and I break it down to the smallest of details that actually matter. Then I open Blender and the scene I'm gonna use. I start putting markers on the timeline, viewing the animation in my head and imagining how long a specific part is gonna take. Now that I have the plan for the entire animation laid out in Blender, I import the characters and put them in their starting positions. Then I just start setting keyframes. Starting with big movements and going smaller and smaller. I don't really know how to explain the whole process in a general sense, so if you have something a bit more specific to ask I'd love to answer that instead... XD

As for the lifesaver, I think the biggest one is the solution for noise in animations. There might be better solutions nowadays, but I use a denoising addon called "Neat Video" with my Vegas Pro which makes my animations flicker so much less and allows me to render them with less than a billion samples, (around 500 usually). That might be a bit of a boring answer so I'll give another one. Something that actually took me way too long to learn was learning how to manage my time and use it effectively. Understanding the fact that I do not have to create everything myself. I can use pre-made assets, or even entire scenes, and it's okay. My art revolves around my characters, so modeling a couch or a bed or a kitchen is not an intelligent use of my limited time.

Thank you for the questions! I would love to discuss some of the more specific details if you have some questions about the workflows I couldn't answer. :3

Hey that's a perfectly good answer! To be honest the question is pretty vague because I'm not 100% sure what it is I even want to know! I think my biggest weakness at the moment is blocking out key poses and establishing a general timing sense. I'm great at making simple looping stuff but more linear stuff I struggle with. Also if you had any recommendations on where to get scene assets that'd be a great help!

Also thank ya for taking the time out of your day to answer!

Hehe, glad to hear! ^^

Linear animation is a big step up from loops for sure. And a sense of timing is really something you need to have, and it only comes with experience I think. Helps a lot if you can actually play the scene in real time in Blender. I know sometimes my scenes are so complex it's actually a problem. I sometimes have to go out of my way and make them run at 30fps or otherwise the animating will be impossible.

I get my assets from all over the place. Whatever legit places come up when you google "free 3d models". XD But the first place I always look at is BlenderKit. They have an addon for Blender, so you can search for assets inside Blender and import them directly. It's very handy and I couldn't recommend it more. They have free and paid versions, but even the free version has plenty of stuff, and the quality is surprisingly consistent. ^^

thanks for the answers fren! I'll have to look into that addon for sure! can't think of much else to ask atm but you keep being you and making cool and amazing stuffs!

Hehe, I will. Thank you fren! :3

Tell us about your Cheetah and Tigress characters? Who are they? What's their background?

Well Tigress isn't my character. She's from Kung Fu Panda. :)
I guess in this universe she is just a friendly gal from the local gym.

But Chenira (the cheetah) definitely is mine. She's Guarez's girlfriend and, well... That's pretty much what she is at the moment.
There's not really much to her background either. She was born, she went to school, she became a personal trainer. Guarez was one of her clients, and that's how they met.
Sorry if that's a boring answer. XD

Although there is an alternate universe where Chenira is a tribal leader, and the lore for that universe is gonna be a bit more deep. It's still work-in-progress so I can't really say much about it at this point. But I might have something coming tomorrow regarding that... ;)

Cool.