We've long rated free and open-source Blender as one of the best 3D modelling programs, but we continue to be surprised by the incredible variety of creative ideas crafted in the software by its broad community of users. The scene below is bending people's minds on social media right now, showing how 3D art can be used much more than traditional realism.
The piece looks like a 2D sketch of a house captured in light, airy and expressive strokes with a dash of watercolour. But when the camera moves, you realise that the scene is actually a piece of 3D art.
The scene was created entirely in Blender by the Costa Rican 3D artist Roque Vásquez R. It's based on a 2D artwork by Artfully Fortified, which he created ahead of Halloween for one of the artist Bernard Sombret's art challenges.
On social media, people have been asking how the 3D piece was made, and Roque's shared some of the details of his process. The house was drawn on geometry, while the leaves were drawn on spheres to save time since Roque knew he was going to use specific cameras.
The artist used water colour brushes made by @omarfaruqtawsif , and he rendered the scene using Blender's default real-time renderer Eevee.
The minimalist shapes and light strokes create make it seem like a scene from a sketchbook has come to life. Some have suggested that the style looks like a mix of the classic Red Bull ad animation with Life is Strange, while others are reminded of Ernest & Celestine and the backgrounds from the coloured edition Calvin & Hobbes strip.
Some are also wondering if the style would work for game art.
For more inspiration, see our roundup of Blender tutorials.
