In this project, I challenged myself to create a personalized painterly texture. I’ve always been intrigued by faux 2D-rendered 3D modeling, so I aimed to recreate the look of an oil painting in a 3D environment.

I began by sketching out rough concepts of the objects I wanted to include, such as a pumpkin. Once I had a clear idea, I modeled the objects and proceeded to test my textures before rendering. For each object, I created UV maps, baked them in Adobe Substance Painter, and painted the normal maps in Procreate. Afterward, I returned to Maya to assign the textures.

Using the hand-painted normal maps, I generated two additional texture maps: a base color map and a height map. These were applied in Maya, where I also set up lighting, adjusted the camera, and added displacement maps to enhance the brushstroke details, making the oil painting effect more prominent.

Once I completed the texture and setup for one object, I repeated the process for the others. After all the elements were finished, I composited and color-graded the final scene in After Effects.

Check out the full project breakdown below to learn more!