I actually have darktable, but I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never used it 
thanks for reminding me, I’ll be sure and try it out for my next project 
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Super cool ! Well done !
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To tell you the truth, I downloaded it some time last year for some reason which I don’t currently remember. 
(probably some workaround with a file format or something)
I just recently rediscovered it when I was looking for a good way to color grade some photographs I took the other week.
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Very nice, recreating a scene and it’s going well! Atmosphere is on point! I’d even use it several times as a background, many uses…
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Day 31 - A leap into better lighting
Like yesterday, I’m re-creating a small environment from Young Justice S1E1 - the United Nations’ general secretary’s office:
And I quickly realized my usual haphazard lighting was not going to cut it here. Quickly throwing together the bare bones of the room made it immediately obvious I was either going to have to do this in Cycles (
) or learn how to do indirect lighting in Eevee. Luckily, it’s actually very simple to do indirect lighting in Eevee, and the results look really good so far:
For comparison, no indirect lighting:
Although I’m not loving the black splotches on the floor, I think I need more Z resolution in my cubemap.
I haven’t done much modeling, I was out all day and I’ve been messing with lights ever since, but I’ve learned a lot about this and I’m quite happy with it so far. The downside is that it’s not particularly fast to bake, and it seems to take quite a lot of VRAM. I love my 3070 and I’m super happy with it, but I do sometimes wish it had a little more VRAM.
If you’re wondering why I’ve neglected lighting, it’s because you don’t really use lighting in NPR work, and stuff like indirect lighting is entirely pointless and unnecessary. These backgrounds, while not realistic, do have realistic lighting, and that lighting is essential to the style I’m going for.
It’s worth noting here that it’s actually quite common for these types of backgrounds to be done in 3D- see, for instance, Castlevania, which actually used Blender:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1565747868169814019
Since it’ll be many years before I’m good enough at painting to actually matte paint backgrounds the right way, for now I’m hoping to slide by with 3D trickery
I should probably mention also that I have no interest in 3D beyond its capacity for animation work- so you’re not going to see much hard surface or photorealism, I do that stuff occasionally but mainly just to practice the fundamentals of art. Now off I go to go draw!
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Day 32 (possibly part 1) - Progress
Without compositing:
It makes quite a difference- it’s subtle, but vitally important.
I’m not done with the room or the look (the room needs details, the look needs more work and time). So far, I think this compositing setup worked better on the sewer, although I have tweaked it to better fit this scene, but I really think this just needs a painterly effect, which I’m going to look into doing with compositing to streamline the process.
Music:
Hue soundtrack. It’s a excellent little indie puzzle platformer with an intriguing mechanic and great music
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Day 33 - Calling this done
Yes, there’s still a lot missing (paintings, mostly, and the desk chair), but I’ve spent far too much time on this already, and it looks pretty decent. It’s still not perfect- the biggest problem is that you can still tell that it’s 3D. This is a very difficult problem to solve, as it requires being able to articulate why you can tell it looks 3D, which I can’t honestly do looking at this scene. If anything, it might be that the lines are too precise, but the reference images have perfectly straight lines that were clearly made in 3D, and yet somehow they pulled it off. What I mean to say is that I know my reference images were made in 3D to look made in 2D, but I can tell that my result was made in 3D. The shot with the windows is the best- something’s wrong with the desk, and I think that’s a major issue.
But hey, rather than focusing on the negative, I’m going to focus on the positive, especially since this is only my second try So…
What have I learned?
It might be shorter to say what I haven’t learned- I’ve really pushed myself to try new things and methods the last three days. I’ll keep this short and not mention anything super broad.
Quick and easy texturing
For starters, I’ve been practicing my Ian Hubert-texturing- that is to say, extremely lazy:
Yep, that’s right, the books on the bookshelf are just a flat PNG. It gets even lazier than that- most of those books are duplicates of each other, I just grabbed five images from Google Image Search and copied and pasted chunks of them. Gets the job done
Image filtering
The background image started as a high-res image that I passed through several rounds of filters to get the exact look I wanted.
Same thing with the wood on the desktop: And the rug (thanks Home Depot!):
Compositing
I’ve pushed myself to all kinds of new levels with compositing - for example, I used cryptomatte to remove the desk lamp from the Glare node I added to the other lights using subtraction and recombination, a trick I learned from etn249.
Lighting
With the exception of my (unfinished) island scene, this is probably my most ambitious lighting set-up ever:
What’s next?
I’m officially a third of the way through this sketchbook, and I think I can honestly say I’m a better artist and more proficient Blender user than I was at the start. I still have a LONG way to go, though.
Specifically, I’m probably going to take a break from backgrounds and go back to character work tomorrow- my goal is to get the head looking how I want it, or as close as I can with my current skill level. After that, the body, and then after that, I’ll probably do another background - lit with daylight this time, which will be new for me.
Music
Bravely Default OST (and Bravely Default II). I tend to listen to the same four playlists pretty much all day every day- I find auditory repetition quite helpful with ADHD.
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Nice! I wouldn’t be bothered with bringing jpegs and pngs into Blender, I’ve always wanted everything to be procedural (in terms of mats), so the work here is admirable to me. You’ve actually sliced those books, that will take me about 2 days. One for the sheer motivation 
One small thing you might consider about the shelves:
But then again the straight lines do look like they were once separate, so a hard decision 
Either way, good work!
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The books definitely could look better but they also took about ten minutes honestly the bevel on the bookshelf was a mistake, in my reference image the lines are perfectly straight. I didn’t notice that until just now though. Thanks for that visualization, I’ve never really seen that laid out until now, that’s very helpful
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Awesome initiative. Practice is really the key (do what I say, not what I do 
)
If you’re willing to take my 2 cents, I’d say focus on the atmosphere. The models are good. For example, the first spaceship could look real good with dramatic lighting, fog, dust, diffuse interior lights and some storytelling.
Maybe a compelling example is Josh Brockett. He’s doing Beeple style everydays. The models are quite simple, but the materials and the atmosphere are making the whole thing interesting. That and the xoio-air people of course.
Keep up the good work, pleasure to see your posts.
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Ah yes, the thing I’m worst at 
you’re entirely right, and I appreciate you saying it. Josh Brockett is a great example, I haven’t seen his work but I like it, thanks!
Do you have any tips for storytelling? That’s another thing you mention that I’m definitely not great at.
It’s quite an honor to get a visit from you, you’re one of the best artists on here in my opinion
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Day 34 - Camera-angle-relative shape keys
It’s a bit jerky in this video (blame my mouse), and I didn’t really put a lot of effort into making the keys, but I now have the much-needed CAR functionality. I’ve also realized that this head, while nice, isn’t really suited for NPR work, or at least not cel-shaded work. I’m going to hold on to the head and use it for something still stylized, but more 3D in appearance, at some point. It’s also a good base to test the new techniques I’m working on.
I’m using an add-on (Cam-Shape-Matic) for the basis of this, but I’ve made quite a lot of changes to their code. They don’t have a Front option, which is really weird, or a 3/4 side option, which is also really weird. I’ve added both- and I see why they didn’t do a Front option, as it’s funky getting the math right. Took a lot of tinkering.
Looking ahead
The NPR style I’m working on requires:
- DIL (dynamic inner line) shape keys
- CAR shape keys
- CDR (camera-distance-relative) shape keys
- RVD (random variation distortion) shape keys
- FSD (fore-shortening distortion) shape keys
And I have everything on that list now (CDR, FSD, and RVD keys are very simple to set up). This combined with my add-on for better shape key management (MultiKey) gives me everything I need on the technical end. On the artistic front, my cel-shader has all the tools necessary- with one exception; shadow mapping.
I mentioned recently that light has no place in NPR work, and this is true- NPR models don’t respond to light the way they “should”, realistically, instead they use deliberate and art-directed shadow placement. There are a billion ways to do this- most extremely complicated and requiring extensive normal editing- but my cel shader is set up to make this much easier. By outputting both the shadow and the base color passes, I can easily (in theory) use shape keys to drive shadows at will. How, you ask? You’ll see tomorrow, probably
Personal News
I woke up with a cold, which is very lame and has drastically affected my ability to be productive. Luckily, I have an ancient remedy that works perfectly - I sleep for 13 hours two nights in a row and drink a few gallons of water, and I’m fine in 2 days exactly every time.
Music
Final Fantasy VII Remastered OST
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Wow, another cool work! NPR is deeper than I thought
Customization is a lot easier than others if you know the way, which you very well do.
A cold always sucks, even if you can avoid certain things, hope you’re gonna be on schedule. A cold with a bit of discipline is better 
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Day 34, Part 2
Quite a lot of this was done with geometry nodes- I’ll admit it, I’m in love. They make life so much easier.
The painting (below) does not have gutters. It annoys me when buildings don’t have gutters in art, I’m not sure why, but I always add them.
Tis a work in progress, based on this painting:
Music
Still on the FFVIIR OST, it’s quite long and takes eight hours beginning to end (most OSTs I shuffle, this one really does well being played in order. At the moment of writing I’ve just finished Stewards of the Planet, so I have about an hour left. But I’m for bed, so tomorrow me gets One-Winged Angel - Rebirth and J-E-N-O-V-A 
Anyway, this OST is good enough that I’m going to share a (perfectly legal) link: https://open.spotify.com/album/2ufkFJsK2Hh2ZdmgrRmCv3?si=vzck_FyPQta76Y9sEDhkeQ
Very little of my music is obtained in a traditional way, hence why no links usually.)
On the subject of Final Fantasy VII- I’m sick so you have to listen to me ramble- now’s a good time to show off two of my desk accessories (moved for the picture, usually they’re on either side of my main monitor):
Logically I know this, and agree with you completely - I should be resting, taking it easy, doing nothing, etc. But I would actually rather die
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I really like your shading in this!
Traditional roofs in that style didn’t necessarily have gutters. Look at some photos some time; the art might simply be faithful to the original.
Sorry about the cold! Hope you recover soon. One of the few good things that came from COVID is that I haven’t had a cold or flu in 3 years, and I don’t miss it – mine are never done after 2 days. I’d happily wear a mask during flu season for the rest of my life to continue this trend.
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I know, you’re completely right, I just love adding gutters Consider it my artistic signature, all my buildings have gutters even if they shouldn’t.
Yeah, 100% with you. I’ve been wearing a mask in high-density or low-airflow places for the last two years, and I don’t regret it at all. This is the first time I’ve gotten a cold in a year, and Sunday was the first time I’ve been maskless (only for a few minutes, too, just to eat) in a crowded place in that time. Could be coincidence, but sure doesn’t feel like it to me
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[gutters shall grace every piece of your art]
Note, please, how valiantly, VALIANTLY I tell you, I am avoiding the obvious innuendo.
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Day 35 - Part 1, Building Done
I am really happy with how this looks
Granted, it still needs ground/trees/background, but those are all very weak areas for me. I’m going to try and do that in pure 2D because I need practice and 2D vegetation always looks better.I did quite a bit of post-processing using the multilayer EXR format and Affinity Photo (I’m sorry, @Charles_Weaver , I will get around to darktable eventually, I just know my way around Affinity so I default to that). This is what it looked like before Affinity:
What did I learn?
SO much about procedural texturing- this is without a doubt the best procedural texturing I’ve ever done, and the closest to the painted look I was going for. I really need to thank @sozap here- it’s essential to use their layering approach for this effect. Every material has at least three layers. Each layer has at least two sublayers- one for converting light to a black-and-white range, and one for adding randomized color to that light. If anyone wants to learn more, let me know, and I’ll see if I can pare it down and share it
Music
Estuans interius ira vehementi Sephiroth!
As promised, I finished the FFVIIR OST - and immediately started it again because I love it. I’m going to go on a brief tangent about One-Winged Angel- every time I listen to it, I’m fascinated by the cultural impact it’s had. FFVII came out originally in 1997, and every video game since has drawn inspiration for its “big bad” theme from One-Winged Angel. Seriously, listen to One-Winged Angel and you’ll be able to think of dozens of clearly inspired songs from video games. It’s the video game score equivalent of Hans Zimmer’s The Dark Knight score. (Every action/adventure movie since 2008 has wanted to sound like The Dark Knight, and you know I’m right.)
What especially makes this interesting to me is the inspirations for One-Winged Angel- Nobuo Uematsu has said in interviews that the three main inspirations were the theme from Jaws, the famous violin motif from Psycho, and The Imperial March from Star Wars. Three of the most popular and culturally relevant movies of all time, in other words. Thus, three things that had a huge impact on society influenced something that had a huge impact on society 
Personal News
I think I got a head start on my cold, I’m feeling probably 50% better and I can tell I’ll be fine by tonight or tomorrow. Time to update my BA status (I’m seriously delighted by this, now all we need is GIF signatures for all our posts and we’ll really have mastered the art of the forum )
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Insert the foulest curse you can think of here, and then stretch your imagination to make it even fouler.
Why yes, yes, this is all I have to say about your post. Before I came to this line, there were other things, but they’re gone, wiped away by the horror.
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Shame, I love other thoughts
I mean, while we’re on the topic, we could all have a little row of pixelated stars under our name indicating how many posts we’ve made with a cute label for each level of star, right?
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