# Figure Paintings: Guess How These Were Made❓ **URL:** \ **Category:** Works in Progress\ **Tags:** characters\ **Created:** [September 27, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939 "2023-09-27T12:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/xeofrios/32/1276085_2.png) [@Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/u/Xeofrios)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/1 "2023-09-27T12:26:55Z")
Okay so here is something different I wanted to try. This time instead of me giving a breakdown, how about you try to guess how these were made. Have I been hiding my 2D skills? Did I use Geometry nodes to simulate brush strokes? Or perhaps it’s some kind of special shader or compositing trick? Could it be that I joined the dark side of AI generated images?! Whichever method or combination I used, I will eventually reveal it. Plus some more images. ![1](https://blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/4X/0/a/c/0ac68dc13bb85cc885d25b686d21fe76659b83bd.jpeg) ![2](https://blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/4X/a/b/7/ab76df34ad6c48d316cf236e15a60a09eb1c3286.jpeg) ![3](https://blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/4X/e/e/5/ee50f1a098d1d95c842170e517dea1812a158520.jpeg) > **Thumbnail** > > ![thumb](https://blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/4X/0/a/1/0a135d40c8898c0f984216853de48427fc5ffefd.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Splododyne](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/splododyne/32/706422_2.png) [@Splododyne](https://blenderartists.org/u/Splododyne)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/2 "2023-09-27T15:06:26Z")
I’ll guess it was rendered with very low samples and denoise to create the painted effect. ---
**Author:** ![Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/xeofrios/32/1276085_2.png) [@Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/u/Xeofrios)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/3 "2023-09-27T17:23:51Z")
I have tried that and it almost never looks good. It will also never give you the larger brushstrokes with hard falloffs. ---
**Author:** ![stray](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/stray/32/1433520_2.png) [@stray](https://blenderartists.org/u/stray)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/4 "2023-09-27T17:34:17Z")
Some kind of Normal Map to make the surface look uneven + coloured Matcap as base colour? 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![BigBlend](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/bigblend/32/1324_2.png) [@BigBlend](https://blenderartists.org/u/BigBlend)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/5 "2023-09-27T17:41:07Z")
Painted normals? ---
**Author:** ![KAUSTIK](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/kaustik/32/1215462_2.png) [@KAUSTIK](https://blenderartists.org/u/KAUSTIK)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 7:31am UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/6 "2023-09-28T07:31:39Z")
what do you mean ---
**Author:** ![BigBlend](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/bigblend/32/1324_2.png) [@BigBlend](https://blenderartists.org/u/BigBlend)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 2:02pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/7 "2023-09-28T14:02:34Z")
[(5) Making 3D animation look painterly (it’s easier than you think) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8N00rjil_4) ---
**Author:** ![Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/xeofrios/32/1276085_2.png) [@Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/u/Xeofrios)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/8 "2023-09-28T15:19:39Z")
> [@stray](#): > > Some kind of Normal Map to make the surface look uneven + coloured Matcap as base colour? > [@BigBlend](#): > > Painted normals? That is correct! But its procedural, not painted. I have used a toon shader for the base. > [@BigBlend](#): > > (5) Making 3D animation look painterly (it’s easier than you think) - YouTube This is close to what I have done, but the method shown here only works well for hard strokes. If you use a soft brush, it will end up looking like it was hammer instead of painted. Another difference is that if you look closely at mine, there are multiple layers of strokes. I will talk about this in detail in my breakdown (should be up tomorrow). ---
**Author:** ![BigBlend](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/bigblend/32/1324_2.png) [@BigBlend](https://blenderartists.org/u/BigBlend)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 10:02pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/9 "2023-09-28T22:02:10Z")
That’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/user_avatar/blenderartists.org/xeofrios/32/1276085_2.png) [@Xeofrios](https://blenderartists.org/u/Xeofrios)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://blenderartists.org/t/figure-paintings-guess-how-these-were-made/1484939/10 "2023-09-29T18:03:08Z")
Shading breakdown: > [@NPR Skin Shader Showcase + Breakdown](https://blenderartists.org/t/npr-skin-shader-showcase-breakdown/1485295): > > Here is the most developed version of my procedural NPR skin shader. It has been through multiple iterations over my past NPR projects. I hope the information I provide here will be useful to you. Renders I will only be using the hand to display the shader. For full body renders, see this topic: The hand is from the official Human Base meshes Asset bundle by Blender Studio. Infact, the whole body and head is the realistic female body asset sculpted over and rigged.