Using 3D Models
Introduction
Once I had to do a drawing of a structure made up of
several columns. The columns were in sets of five and sets
of three. There were three levels and the whole thing was
five sided. I made it in CorelDraw so that the lines would be
nice and sharp and I could add perspective. It took me
about a day and a half to finish and I was quite pleased
with the end result.
I sent it off for approval and when the corrections came
back one of them was to show the structure "at a slightly
different angle." What that meant was that I had to redraw
the entire thing! Such is life for an artist. But I got to
thinking, "There must be a better way!"
After thinking about it, I came up with the idea of making a model in Bryce (a 3D program principally used for creating
landscapes). I made one column, duplicated it, grouped the various sets, and, there it was! After it was done, I could
rotate and view it from any angle I wanted! "Now this is the way to go for a project like this!" I thought.
And so began my experimentation with integrating 3D models into my work. I soon discovered that there were tons of free
3D models available for downloading on the internet and I began downloading all I could find.
SketchUp
After much experimentation with finding models and viewing them and so on I came across a 3D program that was ideal
for my purposes. It’s called SketchUp and there is a freeware version which you can use. You can easily make your own
models as well as download a virtual ton of free models from their 3D Warehouse site.
Once you have your model you can turn and rotate it to any angle you want and then render the image either in full color
with shadows, textures and all, or simple as a black and white line drawing. Then you can use the image as a guide in
doing the final art.
In Conclusion
Using 3D models in your artwork can be a big help. However, a word of caution should be mentioned here. Perfectly
drawn objects can be perfectly boring and “dead” in your art so try to use them sparingly or only as reference. Cartoons
especially need to have a lot of life, a bit of distortion and lack of adhering strictly to the rules of perspective in order to be
fun and interesting.