Back in early 2020, I started learning how to use the free 3D software Blender as a fun past time during the home isolation. This low poly California roll was my first ever render that I created as part of Polygon Runway's online course.
Using what I learnt, I created my favorite type of sushi - tamago.
I had just finished reading this amazing book and thought it would be a fun exercise for me to practice some basic modeling and lighting.
At this point I was craving some yummy Japanese oden, so I tried recreating the Apple iOS emoji in low poly. This was my first time using a translucent material, which I used for the sauce.
In March 2020, my sister graduated from her Japanese language school, so I made her a little low poly congratulations. Again inspired by apple's Party Popper 🎉
I had recently created my own merchandise t-shirt with a cute bunny icon and sickle juxtaposed against the word "Plant Slayer" written on it. I like what the word conveys so I played around with that concept and ended up modeling a low poly salad with a sword in it.
Slowly, I learned how to model a few more objects and created this forest road diorama based on Polygon Runway's course tutorial. Watching additional youtube videos, I had a lot of fun modeling a road bike and was super excited to be able to incorporate it into my scene.
Following a youtube tutorial this bunny was my first blender character I modeled and rigged. I had a lot of fun decorating the scene by creating the mountain terrain, space hoverboard (which is the Ahancer's company logo), and lighting using the EVEE render engine.
I thought it be cool to do a low poly style fruit ninja scene. This was my first time experimenting with texture painting to use as the watermelon skin.
I had a dribbble invite to give away and thought it would make for a interesting scene if I conceptualized it as a ticket. However, this ticket was pinned by shurikens, almost as if the new invitee was getting recruited by ninjas.
This banana relic was my variation on the course tutorial project. I learnt about the importance of using light to paint the scene and discovered the power of particle systems to easily make realistic vines.
My take on cyber punk meets endless summer. Although it took forever to model, this was another course project that I had a lot of fun with. I had spent the summer of my junior year of undergrad working in Honolulu and couldn't help thinking about Zippy's 24/7 diner and all the delicious shave ice.
Searching for something I could finish in a day, I had this idea of doing a hot chocolate scene with marshmallows chilling out as I was drinking my tea in a cold AC room. The picture I had in my head was like a Japanese onsen but with hot chocolate, hence the chocolate towel on one of their heads.
I was learning on Youtube how to model and rig a hand and couldn't resist creating a scene centered around the "Shaka" or "Hang Loose" hand gestures my Hawaiian friends love throwing around. I also experimented with the material to get that vinyl plastic like toy texture.
For an Instagram Draw This in Your Style challenge, I thought it be cool if I changed the 2D Japanese theme night garden into a calm beach (see original in last slide). And for the final touch I made sure to add in Wilson for that extra cast away vibe.
My father's family immigrated to Thailand from China. Because of this our family always have a blast for Chinese New Year. I had this idea that it would be fun if I could somehow symbolize the end of the year of the Rat and the beginning of the year of the Ox. Below is my interpretation of that concept.
For this was as far as the Rat could go. The Ox thanked his tiny travel companion and bid him farewell. The road ahead was his turn to travel. As the Rat watched the pointy wizard hat disappeared into the merlot night, he whispered, "see you again in twelve years buddy."
🎶 Savage love, did somebody, did somebody break your heart? 🎶
The radio stations in Bangkok kept playing the Savage Love remix by Jason Derulo & BTS non-stop and I couldn't get the lyrics out of my head.
For Pokemon's 25th year anniversary, I wanted to recreate Ash Ketchum's room as if it were 2021. I had a lot of fun adding in small details like the mask on the desk, the potion, the actual standing desk that I currently use, the Rock Gym badge, the screensaver on the iMac, and the snorlax plushie to name a few.
I created this piece as a thank you gift for our intern Mille. It was her second time interning with us. Last time, she had drawn a very cute cartoon version of our office (in the picture frame next to the books). Since she was our designated Spotify DJ, I made sure to include a turntable with records of the bands she often played like Arctic Monkeys and Gorillaz. Mille is also a die hard android fan so I couldn't help including a sticker just to tease her.
This year I was thrilled to be able to create the 3d illustrations for our company's revamped Ahancer website. At First, I was quite nervous that I would disappoint everyone because all my 3d pieces have been centered around a scene with a background. This would be my first time creating a illustration with a transparent background, so I knew getting the lighting on point would be difficult. But it turned out quite well!
I also created a diorama to explore how the scene might look at night vs during the day. Applying a particle system and adjusting the physics to gravitate towards a curve, I was able to make the moment seem more magical as sparks flowed up and around the characters as they receive the heart from the pyramid.
The pyramid was delighted to share his greatest treasure with his new friends. For he knew it was more precious than any diamond or gold.
A happy 26th birthday gift to my sister Amy. At first when I created this scene I had envisioned that I was the green cubey with our little Pomeranian Salapao on my head, but Amy said that our mum was definitely the green one. I guess it made more sense I was the blue one XD.
I was spreading some peanut butter on my toast to make PB&J when I had an idea that it could be cool to do a 3d peanut butter jar. I brought my butter knife to my desk and started modeling away.
I wanted to create a fun scene centered around the illustration I made for the Contact Us page. Drawing inspiration from the movie Up with the house floating away, I had a lot of fun with this scene. My favorite part is the purple cubey still in the water with his floaties and the cyan cubey telling them to get back down here.
Andy Weir's new book Project Hail Mary is hands down my favorite book of 2021. I think he has done a remarkable job taking full advantage of the audio medium to make his stories really come to life. It was like a movie in my ears. His second book Artemis after The Martian was great but this one was just another level. I ended up binge listening to the whole book in three days.
When I first saw pictures of the UW campus, I was blown away by how beautiful the cherry blossoms at the Quad were. With this in mind, I wanted to create a scene that captured my excitement to hopefully step on campus and see the quad for myself. I also couldn't resist including a Torii Gate because I'm a huge fan of Japanese ninja anime, and I frequently see episodes where the main protagonist passes through it, signaling the start of their adventure. Likewise, if I am fortunate to get accepted to the MHCI+D program, it would be the start of a new journey for me.
