In this series of lessons we will cover a lot to give you a solid understanding of the creative and technical steps of combining traditional and 3D illustrative techniques. The topics that will be covered include:

01. An overview of the process used to create your own custom-crafted brushstrokes using traditional painting methods.

• Discussion of painting materials and mediums.


• Discussion of negative and positive space when creating the initial brushstrokes with variations.


• Scanning in Adobe Photoshop.


• Curves in Photoshop and applying the adjustments to all the brush scans.

02. Adding the painted brushstrokes to materials in Cinema 4D and applying them to 3D models.

• Establishing a color scheme to use throughout the work.


• Overview of Adobe Color.


• Creating materials in Cinema 4D using the brushstrokes as the basis.


• Creating bump and alpha channels and adjusting the alpha for a cleaner look.


• Reusing the materials to create color variations.

03. 3D Modeling the elements that make up the dystopian city.

• Creating parametric primitives and adjusting the material projection using the texture tool.


• Creation of random spheres using the MoGraph Cloner, effectors and fields.


• 3D modeling the buildings using simple parametric primitives, the make editable function, additional modeling tools and the use the MoGraph Cloner.


• Creating the pyramid using a MoGraph Cloner, Cube and Volume Effector and adjusting the overall shape. 


• Creating the details of wires, pipes and coils using Sweep NURBS and cloners.


• Creating the birds using a cissoid spline, rectangle spline and Sweep NURBS. Scattering the birds with MoGraph and random effector.

04. Establishing a solid composition using the rule of thirds and leading the eye to the main focal of the image.

• Render settings and output dimensions.


• Camera settings and using the composition tab’s grid setting.


• Discussion of the rule of thirds.


• Placing the foreground, mid-ground and background elements within the scene for a balanced composition.


• MoGraph selection and hide selection functions.

05. Lighting the Scene.

• The use of the environment tool, creating fog, and adjusting the fog’s color and distance settings.


• Using omni lights and adjusting the color, visible light and shadow settings. 

06. Rendering

• Creating compositing tags and object buffers for all the main geometry of the scene.


• Set-up multi-pass layers within the render settings.


• Set-up the Cel Renderer effect and export outlines and edges as separate passes.


• Set-up the Sketch and Toon effect and export as a separate pass.

07. Post-production workflows in Adobe Photoshop.

• Organization of multi-pass layers and channels.


• Compositing cel renders and sketch and toon into the multi-pass file and setting the proper blend modes.


• Layer masks and non-destructive editing of details.


• Painting light effects and using the channels for quick selections.


• Painting radiating light and using the channels for quick selections.


• Quick mask mode, painting details for emphasis and visual impact.


• Repurposing the brush patterns for added detail, composition, grunge and dirt.


• Adding people with a discussion of various free and paid resources for creating entourage.


• Curves adjustments and refining the overall look/feel of the work.


• Painting additional detail using the brush tool.


• Adding glows and highlights to emphasize the main focal of the image.

08. Bonus Lecture

• Tips and tricks for working efficiently.


• Creating custom assets.


• Using Cinema 4D’s content browser to save your creations for use in later projects.


• Repurposing content for future work and variations on a theme.