Unrendered #1
👋 Welcome to the UNrendered Newsletter by Teteerck
First of all, thank you for being here. This is my first newsletter and I’m excited to have the privilege to land in your inbox.
UNrendered will be your monthly dive into some of the inspiration and ideas I'd be curating during each month to share with you. (Every first Tuesday of the month except for this one)😅Although there might be some extra mail coming to your inbox if there's something special that would be worth sharing with you. And maybe the frequency of the newsletter can change in the future, who knows 🤔 Our topics will range from 3D Art, Art & Design, tech, software, gear & gadgets, Music, Fashion, freelancing, management, and productivity.
For quite some time the idea of making a newsletter is something that's been swirling in my mind, I'm the type of person who likes to share cool stuff I find on the internet with friends and closest colleagues whenever I think I might be helpful in some way or at least interesting to anyone haha. that's also kinda the way I'm thinking about this newsletter, like a new way to share things I like and enjoy with friends, even some personal and professional insights into whatever subject I'm thinking at the time of writing the issue.
So... Who am I?
In case you don't know me, my name is Ricardo Rey I'm a 3D Artist and 3D Generalist who studied industrial design for some years with a passion for tech, arts & design, born in Venezuela, and I am currently based in Spain, and I've been doing Freelance 3D work (like, for real) since 2018.
The idea of making a newsletter comes from the fact that although I like sharing stuff, I'm not the kind of person that usually puts itself out there much, so this newsletter for me it's a little like just giving back to the internet with anything that someone can find helpful about anything I’ll be sharing and getting out of my comfort zone while building some habits in the process, and hey! that sounds good to me! 🙌.
Hopefully, I get better and better at this with each issue, this first issue will also serve as an example of how I intend to structure the newsletter (not like I'm just figuring that out while writing it) :)
So... how did I get started with 3d Art?
Although I did a lot of 3D stuff before and during the time I was studying industrial design (yes, I wanted to be a car designer) I got started with 3D art just by pure curiosity, some months after I dropped out of Product Design School due to some personal reasons that maybe we can discuss someday in the future.
So! I was on my way to this ZBrush crash course by Senior Concept Artist Juan Carlos Abraldes that the school was offering to students and I manage to get in even when I wasn't studying there anymore, and looking at my Instagram explore page I start seeing these weird-looking images with this estrange, also weird but beautiful materials, I was completely amazed by them, How are these guys doing this? What are they using? How did they come up with these abstract things? "these guys" were Joey Camacho (which was probably the one that I got more inspired by), The French Monkey, Patrick 4D, Beeple Crap, and Fvckrender.
You see, I was already into 3D and had quite some experience with a lot of 3D Apps. but I was extremely used to just thinking about clean and realistic product and car renderings and I was doing this Zbrush Course with the idea of maybe doing some Hard Surface Concept Design (Armor, Vehicles, Weapons, Spaceships) so, basically... futuristic product design.
These abstract images and their quality completely blew my mind and got me hooked. Then I noticed that these guys were posting something new every day… what? 🤯 this was during the last couple of months of 2016 and by that time Modo was my 3d program of choice and my real first 3D love, Modo was the program that made me love 3D, and the first time I saw something close to a real-time rendering viewport, it was so good. These guys were all using Cinema 4D, why? are these impossible to achieve with Modo? Should I try switching to cinema 4D? So, in December of 2016, I started playing around with Cinema4d after a long time. For a couple of weeks played with it trying to create something similar to what these artists were creating, but I had a hard time finding the tools and extremely missed Modo's amazing UI and the speed I was able to achieve in Modo.
This is my first attempt at Abstract 3D Art Using Cinema 4D 😬 Back in 2016
After a couple of renders using just Cinema 4D decided to start doing daily abstract renders being the weird kid that uses Modo, unlike practically everyone else. I kept using cinema 4D with Octane from time to time so I could learn and be more proactive with them but later I discovered Houdini and decided to focus on Houdini instead.
And that's it! On January 1st I started doing dailies, I was just learning by doing as I had in my IG Bio during those days, using Modo (Because why not), Houdini and Octane every day for 2 years completely loving the process of creating and learning something new every day. Discovering 3D Art in this form and being part of a community of people I looked up to, little by little started getting followers on my Instagram account, etc. Everything was very new but very exciting and gratifying because after all, I was just learning, and within that process, after a few days I got a positive comment in one of my posts from Patrick 4D and that comment got me even more inspired to keep going! And then after a lot more daily renders one day I even started getting clients! but that’s for another newsletter.
What I'm up to?
These days I’m all about re-doing my website, this newsletter, and most of all, A LOT of reorganizing and planning between client’s projects, I’m looking to reclaim ASAP some time to make more personal projects, do a better job managing time and clients + have a better work/life balance. So I'm completely overhauling my Notion Workspace, creating a better and simpler system to manage all that while doing some digital and physical decluttering since my next step it’s probably doing the same with my physical workspace.
I've been on the verge of burnout for quite some time now (and actually burned out sometimes too) and for that, I'm kinda used to it but it's still very frustrating and exhausting. This is something that never gets better until you do something about it, and that's why creating a system that helps you have better and healthier personal and professional habits is always a good way to get back some control. For me, doing this is far more effective than resting or disconnecting completely for a while, every time I've tried that, whenever I get back to work, I'm again instantly just as stressed as I was before. If you are in a similar situation I encourage you to try creating a system that allows you to put these things out of your brain this will be a huge help and you’ll be able to see things so more clearly.
For this I always recommend using Notion, I know that it can be intimidating for some people and sometimes it just needs a lot of time and effort to build a system that suits your needs (which actually sounds super counterproductive. I know) but when you do find the system that works for you, it's just unmatched.
Other Apps I Use:Apple notes is my frictionless app of choice for note-taking and quickly saving stuff.Apple Reminders for to-dos (Its simplicity makes it perfect for me, after trying all the other full of features alternatives I keep coming back to reminders)Google + Apple Calendar. Just the perfect combo.
In the 3D space, I'm looking forward to starting doing personal experiments real soon (daily renders or “almost daily renders” are something I'm always trying to start again). That’s why I’m prioritizing getting some time back so hopefully March can be a month where I can get to explore, learn new stuff and post regularly! + some surprises. So! Stay tuned for that. 🤘
Last month had the opportunity of doing a cover for The Economist and had a blast working alongside Art Director Matt Withers, and I’m very proud of it. :)
Quick list of extra 3D-Related Stuff I’m extremely interested in these days
(and maybe you should too):
Geometry nodes.
Houdini
Unreal Engine.
Caustics.
Cloth Sims.
Redshift for Blender (Although it’s taking ages to be ready for production work)
Definitely themes for the next issues :)
♥️ Month Favorites
I've always been the guy that always knows or uses this thing that most people never heard about and I love sharing them + I'm kinda naturally inclined to support the underdog that seems to be doing the right things, or at least seems like it's trying to do thing right.
Sometimes I find stuff on the internet that makes my day or I think it's great and worth sharing so this is kinda my way of giving back. Hopefully, you find some of this useful or fun. :)
Procedural Fish Animation Tutorial - Using Blender 3.0 and Geometry nodes.
Physics Dropper - Cheap Blender Add-on that helps you drop objects with a few clicks.
The Art of Ping pong - Ping pong meets Art & Design. Would love to get one of these!
Marketing Examples - Interesting website with a bunch of good copyright and marketing examples.
Insured Nomads - Travel Insurance for Digital Nomads.
Umbra - Create your own Mac light & dark mode wallpapers.
Van der Waals - Speaker with a super dope Ferrofluid Visualizer.
Airtag Wallet by Nimalist - Beautiful Leather wallet that can carry an Apple Airtag, with Magsafe Support this would’ve been absolutely KILLER.
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - HAHA - NGL, this song made my month.
Let's Connect!
💌 What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment.✌️
👋 Say hello on Instagram or Twitter.
💬 Join my Discord Channel to keep the conversation going.
👀 Check my (Old)Website (The new one it’s still WIP)
Thank you for reading Unrendered by Teteerck