Joshua Hagins Portfolio

TOOLS USED

- Blender

- Pureref

- PolyHaven HDRis.

This project came about due to a need to create a book cover for a book I am currently co-writing. This need presented an opportunity to further develop my skills in Blender while also visualizing ideas from within the book itself.

The end goal was to create a visual representation of a location within the book that had a similar visual quality of something hand-painted.

All materials are procedurally made and all meshes are modeled by me.

This is the final render at this time, but this project will likely be returned to nearer the completion of the novel.

The final render

This is my proof of concept for this idea—a stake in the waters of a lake—and I never stray too far from this concept.

The stake is a simple mesh with a procedural wood texture applied. I adjust the texture a minor ways over time, mostly in color and material details, but it generally stays the same.

The water is procedural and stays identical with the exception of the algae which is part of the water material and the color.

Proof of concept

After quickly throwing together the proof of concept, I moved on to the two other details that I knew that I wanted: algae and the lake shore. I created a procedural sand texture and threw it on a simple mesh, then moved on to the algae. I toyed with various methods of adding the algae, both sitting atop, and below, the water.

Excessive surface algae with a paint stroke filter

Below-surface algae

Thick surface algae

I disliked the angle as it looked way too flat for my tastes. I adjusted the camera from a high angle to a low angle, bringing the sky and the hump of the shore dune into view. Satisfied with the angle, I began adding grass using Blender's particle (hair) system.

The sky is a placeholder made with Blender's dynamic sky addon.

I further adjusted the algae, reducing the amount present by about 90%. This experiment was to add texture to the water without affecting the separation between the grass and the water.

Low angle view | Grass placement tweaks | Adjusted sky

Adjusted grass texture | Adjusted stake color | Adjusted lighting

Once I settled on a viewing angle and general grass placement, I began modeling a cave and the rocky formations at the edge of the sandy shore.

The first two images show two variations of rock, stake, and water colors, rock formations, and water-top algae. Grass is added along the rocky formations to add texture.

The further four images feature the algae hanging just below the water's surface, adjustments to the grass—growing narrower and more realistic in color and shape—and rearrangements to the rocky formations. The sky changes to something more inline with the desired sundown lighting.

Some images feature more final color than others due to them being test renders for the purposes of composition and nothing else.

Adjusted grass placement | Adjusted rocky formations

Adjusted rocky formations | Final camera position

Adjusted cave entrance | Adjusted rocky formations | Adjusted grass

Adjusted lighting | Adjusted rocky formations

Adjusted key lights on stake

The next set of images occur after a few undocumented changes:

- An HDRi from Polyhaven was applied as the final sky texture.

- A foreground, rocky overhand was modeled, positioned, and edge lit.

- Vines were created with the IvyGen tool, tested, and placed along various bits of rock, notably on the overhang.

- A fog volume and an atmosphere volume were added and tweaked to give texture, grass separation, and ambiance.

After the above changes, I entered the phase that every project does where tweaking minor details becomes an obsessive need to find the "perfect" combination of settings. Heavy fog, color grading, and foliage details were the focus of those changes.

The last four images contain the final rocky formation, with the final three having added trees and the positioning of said trees being the focus.

The final render can be seen above.