About​

When constructing a fairly complex piece of artwork, it can be helpful to see the process, step-by step from start to finish in nauseating detail!

I hope this site can help and encourage you. If I can do it, anyone can.

It was only a few years ago that I got involved full-time with 3D modelling, although I have worked in many allied fields. I started my career as a young an industrial photographer in big bustling Johannesburg. I was cocky, self-opinionated and thought I knew it all. A typical “twenty-ager”. One day, a client of mine introduced me to a commercial photographer who was temporarily visiting and needed to hire a studio. I was happy to let him use my equipment – I didn’t want any hire money – but I decided that I would show this guy from Germany how to do things properly. I wanted to brag. Oh how foolish I was!

What he did in my studio using my equipment left me utterly speechless. I couldn’t believe it! Within half an hour I went from being “Mr. BIG STUFF” to being “Mr. devastated humble little boy”. We became friends and I tried to suck up everything he could possibly teach me. He encouraged me to visit different countries and work in the big photographic studios of Europe. I only found out many years later that he was a photographer of world-class stature.

Years later I went on to set up the very first authorized AutoCAD training centre in Cape Town, where I taught 2D drafting in the days when Computer Aided Drafting was new and exciting. One day, I was fascinated by a brand new application just released called 3D Studio Max. I never had the time to get involved with 3D illustration – I was too busy trying to make a living and support a family – but it was always at the back of my mind.

In 2016 my wife died of cancer and the shock of it caused me to perform a complete life-reset. I moved away from the Big City into the small seaside town of Yzerfontein on the West Coast of South Africa. There I decided to stop wasting my time and do what I really wanted to do, so at the age of 63, I decided to become a full-time student of 3D technical Illustration – concentrating on Blender and Substance Painter.

While I am not able to learn 3D as quickly as a modern teenager, I have a lifetime of graphics and technical knowledge to draw upon which compensates a little, but in particular, it allows me to explain matters in a different way which I hope will be of some use to you.

Enjoy this site and please don’t hesitate to comment on the posts – that helps all of us in this wonderful journey through the world of 3D modelling.