PUP Indie Project
August 2024
I had an amazing opportunity to make anything I wanted for our last project during my PUP internship. I decided to do something a bit unconventional: I first wrote a poem and came up with ideas for a visual that can go along with the writing. I then created a physical marionette, modeled and textured a 3D environment, printed everything out on paper, cut out the images, attached wires to the back, and then gathered a group of people to hold the wired images for a live puppeteering shoot.  This project really pushed me to step out of my comfort zone and reach out to various people at Pixar for help.

A quick thumbnail sketch 

Modeled & shaded in 3D

Character design

Marionette complete!

Behind-the-scenes

So many amazing artists, like Matt Nolte, Greg Dykstra, and Kurt Fleischer, came to support my shoot and help bring my vision to life. The way we orchestrated and synchronized our efforts, the blend of minds and ideas, and the ebullient energy of everyone gathered in the same room felt like art in itself. That moment was truly special and magical.

Antique Bull Doll
July 2024
Made this during my PUP internship at Pixar. One of the biggest challenges was navigating Pixar's proprietary shading program that was all node-based. Getting the embroidery and the fabric texture  right was extremely challenging for me; if I had more time, I would add more color variation and stain details. 
With the help of my mentors, I was able to finish shading the bull in just few days. 
Cowboy Boots 
Dec 2023
Although this was fun to make, one thing I am noticing is how even the specularity is across the entire boots. If I were to do it again, I would increase the roughness with noise to break the evenness.  




Ship & the Fishies 
Nov - Dec 2023
While scrolling through Pinterest, I stumbled upon Ken Wong's artwork of this ship and lantern fish. I immediately wanted to recreate it.  When reproducing artwork, I enjoy infusing my little touches by playing with colors and details in the textures; this ship was the perfect project for exploration!


Modeled in Maya & ZBrush, textured in Substance.





Forest Girl 
Sep - Oct 2023
Based on an artwork made by one of the greatest artists I know, Chris Sickels, with my own original girl character.
 I modeled this mostly on Maya (a little bit of Zbrush) & rendered on Arnold! I had so much fun exploring myriads of colors and textures in Substance with this piece--such a great challenge!






Rustic Kitchen 
Dec - Feb 2023
I absolutely adore this cozy kitchen illustration by Marfigram. It took a while to model all of the props and to achieve the worn-down look & a similar light setup. Although there are definitely many areas that need improvements, I am happy with the overall product! 

Modeled in Maya & rendered in Arnold.  







Birdie Enver
Feb - March 2023
This cute character is drawn by Madison Safer. Instead of the berry branch the birdie is seen carrying in the original drawing, I decided to replace the berries with, colorful, glowing stars. I love the hazy, dazzling stars in the background that gives the entire piece a sense of comfort & warmth on one hand but also a tinge of magic and mysticism on the other. I explored a bit with Python to randomize the grass on the ground and I don't think it turned out too bad. 

Modeled in Maya, textured in Substance & rendered in Arnold







Fall Town
March - May 2023
Based on Kemi Cat's illustration, tackling this town was quite a challenge—there were so many elements to model and texture! While there are plenty of aspects I would have done differently, I learned a lot from this project. 

Modeled in Maya, textured in Substance & rendered in Arnold