Sailing in the Ocean - Blender

Client Description

Client wanted a design which described a silent smooth sea with a man sailing on a boat, looking at the setting sun. I wanted to go for a minimalistic approach and upon agreement I used blender to create the scene. The waves provided a sense of depth, but also made the scene feel more dynamic, which was an important part of the client's vision.

Process

I started off with simple line art followed by storyboarding, which helped me determine where I could place details. I decided to outline the main idea, and that was making it look like there are tides happening in the ocean or something like that. I began by studying the shape and movement of the waves.

Once I received the client's approval of the concept, sketch and the composition we moved on to the modelling stage, creating a 3D model in Blender for the composition.

To create the water effects I used an ocean modifier on a plane and used basic shading textures. I set up the lighting conditions using a fake sun created using a sphere and carefully adjusted the emission properties.

The sense of darkness in the image was what the client was looking for to emphasize of his loneliness. Once the scene was modeled for review, and the client liked the idea, I started working on other important changes based on the feedback, like background and lighting. Finally, changing parameters of lights and shadows helped me finish this project in a proper way.

Conclusion

The process was quite an experience for me. Even though it was not my first time working with Blender and its rendering, it taught me some new things.