Quarantine allows senior to focus on digital art and 3-D computer graphic design

In his future career, senior Rishabh Anand hopes to do work related to game design. 

That career path involves multiple skill sets, one of which is 3-D art. And for the past few months, Anand has been practicing his 3-D art and posting his finished artwork on his Instagram art account, @rishyfishy03.

Anand started his account in early 2020, but he didn’t do much with it for months.. When the pandemic shuttered much of society in March, he found he had more time to dedicate to his account, and he began to branch out from photorealistic sketches by taking on digital art and 3-D computer graphic design. 

He has done eight posts since then ranging from a pencil drawing of shoes to 3-D car models. One of Anand’s most recent posts is a rendering of a car design inspired by the design of the Lamborghini Countach. To create this artwork, Anand inserted a light source to brighten the image and define the shape of the car in Blender, a 3-D computer graphics program. After a month of tweaking, Anand finally posted the art in late October. 

Anand’s recent 3-D car is his favorite artwork since it shows his dramatic improvement in 3-D graphics when compared to the car model he posted on July 30. Focusing on his artwork over the past couple months has helped him to notice and fix mistakes he had been making with materials and lighting, allowing him to make his art significantly more realistic.

He hopes his Instagram followers will be able to see his progress as he continues to take on challenging 3-D art projects, all with the goal of increasing his overall skill set. 

“While I am not going into the artistic area of game design, art gives me a creative edge and allows me to understand the work of others and how to apply it in the grand scheme of the development process,” Anand said.

During art classes that he began in sixth grade, he practiced with still-life drawings to improve his technical skills such as shading and blending, then transitioned to other photorealistic drawings. When quarantine started, he started experimenting with Blender in his free time by watching tutorials.

Anand said he enjoys creating art for his Instagram account because it gives him the ability to express himself and show off his skills and interests. He likes the idea of starting with nothing and eventually creating something memorable. 

 “Art allows me to show others my creative side,” he said. “I have started to shift more towards original art now because I like the idea of creating things from imagination rather than just drawing still lifes.”