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Add Your Light

Add Your Light is about YOU becoming a more relaxed and successful digital artist! 3D Assets, Tutorials and mindfulness tips from Manuel - a digital artist and supervisor with more than 13 years of experience.

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Assets | Knowledge | Mindfulness HOME ARTSTATION BLENDERMARKET GUMROAD YOUTUBE Wednesday 9th of April 2024 Reader, I forgot to mention something last week... When I was talking about how important references are, I didn't tell you how I am LOOKING at my refs: PureRef! This seems like a blunt advertisement for that software, but unfortunately they don't have an affiliate program, so it's just me giving you a tip here πŸ˜‰ With PureRef you can have your reference(s) always stay on top of the...
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DANGER: your mind β‰  a reference ⚠️

Assets | Knowledge | Mindfulness HOME ARTSTATION BLENDERMARKET GUMROAD YOUTUBE Wednesday 4th of March 2024 Hi Reader! One chapter of my book "Guide to efficient photorealism", that I am writing right now, is about one of the most important and probably most overlooked workflows in in CGI: references. Never begin working without references! In our quest to recreate reality digitally, we embrace photorealism, but it's a bit tricky because everyone sees things differently. Reality, shaped by our...
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Never done this before, BUT I CAN DO IT! πŸ’ͺ

Assets | Knowledge | Mindfulness HOME ARTSTATION BLENDERMARKET GUMROAD YOUTUBE Wednesday, March 27th 2024 πŸ–πŸ» Reader, how're ya doin'? Typical conversation throughout my career: Client: I need this and that! Me: I've never done it before, but generally it's do-able, so let's go! This mindset brought me so many things in the last 14 years: New and exciting projects Satisfied clients Higher salary and rates Supportive superiors Respect from colleagues Best thing: excitement and knowledge I have...
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Broad Surface Imperfection sample rendering

why I embrace my imperfect life

Assets | Knowledge | Mindfulness HOME ARTSTATION BLENDERMARKET GUMROAD YOUTUBE Wednesday, Feb. 21th 2024 Howdy Reader, how is it going today? Since I became a entrepenaurial creator, my life is...dense...to say the least. In the morning I get everything ready for our three kids for school/kindergarten. Then I work. Then I spent as much time with my family as possible. In the evening, after bringing the kids to bed, I work again until late into the night... To say the least, our household is...
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These 60 seconds will help you!

Assets | Knowledge | Mindfulness HOME ARTSTATION BLENDERMARKET GUMROAD YOUTUBE Januar 2024 πŸ‘‹ Reader, hope you feel relaxed today! Deadlines, technical challenges, crashes, lack of inspiration, again deadlines... Feeling bummed out already when reading this? SORRY! 😱 I feel ya! But before you print out this email to ball it up and burn it, read a little further πŸ˜‡ YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET YOU HAVE! Before becoming a full-time creator, as you know, I was an art director, teamleader and...
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what I want the world to know in 2024

Assets | Knowledge | Mindfulness February 07th 2024 Hey Reader Do you have any secret talents? Here’s mine: Sometimes I think I am an octopus with a super-brain. Three kids in the back of my car, me driving while having a conversation with my wife and answering questions from one of my sons at the same time, while I am getting out a handkerchief and wiping the chocolate milk from my other sons lap that he just spilt on himself. All the while checking for THAT radio station that my third son...
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Why are you doing this?

Assets | Knowledge | Mindfulness Read time: 2 min Januar 2024 πŸ‘‹ Hey Reader, how are you? Working in the advertisement industry in Japan changed a few things in my life and how I approach them. If I were to pick one of them, it would be the Japanese "customer-first" culture... As Digital Artists, we might often curse our clients because of what they "force us" to do. Artistic choices, limitations... And we are in a good place to feel that way, right? After all, each of us has dreams and...
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