Welcome 2025
Back in January, I had a bit of extra time and decided to work on a personal piece. I wanted to explore ideas freely, without client constraints, and discover what might come out of it.
While searching for inspiration, I discovered Yambo Studio’s portfolio. Among the work, a single image immediately captured my attention and sparked my interest (reference below).
I liked it so much that I jumped straight into Cinema 4D and started modeling everything from scratch. For the tree trunks and clouds, I used Volume Builders, while the rest was built with basic shapes and simple deformers.
This project features subtle shading and textures that I built entirely with procedural noises, which helped me avoid UV headaches. The color combinations, composition, and lighting placement were key to bringing the scene to life.
Once the scene was done, I felt it was missing something, a lens motive to to break the camera’s uniform movement. That’s when I decided to add the balloon, inspired by a Cirque du Soleil Corteo poster illustrated by Ricardo Cavolo.
The render was done in Redshift, with additional AOVs provided to fine-tune everything later in After Effects. This approach gave me greater control over color, contrast, and subtle adjustments without the need for re-rendering.
The final step was sound design, with Audiio.com
providing all the music and sound effects for the piece.
Overall, it was a rewarding experience
and a great way to start the year on the right foot.