Visualizing the characters' backstories- their likes, dislikes, occupation, hobbies, etc.- the garment is the most significant part of the storytelling.

Interview with Nishigandha Sahasrabudhe | Till Death Do Us Part Indeed | 3D Artist

Artist Introduction

I am a 3D artist based out of Mumbai, India, who loves creating artwork in which the characters have unique little stories to tell. Having graduated in visual design, I started working professionally as a UI/UX designer and simultaneously started dabbling in the world of 3D art. I was always fascinated by 3D animated movies and games from an early age and wondered how the artists brought such breathtaking worlds to life. Soon this awe turned into a strong desire to try illustrating in 3D myself, so I slowly started exploring sculpting objects and characters in various 3D software and have never looked back since. Being self-taught has its challenges, but my love for 3D makes me want to explore and learn something new daily.

What inspires you as an artist?

Visualizing the characters' backstories- their likes, dislikes, occupation, hobbies, etc.- is one of my favorite processes in creating artwork. These backstories shape up the character, quite literally. I sculpt, texture, and light my illustrations, which I enjoy and have fun with.  As I mentioned, I love to tell unique stories through my artwork and strive to make my scenes and characters as expressive as possible. I aspire to create art that can be seen, enjoyed, and experienced by all, and that inspires me and keeps me going.

How would you describe your artwork stylistically?

I want to describe my art as more “stylized” than realistic. Although I like to encapsulate and add real-world details into my pieces, my art style would definitely fall more into the cartoon / stylized domain.

What is the story behind the piece?

This piece is about a beautiful, mysterious woman who charms her lovers and leads them into perfidious situations. I have always wanted to create a villainous character, but I wanted to avoid the obvious visual cues that are generally used to depict a villain or an evil character. So I tried to explore and push the style and tried to depict the corrupt motives of the character using facial form and expressions. Everything about the character, including her beautiful features and gorgeous clothes, contrasts her dark, murderous personality.

What is this character? Are they a part of a larger story?

Yes, it is a part of a larger story. The main character is a beautiful, mysterious woman who charms her lovers and leads them into perfidious situations. In this one, she is in her wedding gown and looks like someone who has just accomplished what she had set out for. The apple, with the green glow, is a poisoned apple, and the fact that one bite has been taken from it signifies that she has just turned her latest prey into her victim.

How does the garment contribute to the storytelling?

The garment is the most significant part of the story. The witch’s preys are wealthy but asinine men who fall for her beauty and ignore all the warning signs. She feeds off such men to further her wicked motives. Her usual method is, making the men fall head over heels in love with her, marrying her, and then slaughtering them on her wedding night. A poisoned apple is her choice of weapon. The witch is swift and clean and leaves no traces once she has made her kill. The poisoned apple makes it easy and leaves no mess. The beautiful gown conveys that she is either just married or about to get married. The style indicates an older time period. The gorgeous gown shows her sophisticated taste and gives clues about her personality. In this piece with no background, the garment is an excellent indicator to hint at the character and the story.

Where did you use Marvelous Designer on this piece? 

The complete gown and the veil have been created using Marvelous Designer.

Why is Marvelous Designer the best choice for digital apparel creation?

Marvelous Designer allowed me to experiment with digital clothing patterns and different styles for the outfit. The garment easily forming (from) just 2D patterns helped me visualize how the final piece would look. The cloth simulations helped with capturing the flow of the garment accurately. It’s a very intuitive tool to work with. Creating this garment with any other tool wouldn’t have been so simple.

What were the ups & downs in creating this piece?

I am relatively new to Marvelous Designer software. I have used it before, but not as intensively as in this piece. Figuring out the 2D patterns and stitching the pieces together was one of the process’s most difficult parts since I had minimal sewing knowledge. That was challenging, but seeing your digital garment simulate and drape over your character perfectly was extremely rewarding.

Can you share any tips and tricks with Marvelous Designer with the community?

Finalizing the dress design and the pattern and having a clear vision of what design I wanted to go with helped me a lot throughout the process and made the process much faster. The abundant tutorials and videos made available by Marvelous Designer helped me a great deal while creating this piece. Instead of following one tutorial step by step, having a vision and finding answers to questions helps a lot while learning any new tool.

What new things did you learn on this project that you might want to share?

I consider myself relatively new to the software, so I learned a great deal while working on this piece. Learning how to break up the garment correctly into pieces, stitch them up, and how to have fabrics layered one on top of the other without making them interact/collapse into one another is something I learned. Although I did not use this in the end piece, I also learned how to add animation to your avatar and make the garment respond after being draped on the T pose to the final pose of the avatar along with its interaction with the background elements is something I had fun exploring too.

What were some unexpected outcomes that occurred while working on this?

I started this piece feeling extremely overwhelmed and intimidated, thinking of the task’s complexity. But the process felt very intuitive, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I started exploring a lot of fashion trends and tweaked my pose and character a bit so it matched and showed off the garment. 

Suppose you're looking for a powerful design software for creating digital garments that's easy to use. Marvelous Designer 12 is perfect for you! It's available on Windows and macOS, and personal licenses are perfect for freelancers or small studios. Enterprise licenses are also available if you're working with a larger team.

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