Amelia Estep

Hey! I draw, I paint with pixels, I model with polygons, I design jewellery. I love art, animation, films, games, 3D printing and all the technology behind them. Happiest with animals in nature.

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Beautiful earrings and great tips from shapeways about prototyping in cheaper materials before committing to expensive cast metals. 

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Its been a long time since I updated this blog so here’s a brief summary of what I’ve been up to! It’s been a big year for my now husband and I. We got engaged last October 2015 and immediately started planning our wedding. We moved out of the basement flat in Camden we were living in, into a lovely little cottage in the countryside around Guildford. We’ve started but not finished decorating, got puppies!!! went to two festivals, got married at our friends beautiful farm and went on our honeymoon in Sicily. I’ve been so busy with all this I haven’t had much time for creativity, but now life is quietening down again I can really start to focus on my plans. While all this was happening I did manage to dig my computer out from under moving boxes to create some pendants for my bridesmaids. When we were living in Camden I worked as a trader at the famous green stone stall Jewellery of the Earth selling and learning about tribal jewellery. I loved the Pikorua, a Maori symbol and what it symbolizes (love and friendship) and thought it would make an appropriate gift for my bridesmaids. Modeled in Maya, 3D printed and cast in sterling silver by Shapeways.

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For the last few weeks after life drawing I've been taking part in online webinars with Ryan Kingslien, Tomas Wittlesbach and Tony Rodrigues on how they create stunning jewellery in ZBrush and with 3D printing. Tomas Wittlesbach has a background in the film industry as a master sculptor and moved into ZBrush a few years back and started creating incredible pieces with Jim Tuttle of Green Lake Jewelry Works. Tony Rodrigues is a master goldsmith who also works with Tomas using 3D printing and traditional techniques to create pieces in his workshop. You can buy their jewellery here at Ink Metal and If your'e interested you can watch both webinars here  and here.

One of the questions I asked was do you think 3D printing is a threat to traditional jewellers? To which Tomas replied he thinks it already is but then goes on to express how much he doesn't like badly designed cad jewellery. I also asked what is the best way to begin manufacturing your own pieces, is it best to go to a company like Shapeways or to invest in a 3D printer and go to a jeweller. That question wasn't answered but I was sent an email with a breakdown on how to go about it in a few steps.

So, here are a few tips from Tomas and Tony about starting out.

Desktop 3D Printers are amazing but are primarily there to help you in the development process NOT necessarily the production process.

When you are ready, take your 3D files to a service bureau like Casting House.

Know your focus, do you want to be a sculptor or do you want to know all the processes? You can't do both.

Consider a Micromotor over a Foredom

Get a Benchmate.

Make friends with a Jeweler! This will be a long journey so it is good to have company.

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Recent sketches from Primrose Hill Life drawing 

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What I love most about this behind the scenes video from Legacy Effects is how the artists combined traditional model making and animatronic SFX with newer technologies such as 3D software and 3D printing/milling. Just goes to show that new technologies don't have to threaten the old crafts and everyone wants to stroke a big puppet dinosaur!

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Sketches from Primrose Hill Life Drawing, I had a bit of a break over Christmas and I’m looking forward to getting back into drawing in 2016! 

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These 3D Printed Trilobites Are Absolutely Stunning

Trilobites are everywhere: you’ve probably seen them in museums, or if you’re lucky, in the rocks near where you live. While we’re used to seeing the fossils, one scientist has turned to 3D printing to get a sense of what these creatures were like in life.

I love seeing what people are using 3D printing to create

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Exploring 3D printing allowed SliceLab to create intricate jewelry inspired by marine life that is not only beautiful, it’s wearable too.

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Recent sketches from Primrose Hill Life Drawing 

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My favourite jewellery designer Pamela Love goes to Shapeways in Long Island City to investigate 3D printing jewellery for Vouge magazine.   

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Recent sketches from Primrose Hill Life Drawing. Some of these have been drawn in a watercolour sketch book because I want to start painting my sketches but I need to learn how to paint properly first.  

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Advanced manufacturing could "reshape the jewellery industry," says designer Lionel T Dean, who has designed a collection of artefacts that are directly 3D printed in 18 carat gold.

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A while back I went to my first ever Art Macabre life drawing session. The theme of the evening was the cult of cats and the models dressed up as different cats from history including Bastet the Egyptian goddess and a witches familiar. It was a really fun evening and nice to draw models with props and costumes. If anyone out there is interested you can find out when the next class is on their website.    

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Last summer I went to the 3D print show in London and met a representative of Shapeways who showed me jewellery that designers had made using their 3D printing services. I was really impressed and went home excited about creating my own designs in Maya and Zbrush. I'm really interested in sacred geometry at the moment and thought that would be a great place to get inspiration from. I started looking into the platonic solids and really loved the 2D tetrahedron. I played around with this shape until I had something that I liked the look of (and would go with all my outfits!) and sent off two designs. These are the results which I am so so happy with. I had my pieces finished in premium sterling silver which has a high shine polish. Now I've seen my first designs in the flesh I'm really looking forward to designing jewellery that other people might want to wear including designs with moonstone and labradorite cabochon's :D Watch this space for more of my designs in the future!

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I recently took part in an art project raising funds for the community library in Primrose Hill. The project was about celebrating the local people through portraiture. I was commissioned to draw 6 people whom I met and drew in the pubs and restaurants around Primrose Hill. I was also drawn and painted for the project by a local artist too. I loved her colourful style and it was really interesting to be the model for once! Once the art work was finished it was displayed in an exhibition/auction in the Primrose Hill community centre. All the art was fantastic and I was really pleased to see that one of the other artists had created digital portraits on a tablet. It was also really great to see broadcast journalist Andrew Marr there and his amazing artwork since I had no idea he was an artist. I would really love to continue drawing portraits of people and improving my anatomy and character skills.  

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I started this illustration/digital painting ages ago and haven’t finished yet. It depicts 3 witches and their familiars. I though I’d share the finished sketch without any of the painting because I still like it :)   

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It’s been a while since I last updated my blog, In that time I’ve moved to a new flat in Camden with a garden (yay) and been to Australia to visit my sister! I’ve also moved life classes since the one in Holborn shut down. These are my latest drawings from Primrose Hill life drawing.