A few years ago, I started sculpting a male orca with the hope that one day I would bring this design to life and see it finished with proper colors, lighting, and shading. Back then, my PC simply wasn't powerful enough for me to complete any 3D model at a level I was happy with. Years passed, and eventually I got better hardware and decided to give Nomad Sculpt a try to see what I could do with this old project.
Long ago, I made a very basic colored version of this orca in Sculptris. I didn't know much about 3D sculpting at the time, but surprisingly that early work was appreciated, and I even sold the base body model to DrowElfMorwen who brought my design to life in their own way. Watching that was genuinely exciting and motivating.
Today, I've finally done what I had been planning and dreaming about for many years.
I've always felt that understanding shape and form has been one of my strengths. Since I was young, I've been fascinated by anatomy and have studied it throughout my entire artistic journey. This model was sculpted largely from memory, as there was a time when I was deeply interested in orcas and spent countless hours drawing them. Over the years, their anatomy became very familiar to me, and much of that knowledge naturally carried over into this project.
I've seen many beautiful orca models over the years, and plenty of artists are far more technically advanced than I am, but I rarely found a model that matched my own anatomical expectations. Eventually, I decided that if I wanted to see that vision realized, I would have to create it myself.
One of my next goals is to have this model 3D printed. Seeing it on a screen is satisfying, but holding a physical version in my hands would be something special. After spending so many years developing this project, I'd love to finally see it exist as a real object and not just a digital sculpture.
I'm still learning the technical side of 3D sculpting, topology, rendering, and all the other challenges that come with it, but I think I've finally reached a point where I'm reasonably satisfied with the results. Hopefully, with time and practice, I'll be able to push my work even further.
I'm still creating in Nomad Sculpt and have already tested many of its tools and features on another model. Maybe I'll share that one in the future. I'm much more active on Instagram and Twitter, where I usually post sneak peeks and work-in-progress shots before showing finished pieces.
