This is a new project of mine, currently going by the name Baba's Island. It's a series inspired by Family Guy, but with my own flavor mixed in. There's a character in it modeled loosely on the spirit of Osho, reimagined and built entirely in my own way. He's not a direct copy of anyone real, just a character shaped by ideas I've spent years thinking about and translating in my own writing.
I don't want to give away too much of the story yet. Right now, I'm more interested in talking about the process behind it, and honestly, the inspiration behind it too.
The 3D-to-Anime Process
As many of you know, my thing is taking 3D and giving it a 2D, anime-style look. That's the core of what I do as an artist. It means a lot of shading work, done through Blender, Substance Painter, Photoshop, and DaVinci Resolve, layering flat colors, hard shadow edges, and hand-tuned highlights on top of a fully 3D model until it reads like traditional animation instead of a render.
This project is no different, except this time the shading and color style is heavily inspired by an artist whose work I deeply admire: Simon Hintermann.
An Honest Admission
I'll be upfront about it: I've tried to replicate as much of his style as I could. And yes, I'm shameless about that. I genuinely love his work, and it's been a huge influence on how I approach color and shading in 3D. There's a certain warmth and confidence in the way he handles light and color that I've been chasing for a while now, and Baba's Island is where I finally sat down and tried to learn it properly instead of just admiring it from a distance.
Where This Fits in the Bigger Picture
This particular piece actually started as groundwork for an animation series I'm building, one that's still very much in progress. Truth be told, I have quite a few projects running in parallel, some of which feel like they've been "in progress" forever. But I'm hopeful. I'm keeping everything as simple as possible specifically so I can actually finish it, instead of letting the scope balloon the way it usually does.
If you've ever tried turning a 3D render into something that reads as 2D or anime, you know it's not a straightforward process. There's a real technical and artistic tightrope to walk between keeping the depth and dimensionality of 3D while still faking the flatness and charm of hand-drawn animation. Even so, I think this might be one of my best pieces of work yet.
Final Thoughts
I know some will call it a copy, and in a sense, they're not wrong. But I'm still proud of it. Every artist learns by studying someone else's work closely before they can find their own voice, and this is me doing exactly that, out loud, without pretending otherwise.
So, a big shout-out to Simon Hintermann. I really do love his work, and I hope Baba's Island ends up being a small tribute to it.
