Pawel Pęcherzewski on the making of ‘Island House’
We caught up with 3D artist Pawel Pęcherzewski on the creation of one of his most popular artworks, ‘Island House’; a tropical oasis that offered the perfect ‘getaway’ during a pandemic.
Click on the image hot-spots to find the Poliigon assets used.
Q. When and how did you get into 3D visualizations?
Pawel: Getting into 3D viz was an accident. It was the end of 2013; I was randomly watching some NVIDIA Tech Demos on Youtube and got really interested in fluid simulations. That's how I found Blender and decided to try it out.
As I found my way through the basics, I started watching more of Andrew's Blender Guru tutorials. I eventually saw the Architecture Academy 1.5 trailer, which really inspired me, even though at the time I couldn't afford the course, so I was trying to learn it using free knowledge and resources. Which was slow. Really slow.
I got my laptop in the summer of 2014, which was a huge deal for me - I could do a lot more using it. By 2015, I knew Blender well enough to start making some really simple architectural scenes.
Around that time, I noticed the trend of arch-viz in the Blender community. Since there was an ongoing house renovation at my place, I decided to help my parents out with some basic visualizations of the wall paint colors and patterns. That was probably the turning point for me; something I’ve always liked about 3D is the ability to take an idea that’s only been in your head and bring it to life, to show your thoughts without describing them.
In 2018, I got into freelancing and got my current PC, which I upgraded later on...and that's when everything started coming together, to lead me to where I am today.
Q. Where do you typically get inspiration for new architectural projects?
Pawel: I get inspired by pretty much anything. The nature around me, other people's works, photos on Instagram, architecture on ArchDaily...sometimes I just come up with random ideas that I then try out in 3D.
Everything can be a source of inspiration, if you look at it the right way.
‘Island House’ has a really special place in my heart; not only because it's probably my most popular project, but also I put my heart and soul into it. It was also an amazing getaway during lockdown, since I started it soon after the pandemic started; I've never felt better when working on something. I was working on it for 3 months, with some major breaks in between to always look at it with fresh eyes.
I love tropical environments; the beaches, the ocean, the palm trees, those amazing colors. I haven't seen too many projects like this and wanted to do something challenging; a complex environment that would look good from multiple angles. I had a model of a beautiful house located in Hawaii, which was designed by Michael Piche. It was an older project that I never quite finished, so it was the perfect opportunity to bring it back to life.
I have to say, I enjoyed every second of it; after all, it was the closest thing to vacation I could get at that time. Although, it might be time to finally visit somewhere similar, soon…
Click on the image hot-spots to find the Poliigon assets used.
Q. What did you learn whilst creating the ‘Island House’ scene?
Pawel: I learned:
The biggest factor of creating realistic water is not the water itself, but what's underneath the surface; rocks, sand, reef, etc.
I found out how important it is to take breaks - even week-long - when working on something for a while, to come back to it with fresh ideas; you'll notice things you haven't before and will be able to improve upon them.
And I learned a lot about making large-scale environments and the importance of keeping your file organized, such as collections in Blender. In Blender, the best way to keep everything organized is to name every object and material for what it is (descriptions work too). Also, keep your collections in the right hierarchy: make one for ‘Foliage’ and keep other collections like ‘Grass’, ‘Trees’, ‘Shrubs’ etc inside. Those sub-collections can be divided even further; you can have different species, sizes, whatever you need. This avoids any chaos in your files; there won't be any problems finding stuff and your work will be far more pleasant and fun.
Click on the image hot-spots to find the Poliigon assets used.
Q. What were the most crucial assets in this scene, and where did you source them?
Pawel: For the environment, I needed rocks and cliffs, as well as more realistic palm bark, which came from Poliigon. Also, I needed to create Scaevola Taccada shrubs for the beach, because there were no models of it available online. So I used an atlas from Megascans and modified a twig I cut off from a model from Evermotion.
For the house, there's a huge area of the ceiling that needed high-quality wood, which I got from Poliigon, as well as the pool tiles. I liked using Poliigon assets because they were a perfect match for what I was looking for and gave me enough flexibility to tweak some of their aspects, if needed. I feel they were all equally helpful in the process, since without them, I wouldn't be able to achieve the results I wanted.
For the house itself, I used:
Ceiling, wall panels and windows: Wood Fine Veneer Walnut Large 001
Stone floor: Tiles Porcelain Mocha 001
Wooden floor: Wooden Flooring Generator
For the exterior, I used:
Pool tiles: Tiles Onyx Opalo Black 001
Walls: Stucco 04
Solar panels: Solar Panels Polycrystalline Type B Framed Dirty 001
Sea foam: Sea Foam Shoreline 001
Palm tree trunks: Palm 005
Grounds for aerial shots: Ground Grass Field Green Patchy 001
For lighting:
Click on the image hot-spots to find the Poliigon assets used.
Q. What’s been the most important lesson you’ve learnt as a 3D artist, that you would pass onto other aspiring artists?
Pawel: So far, the thing that had the biggest impact for me was learning that there's nothing wrong with using assets you didn’t create yourself.
People often try creating everything themselves; which is good in the beginning, because you'll need those skills. But later on, there's no point in making the same thing for the 10th time once you know the workflow. It's a waste of time that will slow down your progress and no client will wait for you to make a chair, if you can buy it and save them hours.
The other extreme of this issue is that some people take assets from the internet and just place them into their scenes. I rarely do that - almost every model needs some modifications to suit your scene.
Q. What are three other artworks people should check out, if they’re interested in seeing more of your work?
Pawel: If you like environments, check out ‘Lake Among the Dunes, for archivz I’d suggest ‘Golden Cave’ (pictured above) and for still life, ‘Just Some Olive Oil’.
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A special congrats to Pawel on his recent new job...at Poliigon! We were so impressed with the calibre of the artworks he was tagging us in on Artstation, that we offered him a job. Welcome to the team, Pawel.
View ‘Island House’, by Paweł Pęcherzewski: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JlyozA
Read more about its detailed creative process using Blender Cycles: https://www.ronenbekerman.com/making-of-island-house-with-blender-cycles/