How I Got Into 3D Art

I’ve been interested in art for as long as I can remember. When I was asked in school what I wanted to be, I never gave the typical girl answers of vet, teacher, mom, instead I always said, “I want to be a cartoonist in Japan!” Anime was hardly a thing here so I didn’t even have a clue they were called something completely different. I just remember that I loved Sailor Moon and I wanted to make things like that.

When I entered junior high, art was my escape. I would take my portable CD player, insert my latest burned CD– usually a mix of Cyndi Lauper, The Birthday Massacre, Porcelain and the Tramps, The Ropes, Ozzy Osbourne and whatever other random songs I found on Myspace or Vampirefreaks that gave me goosebumps– slap on my headphones, crank the volume and pour my heart and soul into whatever I was working on. If I didn’t have things to do in other classes, I’d pull out the drawing I was working on, doodle in my notebook, or get a hall pass to go back to the art room to continue working.

One thing I always struggled with though was 3D art. Give me a pencil and a paper and I was happy. I wasn’t even a huge fan of paint. Oil pastels, chalk pastels or pencils were always my jam. I couldn’t sculpt with clay to save my life. Pinch pots? More like sloppy pot covered in fingerprints. The other thing I really struggled with was shading. For some reason my brain could not comprehend how to shade things and make it looks natural. It was either too dark or too light here and then too dark without a good transition point.

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That started to change in 11th or 12th grade though when my art teacher at the time gave us this assignment to use “scratch board” but she made it a challenge. We had to make part of it pop. It had to have some sort of 3D aspect to it. I thought and thought and thought about what to do for mine. Another struggle I always had was what to finally settle on for a subject, but at the time Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp had just come out and to say I was obsessed was an understatement. So that was it. My subject was Sweeney Todd with some of Mrs. Lovett’s savory and sweet pies.

I sketched out my picture, put an impression of it on the scratchboard by tracing over the already drawn picture and dreaded putting my xacto knife down on the scratch board. What if I messed up? I can’t erase this! What if I can’t shade it? What if I can’t do a good job making it 3D? These thoughts swirled around in my head. I was so terrified of failure and needing to start over.

Even with my constant doubt, I eventually talked myself into starting the project. I had to get it done before I ran out of time. And let me tell you, the moment the blade hit the paper and started scratching away the black ink, I fell in love with this medium. I worked diligently and finally completed it. I wasn’t super happy about the turnout but it was my first go at it so what else could I have done?

After I completed this project, I continued on with many others that were assigned but I never enjoyed any of them quite as much as I enjoyed the scratch board project.

The next year though, I took independent art which meant that I got to choose most of my own projects as long as I completed a certain amount of them. It gave me much more time and freedom to do what I wanted and BOY DID I!

Before I get into to much detail here, let me paint a picture. I went to a fairly small school and was the goth/emo kid (this is like 2007-2009 goth/emo). So my interests were way out there. While someone else in rural America might have decided that their artwork needed to be flowers or forests or cute cows, mine needed to be anime, magical, and/or dark. So when I was searching for something to create, I googled “goth fairy” and BAM! I got what I wanted. Let’s also keep something else in mind here, this was before we had (or were at least aware existed) laws and rules for using things. I wasn’t trying to steal anyone’s artwork. I just saw a piece of art that I loved and wanted to present it in a different format. So here, we listen and we don’t judge.

(I was going to share my reference picture here but don’t let anyone tell you that things can’t be erased from the internet because I cannot find it hahaha)

Now, once I sketched this out and traced the lines into my scratch board, I could NOT wait to get started. I worked on this thing day and night, class after class, and even at home. I was obsessed with this piece and how intricate I could get with it. Every little bit of the wings was such a challenge but every bit I got done excited me more. I loved seeing the whole thing form in front of me. I got so many comments about the details and my dedication to this project. It was very insane for me because at the time I didn’t hyperfixate on my art. My hyperfixations were always reading, or something in English class, or something about anime or video games. But I was so engrossed in this project. Something about it just made me feel accomplished for once in my life.

I’d always had this horrible problem (and I still do) where I would compare my art to everyone else around me. Everyone else’s was always way better. My brain couldn’t decipher that everyone had different styles. In my head it was, I like what they did and I can’t do that so my art isn’t good or as good as theirs. But no one else was doing this. There was absolutely no one for me to compare myself to. I was completely free here. There wasn’t a single discouraging thought holding me back.

After working for weeks, I was finally ready to cut out the main part and glue it to the foam pieces that would pop it out and make it 3 dimensional against the background. And this was my result:

I would still say to this day it’s my absolute favorite piece of artwork that I’ve ever created. There’s just something about it, how it embodies me as a teenager when I created it and how I was able to make it turn out just how I wanted it to. All of those long hours of work, all of those sessions working on it without a doubt in my mind. That was such a freeing time for my brain and probably one of the only freeing times my brain has ever had.

I did a few more after that but none of them gave me the fulfillment that this one did. After I graduated high school, I did a bit of art here and there but eventually just kind of stopped. I’d pick up an artistic hobby here and there that wouldn’t last very long like crochet or perler beads. And then one day I sat there wondering why I didn’t do artistic things anymore and I asked my husband if I could look into UV resin. We bought the stuff for it and I tried it a few times and got pretty damn discouraged with it because I just could not get it to work right no matter what I did. Fast forward a few years later after we moved and I’d moved that stuff out of my work space, I decided to give it another go. Turns out it was just that my basement was way too cold. I’d figured it out! I could create things! I could mix the colors how I wanted to and it was done in minutes! I had drawers full of trinkets, charms, jewelry pieces and even just scrap pieces of colored UV resin I thought I might be able to use later.

Then I was able to have a slightly larger work space so I dipped my toes into epoxy resin. I knew it would take longer than UV resin but this space doesn’t really have curtains or anything up at the moment so I was limited there. UV resin can’t be used with the sun shining right on it. But that was okay because when I found out that I could mix colors and it didn’t thicken up like UV resin, I was unstoppable!

And that’s where I am right now. I have other artistic projects I want to work on and that I have the supplies for but I’m absolutely in love with the way epoxy resin mixes and the fact that I can make larger items with it. UV resin is really limited to smaller projects but with the epoxy I can make trinket boxes, bracelets, or my absolute favorite, fairy wing ear cuffs! (I’ll link each item that’s for sale back to my shop if you’re interested!) And that’s when I decided, I want to sell this stuff. I want to share them with people! So I set up a shop online and I set up at the local farmers market and am now selling the goods I never ever thought I could make!

After all these years, I never thought I’d really do art, especially not 3D art and I absolutely had no idea I’d be selling my creations anywhere. But here I am at 34 with my own small business and things to share with the world. And I really hope my creations can make other people happy and that my story can also inspire others to consider diving back into something they used to love and fell out of. It might spark something in you to just give it a go again. And I can say 100% that if my high school art teacher had never given that scratch board assignment in the first place, I would not have even thought to try any of this. One person can make a huge impact in your life with just kind words and encouragement and I hope she knows what she’s done for people and that it’s appreciated always.

So go out there and create or do something you love today! Show the world your magic and whimsy and be the you that you really want to be. Don’t let anyone stop you!