Best (legal) way to learn 3D art

Hey, Crashsune here!

Are you an art enthusiast?

If so, you should definitely check out my brand new video above. I’ve got the perfect way for you to grow your digital art skills…

Because I’m hosting a low poly 3D art competition!

Low poly is one of the easiest ways to jump into 3D (I mean, I have a whole playlist of tutorials + a course on it), so I’m expecting a ton of beginners to jump in, try hard, and create something beautiful for the competition.

And this one is very different from anything I’ve done before because we’ll have 2 categories:

• Super low poly models under 1,024 triangles

• PS2-style low poly models under 10,024 triangles (ten times as many!)

(See the video thumbnail above for examples of each!)

Both categories are judged separately - so this is a super fun way to see how far you’ve come…

Or!

If you just started modelling recently, this is the perfect chance to push yourself and level up with a solid deadline.

Speaking of which… yes, there is a deadline 😅

You’ve got about two weeks!

Submissions close on December 14 at 10PM CST.

So start sketching out your character idea now so it doesn’t slip your mind!

Here are the full rules:

1. Animations or static images are totally OK to submit!

2. The triangle count includes all characters, props and environments in your scene. Make sure to label your triangle count in your submission!

3. Your texture resolution must be 1024x1024 or less for your entire character (props included).

   • OPTIONAL: One extra face texture for expressions is OK!

   • OPTIONAL: One extra emissive texture is OK too!

4. Fan art is allowed — but your character needs a unique twist!

   Don’t copy an existing low poly turnaround 1:1. Give it your own spin. It has to be transformative from the source!

5. One submission per person!

6. Inverted hull outline effects are OK! (No need to count those extra polys.)

7. Custom shaders are OK - just keep procedural textures extremely limited or unused to keep the hand-crafted retro vibe.

8. Composited renders + image backgrounds are 100% OK! :)

9. Submit through a thread on the #christmas-contest-submissions channel in the public Discord: https://discord.gg/T2snJde

   When your final model is ready, create a new thread titled:

   YourUsername Contest Submission (Triangle Count)

   Example: Crashsune Contest Submission (947 Triangles)

10. Lighting + volumetrics are OK!

11. Multiple Characters are OK! (As long as they fit your tri and texture budget!)

12. No use of Generative AI Tools for creating Textures or 3D Models is allowed.

Bonus: Join the Discord server to see what everyone else is working on! There’s already tons of discussion happening in the competition chat: https://discord.gg/T2snJde

Alright… that’s your mission! ✨

I hope you jump in, challenge yourself a bit, and most importantly (!)have fun making something cool :)

Let’s make something awesome together! 💖:3

-Crashsune