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CG Cookie Member Feature: Ewan Thorpe

Sep 23rd 2024

Meet Ewan, a 3D texture artist from Scotland with a passion for CG. He's been dabbling in Blender since 2017 but truly dove in over the past few years. Motivated to improve, he joined the CG Cookie community 1.5 years ago and found it to be a game-changer, especially with the instructor's feedback and community support.

Since then, Ewan has leveled up his skills, particularly in texturing, thanks to courses like TREAD.

His business with his brother has flourished, providing daily work for both him and his brother, and the CG Cookie community has played a big part in his growth. From learning to price his work fairly to polishing his portfolio, Ewan's journey has transformed his hobby into a full-time gig.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your journey before joining the CGCookie community?

Hi, I’m Ewan from Scotland. I am a 3D texture artist and general CG enthusiast. I have been using Blender on and off since 2017, but most of my time in the software has been over the last two or three years.

What motivated you to join the CGCookie community 1.5 years ago, and how has your experience been since then?

My biggest motivation was just a simple want to improve. I didn’t know what I wanted to learn in the CG world, but I knew it was for me, so I was constantly searching for new courses to learn from.

By chance, I stumbled onto CG Cookie, and it was instantly a sense of "Wow!" I had never seen anything like this for Blender before, especially the instructor feedback part, as I was used to just watching YouTube tutorials with no feedback.

My experience with CGCookie has been great. I love the community and the team behind it. I really don’t have anything negative to say about it. I’m very grateful to have discovered this amazing section of the Blender community.

You mentioned learning a lot of cool tricks and techniques—could you share one or two that had the biggest impact on your work?

The best techniques that I still use daily come from the TREAD course, where we learned the basics of Substance Painter.

Since doing TREAD, my texturing work has leveled up with the understanding of layering and weathering the model I learned doing that project.

How has the CG Cookie community contributed to the growth of your texturing business, and what role did the community play in turning your hobby into a full-time gig?

The community has been a huge factor in my business. From just being there for me to bounce ideas around and Work in progress images feedback, to more big picture stuff.

I have always struggled with valuing my time and skills, but after talking with people in Discord (shoutout to Omar, Blanchsb, and Wardred), they helped me raise my prices to a reasonable rate and turn this hobby into something that helps pay the bills.

Could you describe a specific moment or piece of advice from the community that really helped you improve your renders for clients?

Not specifically helping my renders but helped me with getting more clients.

“Get your Artstation or whatever you're using for a portfolio site up, running, and really polished!”

Getting my portfolio set up and looking decent has helped me land more work.

It's still a work in progress, but what I have added so far has definitely helped me grow the business.

You mentioned that your business has grown to include daily work for both you and your brother. How has working together influenced your projects and workflow?

The way we like to think about it is he is the “Artist” and I'm the more “technical” one of the brothers.

We split the work 50/50 but always work together to make sure each piece looks amazing.

A lot of this is just updating each other on the status of each project and making adjustments based on each other's feedback. Overall it's a lot of fun working with Lewis and it's also very rewarding when we finish a project where we have both added things to it.

Can you share a recent project of which you’re particularly proud and how the skills you learned at CG Cookie were applied to it?

This is a Belt buckle I made for a client who is doing a Mando cosplay.

I’m fairly new to commission modeling, but using the skills learned in the Make-It course, I managed to get a really nice result that both the client and I are happy with.

The most challenging part was keeping it all manifold, but with the add-on 3D-print toolbox, I managed to convert the non-manifold model to a fully printable model that will make a great addition to the client's costume.

How has your approach to creating and delivering work for clients evolved?

It has evolved in a few ways:

The most crucial part for me was setting boundaries with clients on how fast I would work to avoid falling into a pattern of working too many hours per day. I used to work from wake up to sleep if it was requested, and that led to burnout more than once.
Another way it has evolved is the attention to detail I put into the work now. When I first started out It was just a hobby so I would take shortcuts to get it done quicker for people. But now I understand that detail is more important than speed in most cases and that clients appreciate a detailed piece of art rather than a rushed one.

What are your future goals for your business, and how do you see CG Cookie continuing to support your growth?

I would love to get into the Product animation and design space one day. Right now we focus mainly on cosplay and painting guides but I think that our skills could be put to good use in that area.

CG Cookie will always be my go-to place for advice, whether that be with software or more business-oriented questions. The vast range of backgrounds of the members really helps get perspective on almost anything I could need help with.

You mentioned eventually adding more to your website—what plans do you have for expanding or enhancing your online presence?

My plan at the moment is to update my Instagram with all the new work we have created and the same for the website. I

I would also love to get into YouTube and make some tutorials on my workflow and how it can be used to help others make a living doing Texture and rendering for clients.

Would you like to share any advice with others in the CG Cookie community who are looking to turn their passion into a full-time business?

My best advice is to keep on pushing forward. Don’t let others put you down. If you really want to do it, you can. It will take time, effort, and some sacrifice, but in the end, it's worth it to do what you love.

Visit their business - https://vault3d.co.uk/
Instagram Page - https://www.instagram.com/vault.3d.services/