Feburary

Building My Toolkit for the Challenge Ahead

Sketch Sketch Sketch:

I’ve always kept in mind what my lecturer Peter, said: no matter which path you end up taking, sketching will always be your best ally. So I’m getting back into practice when I get some time,, doing some figure sketches and colour studies, and hoping I’ll have more time to do them in the future.

Also, I’m currently watching a free colour course on Bilibili by a really skilled artist. I’m hoping to carve out the time to finish it (or just wait for the holidays if it comes down to it XD).

Sigh, there’s never enough time, and yet I have so many goals.

But maybe growth isn’t about “getting everything done.” Maybe it’s about staying in a state of “doing” with whatever time you have, haha. Sketching, courses, even if I only make a little progress, as long as I haven’t stopped, I’m still moving forward. Running out of time is the norm; making the effort to carve out time anyway is what actually makes the difference.

Sculpting Sculpting Sculpting:

I applied for an online course taught by a really skilled character artist, and it’s a live-streamed class for 99 RMB. The instructor is doing eight sessions, each four hours long. Unfortunately… I haven’t even finished the first one yet, TWT

I’ve noticed that something the artist casually sculpts in passing takes me forever to figure out. But that’s also how I’m learning so much—it feels like my brain is constantly running at full speed XD.

I’ve also realised that a lot of it connects back to drawing: you need hard edges to define planes, clear boundaries, and a sense of rhythm. There’s something really fascinating about seeing those same principles show up across different disciplines.

I’m hoping I’ll have time to complete the course, though it seems unlikely I’ll make it for the reward. The instructor said that if you follow along and submit your work on time, a portion of the tuition gets split among participants.

I might have to wait until the holidays to continue TWT.

But honestly, every casual move the artist makes is backed by years of experience, and every little thing I manage to fully understand pushes my own understanding up a notch. Slow and steady is fine—I’ll pick it back up during the break～

Keep Updating the Texture for My Portfolio:

Left is the revised version, right is the original. The main changes were in normal baking, AO, roughness, and metalness.

Take the little beads on the headband, for example. Before, there was an issue with the high‑to‑low baking, which threw off the AO and made some parts impossible to texture properly. This time, I manually fixed the normal map first, and the good news is that, after that, the AO baked correctly without any extra hand‑painting. Saved myself a step, hehe.

I changed roughness and metalness to better support the sense of volume and material quality. For instance, I increased the roughness on fabric (making it brighter), lowered it on the neck area (darker), and bumped up roughness in crevices—basically making rough parts look rough and smooth parts look smooth.

That said, I have to complain about my past self for creating so many layers—especially paint layers. They’re such a pain to adjust. In the end, I had to delete some and redo them with fill layers instead.

Another thing, this head is mirrored. For parts like the hair, I could have just folded the UVs in half, haha, which would have let me paint directly on the mirrored side and saved UV space. Next time for sure.

Even though this round of revisions took a bit longer than I expected, I finally got the head done!!! So happy!

Looking back, some of these problems were really my own doing from way back due to lack of thinkings—messy layer stacks, poorly planned UVs—and now I’m paying double the price to fix them. But on the flip side, it’s precisely this process of cleaning up my own past mess that makes the lessons stick. Next time, I won’t make the same mistakes again!

Unexpected Connection

On February 25， someone messaged me on RedNote(Xiaohongshu) asking if I’d be interested in becoming a creator on their platform, the 233 platform.

My first thought: Is this a scam? My RedNote account hadn’t been updated in two years.

But I looked into it, and it turns out the 233 platform is actually a game‑focused social app where people share guides, and you can create or buy outfits to dress up the little avatars in the community.

After thinking it over, though… I’m currently deep in portfolio updates, so if they expect regular content output, I’ll have to pass for now TWT.

So I replied saying something like: 

(P.S. In the RedNote community, it’s customary to call each other laoshi—teacher—as a sign of respect.)

She replied, “Don’t worry, we have a creator group chat. Some of our creators haven’t posted anything in six months. And if you ever have any questions down the road, feel free to ask us.”

That put my mind at ease. So I said: 

So I joined the main creator group. They even set up a private little chat—just me, their customer service person, and an operations person, and they told me I could reach out anytime if I had questions. In the main group, they post announcements about creator benefits and such. I’m mostly just lurking there for now, haha.

I’ve got to take opportunities into your own hands. Even if it doesn’t seem like a huge deal, it’s still a group where I can get information when I need it.

Social skills: +1.

Why I want to join in? From my past experience, if an opportunity comes your way, you grab it. Even if it’s just joining a group chat and lurking, as long as you know there might be useful info in there, it’s worth it.

Use What I’ve Learnt for My Family:

This was a birthday gift for my mom, made in collaboration with my dad. My dad had bought a 3D printer a while back. I’m currently in Shanghai while my parents are in New Zealand, so sending physical gifts isn’t very convenient. Since I can do 3D modelling, I built a little bear holding a “Happy Birthday” sign for her, as my mom absolutely loves bears.

Dad went the extra mile, figuring out how to do two-colour printing, and his gift is a heart‑shaped stand—Mom’s favourite shape—to hold the roses he grew for her.

It makes me really happy that the skills I’ve learned can do more than just earn money; they can bring joy to my family.

There was a small hiccup with the print, though. The apricot blossoms I added as decoration (Mom’s birthday is in February, and in Chinese tradition, the February flower is the apricot blossom) ended up being too small and delicate to print properly, so I had to leave them out.

Lesson learned for next time: 1) make it clear and not too tiny, 2) split it into separate parts. Practice really does teach you XD

This whole experience reminded me that the most beautiful thing about technology isn’t how impressive it can be, it’s the way it can bridge distance and let you be part of your family’s lives.

Modelling isn’t just for portfolios and projects; it can also be a gift, a token of care. And that apricot blossom that didn’t make it onto the print taught me something too: when you’re designing, you have to think about how it’ll actually be made. That’s what a real closed loop looks like.

Work Life Balance

Happy Chinese New Year！

My aunt and I made plans to go pray at the City God Temple and check out the lantern festival! Honestly, the City God Temple has the most festive atmosphere in Shanghai XD.

My uncle was supposed to come too, but he had to work over the New Year.

Sigh—ever since starting my internship, I’ve really come to understand what people mean when they say “that’s just how adult life is.”

Sigh.

After paying our respects at the temple and praying for our family, my aunt and I agreed that since it was way too crowded, we’d skip eating at the temple and head to Xujiahui instead. Great food, happy times!

Adult life really does come with a lot of “nothing we can do about it”—like working through the New Year, or crowds making it impossible to enjoy a nice meal.

But looking at it another way, the time you manage to carve out and the people you get to share a meal with become that much more precious. And honestly, knowing when to steer clear of the crowds and find another place to have a good time—that’s a kind of adult wisdom too XD.