Personal studies / the ones with a soul

LITTLE
WEIRDOS.

The ideas that arrived without a brief, refused to leave — and taught me something useful on the way.

CharacterSculptingLightingVisual storytelling

Meet the little weirdos

Little Santa character — Little Santa · work

Snowman character made as a plush toy — Snowman · work

Reindeer character made as a plush toy — Reindeer · work

Polar bear character made as a plush toy — Polar bear · work

Full scene of Vovó with her plant, coffee and pipe — Vovó · study

Soul-inspired character study in a blue and purple landscape — Soul · study

Charmander gaming character study — Charmander · study

Bia's pink monster investigating the character map

01Light
02Sculpt
03Shape
04Story

Creative practice / serious curiosity

When practice feels like play,
ideas go further.

Personal studies give curiosity room to lead. I can test one odd question at a time, make a mess, try again and turn the learning into a character with a real little soul.

studying is part of making — play is part of studying ✎

01 / gesture + cinematic light

Ursine.

How little can happen and still feel like a story?

A quiet study in posing, warm rim light and storytelling without dialogue. One small interaction with a glowing butterfly became the emotional centre of the entire scene.

PosingLightingStory beats

Ursine character lit by a glowing butterfly in a dark scene — the final emotional beat

Sequence of Ursine poses interacting with a glowing butterfly — pose sequence / finding the moment

Digital sculpting process for Vovó shown inside the modelling interface — the very honest working screen

02 / my first human character

Vovó.

A gentle little healer, built from the details you almost miss.

My first human character study became an exercise in quiet storytelling. Her posture, warm coffee, plant and patient smile do the work before she says a word — a whole life suggested beyond the frame.

Digital sculptLook developmentLightingNomad SculptZBrushPhotoshop

03 / original character · shape language

Lino.

Can broccoli have a readable personality? Obviously.

A deliberately simple silhouette became a small character family. The challenge was to change expressions, colour and attitude while keeping every version recognisably part of the same little world.

Original characterSilhouetteVariation

Lino broccoli character standing on a lit pedestal — the tiny original

A group of Lino broccoli characters together — one shape / a small family

04 / familiar faces · new little stories

Recognition is only the beginning.

Fan art lets me focus on a different problem: keeping a familiar character recognisable while exploring my own pose, composition, lighting and atmosphere.

Soul study

Colour and atmosphere built around one instantly readable silhouette.

Character + environment + palette

Personal Soul-inspired character study in a blue and purple landscape

Separate render of Bia's Soul-inspired character — separate character pass

Charmander

A prop, a pose and a familiar tail-light turned the sculpt into a tiny gaming story.

Posing + props + character moment

Personal Charmander study playing a video game

Back view of the Charmander character study

Stitch study

Testing whether silhouette and proportion still work before colour does any of the explaining.

Sculpt + form + material

Untextured clay render of a personal Stitch sculpting study

Blue textured render of a personal Stitch sculpting study

Charmander, Stitch and Soul are personal, non-commercial fan-art studies. Their original characters and intellectual property belong to their respective rights holders.

What the weirdos are really for