An unexpected journey

This was a post I was writing half year ago in 2024. Still, I wanted to show you a brief look of my journey creating 3D art, something I was not good at, but with time and a lot of effort, I made it, and I can model whatever I want despite some limits I have to this day.

2017, I started modeling when I was 13. I was new to 3D modeling, I didn't know how to grab vertices or extrude faces. It was only me, with a few YouTube tutorials. I used Cinema4D R14, probably one of the best creative softwares I had alongside Sony Vegas Pro 13. I didn't have internet at the time, but I relied on a small shared connection, so I had time to watch a few tutorials. I would learn the basics of 3D modeling, but not in the right way, so imagine me playing with the program's tools without knowing anything, and yet I was very ambitious at the time, trying to create an original FNAF fangame with no basis at all, but just the sake of existing. It all concluded with this:

5 AM at Shaggy's

If you want to see more, I will sadly have to say most of this fangame became lost. The premise was simple: you were a random person covering their brother's job- Oops, do not confuse the protagonist's brother with The Brother ™️. OK, back to the topic, it wasn't that interesting, it was a mix of FNAF1 and 2 set in a fabric with lots of stuff, but the plot was interesting, because the animatronics I made had different stories, but they somehow ended up at the same place, a funny thing to think about now, because this very concept became a reality with Scott Cawthon's Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Simulator (AKA FNAF6).

Shaggy the snowman didn't have a good start in terms of modeling. For his model I would rely on deleting faces and use the sculpt feature without any any knowledge, but Shaggy was functional at some point.

As a quick fact, Shaggy had a female version, just like Cindy was to Candy from Five Nights at Candy's, but I barely remember how I named her (maybe Mary, according to an old texture I made years ago). Peter the eagle... Oh boy, what a terrible model.

This project became lost media as I would reset my laptop without any second thought, I couldn't trust myself with this project. I would like to add that I also learned Clickteam Fusion, but still nothing interesting about that fact besides me not knowing too much either, and to this day I still try to learn coding at Fusion. And that's how 5 AM at Shaggy's was thrown to the trash can, at least for a while.

Honolulu

I tried 3D art again during 2018, but I couldn't do anything. My understanding of 3D wasn't that good, I would start a new project, and then never finish it because I felt this was something I needed to learn by my own.

Turn Off the Dark

But in November of 2019 (according to the files dates) I decided to go back and try again 3D modeling after years of making YouTube videos. 5 AM at Shaggy's went back to me, and I wanted to create something new and fresh without discarding those old ideas. So I started modeling again using previous knowledge, and... Well this render alone speaks a lot. Peter the eagle with a new design, and a new character I never ever touched again! Despite these models not looking amazing today, for me, this was a big leap from previous 3D models I ever made. I began to understand how this game was. Creativity was being fired all over my head, the endless possibilities of creating something I liked!

But people tend to hate creativity or things they don't understand. I remember time ago on Game Jolt someone would just comment in the shout out section to say "You are a nobody", which was a little hurtful to read, but I sticked to my mission of creating something people would love.

But there was a little fangame saga I liked since 2017, which despite its flaws, for me at the time, it was truly inspiring: Five Nights at Maggie's. A fangame saga by Manuel Genaro. FNAM was the living proof that, even if you are limited, you can still be able to create anything you want, no matter what. If FNAM was created, modeled, rendered and programmed using a laptop offered by the government, then I could create more using a HP laptop with an Intel Celeron processor. That single thought was always in my mind, and I knew I could do something like Manuel, even something bigger, something with impact.

The FNAM model pack

So one day, I plugged in my laptop because its external battery died, then grab some FNAM renders, and KADOOSH! (YES THAT WAS A MINECRAFT MOVIE REFERENCE LET'S GOOOO).

I modeled what I considered at the time and by my own knowledge of 3D, a more detailed Maggie model. This was my third attempt of creating real art using a 3D software. And when I got to enjoy the result, I decided to do the same thing with the rest of characters!

Before the idea of creating a remake for the first game, I wanted to make something different actually. This was supposed to be a small model pack for these characters to be used by anyone and create more art with them. But my old passion of making a game came up, and then I knew this was my chance. I was very passionate with the idea of making a tribute for this old game. The picture below was a meme I made for a post, not joking. I was cringe but happy at the same time.

The Curse of Maggie's

And then production started. When creating the game's page I decided to use a unique name, not only to not confuse people and make them think it's an official game by Manuel, but also to reflect a new vision for the project, so I called it The Curse of Maggie's. I tried new things I never did before, such as creating props, rooms, the game's office! During December I started to manage my time so I could get most of the things done.

Overtime, I kept improving my skills in 3D modeling. I learned some mistakes from past projects, and I was finally achieving my goals. This was becoming a real game, finally!

But of course, this was just the start. The 2020 pandemic helped a bit to keep working on the game the whole day, but it affected me in some ways. I later learned in 2021 I was making a huge mistake with this game: I did not have experience as a developer. I didn't know how to direct or how I wanted to do things. This became a big obstacle, because I would look at the models and say "they must be remodeled, I want them to be perfect". That mindset of making something perfect still affects me, but not in the way it did years ago when I would REMODEL EVERY SINGLE THING IN THE GAME. This wasn't healthy for me, nor the development team. I SUCKED.

The Curse of Maggie's had to be locked away for while. I was depressed at the time, so I would go offline for a long time...

I didn't stop entirely creating 3D art. In 2022 I decided to switch to Blender, and in the same way I learned Cinema4D for years, I had to go through the whole process again with Blender... I spent a whole year learning to model and create characters. Nothing interesting for now...

UNTIL...!

Brilliant adventure

My passion for creating things went back to me again, for a second time, and this time, I would do it right! You guessed it! THE CURSE OF MAGGIE'S WAS BACK!

I'd love to keep writing more, but that's another story you'll learn later! After many trials and errors, my progress as an artist paid off. Things I thought I would never do for my characters... I learned how to do them! I learned how to get things right and achieve new quality goals.

I always try to improve as an artist, and I believe it's my duty to keep pushing the boundaries of what I can do.

For new creators and people starting at art

This wasn't in my original post, in fact, I added more to it, but I sticked to this beautiful message: KEEP CREATING. People will tell you are not going to be anyone, or that your creativity will lead you to nothing. The truth is, creativity is a big aspect of us like humanity. Creativity is the reason of why we communicate, of why we create art in many ways, and without it, we wouldn't be here.

Don't create art for the sake of clout, do not create art for others, CREATE because you WANT to, because your heart tells you to do it. Of course not every piece of art is going to be good or perfect, but the fact you can grab a pencil and start to draw is a big step. AI lacks of creativity, because it just tries to replicate what they think people like, but the truth is that humans LOVE stuff made my humans.

Thank you for reading