- Maggie
- Hi, I'm Maggie. I sculpt characters and creatures, paint their textures by hand, and board the stories around them. Pick a tool to see where it fits in my work.
- Sculpting
- I start in ZBrush with the silhouette, then push the shapes and secondary forms. Saber Troll and Flower Alien both began as pencil sketches before becoming finished creature sculpts.
- Modeling
- I use Maya for hard-surface modeling and Blender across my character work. The Mech Tiger is built from mechanical parts; the Gothic Church uses modular architecture, particle grass, and carved details.
- Texture Painting
- I paint textures and normal maps by hand so the finished render keeps some of the brushwork and color decisions of a traditional painting. Mira and the zombie are my clearest examples.
- Story & Boards
- I use boards and animatics to find the story before production gets expensive. For GoomVille, I also painted the 3D environment's textures in real oils before bringing them back into Blender.
- Look Dev & Light
- Lighting and look development decide whether the sculpt still feels painted. I build the shaders, place the key and rim lights, and render turntables to check the form from every side.
About Maggie Brennan de Jesus
Who I Am
Hi, I'm Maggie, a 3D generalist and concept artist. I like characters that feel painted as much as modeled, so I carry the color, edges, and brushwork of my traditional practice into my digital work.
Painting came first for me. I'm from Los Angeles, and I moved to Denver to study 3D animation at CU Denver because I wanted to put my characters into stories of their own.
My recent work ranges from a senior thesis film to an original game in development. I keep coming back to strange creatures, expressive silhouettes, and worlds that feel handmade.
Toolbox
3D
- ZBrush
- Maya
- Blender
Texturing & Look Dev
- Texture painting
- Hand-painted normal maps
- Particle systems
Story & Concept
- Character concepts
- Storyboards
- Animatics
- World building
- Lighting
- Animation
Traditional
- Oil painting
- Gouache
- Pencil & charcoal drawing