Whittler's Worktable

The Whittler's Worktable is a short animation that hints at a larger story through a single, richly detailed environment. I developed the scene using Autodesk Maya, Adobe Substance Painter, and Unreal Engine.

After sketching concepts of both the overall environment and the hero item (the ring box), I began developing a proxy model in Maya. This allowed me to play with different camera angles while still in the early stages of production. Next, I began the process of modeling and texturing my hero asset. I am responsible for modeling and texturing the vast majority of objects in this scene, including the ring box, the wood shavings, the knife, the walls and window, the horizontal shelf pieces, the desk, the miniature houses, and the calendar. Other assets were acquired via my own photogrammetry or Quixel.

For this project, I drew inspiration from my own experience with woodworking and whittling. I have always been fascinated with this kind of primal craftsmanship, perhaps because my grandfather was an accomplished woodworker whose creations added life my family home. I have personally experimented with attempts to whittle and carve, inspired both by my surroundings and by outdoor adventure books from my childhood.