3D artist Loulou João: »My Job does feel like play most of the time!«

These days it doesn’t matter where you look – traditional advertising, state-of-the-art editorial design, all kinds of websites and of course, Instagram: 3D design is all the rage. Still or in motion, the 3D aesthetic is quickly becoming a commonplace style for all kinds of communication design. Yet, many design­ers are intimidated by the complex software – and rightly so, we might add. That’s why we turned to Loulou João for help. The Afro-Belgian 3D artist has made a name for herself with her wonderfully quirky yet highly political alternative 3D universe, inhabited by her alter ego Miss Focket. It might seem like a happy-go-lucky wonderworld, but within her anima­ted scenarios Loulou touches on topics like sexual objectification, the feeling of being othered and body dysmorphia (see also our interview – in English and German – with Loulou).

But of course, Loulou designs not only for herself. She has been very busy working for clients like MTV, Adobe, Adult Swim and Spotify. In November 2020, she got signed to the agency Snyder New York. Miss Focket’s universe is completely created in Blender, the popular 3D open-source tool you’ve probably heard about. Here, Loulou tells us about how she got into the software, what you can do with it, and what it’s like to sell a very personal aesthetic to commercial clients. Spoiler: Learning Blender isn’t easy – but ­totally worth it (for some people).

Miss Focket’s universe is very unique. How did you arrive at this style?
Loulou João: It took me a long time to get to the visual style I have now. When I graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Ghent in October 2019, I decided to put all my energy into learning Blender. I had been using the software in my final year at university, but I felt like I was just winging it and that a lack of skill was holding me back. So I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials. The thing is: tutorials are great for understan­ding how to use Blender – but it’s a whole different story to use this tool to create your own visual style.

By December, I was pretty frustrated because I thought that I would never find my own way. I compared myself to other artists and felt like I didn’t mea­sure up. But after Christmas break, I went back to work and decided to set myself some basic visual rules in order to create my own 3D universe: every­thing had to look as if it was made of squishy plastic, all forms should be bubbly, and I was only allowed to use vibrant pastel colors. Step by step I figured out how to achieve the look I had in mind – thanks again to great tutorials – and I perfected my color palette. This is how I created this colorful, bubbly plastic-wonderland that reminds me of the 90’s aesthetic I grew up with. Even now, when I create some­thing new, I search the internet for toys I either had myself or that have a similar look. I then make them my own by adding little tweaks so that they fit perfectly into my universe.

Your work is very personal and touches on ­political and social issues. You describe it as a safe space for yourself as well as for other members of the African diaspora. How does it feel to commercialize this work?
I concentrate on not losing the message I want to bring across. Also, the topics I work with are so profound and intertwined with my visual style that when a client comes to me, they know what they’re going to get. If a client asks me to change something, like my color palette, I say “no” because it’s an important part of my aesthetic. It’s about combining a brand, product or message with my universe. Miss Focket is like an actress: you can hire her, but you can’t change fundamental things about her. She plays a role to sell a product or a service.

How long does it take to make your animations?
That depends on the length and complexity of the animation, as well as the feedback from the client. A personal project like a three-second animation loop for Instagram takes me about one or two days. For an MTV ident, which was 15 seconds long, Nathan and I worked for five days. Another animation we did for Spotify was only four seconds long, but we had to animate fifteen characters, and there was a lot of client feedback – so it took us two weeks. I actually spent the most time on coloring. Having a big color palette while ensuring that all the colors work well together is a challenge.

Your husband Nathan is the one who intro­duced you to Blender, right?
Yes, he’s an architect and worked with Blender to make photorealistic architectural visualizations. So, he used the same software, but did something completely different with it. Last summer he quit his job in an architecture firm and now works full-time ­with me, which is really great. He’s an absolute genius with the software and figures out the most complex issues within hours! It’s a big relief for me not to be working on my own anymore. Especially in the beginning, every project was a new challenge – that can be very stressful. And even though I’m more comfortable with the software now, every new project still comes with its own challenges. It’s so much better to tackle those together.

A lot of designers are intimidated by 3D software. Do you have any tips for getting started?
There’s a guy on YouTube called “Blender Guru” who has published a lot of useful tutorials. His Donut tutorial for beginners is legendary. It’s what I started with.

How long did it take you to be able to use Blender well?
The first piece I made that I was really happy with was done in mid-January 2020. By then I had been following tutorials for three months full-time. These taught me what all the tools and modifiers can do. I think Blender is a bit more difficult to handle than Cinema 4D, but it’s free and open-source, so there are tons of tutorials. You can learn it all on your own. It might be overwhelming and frustrating in the ­beginning – but you will see improvements really fast. The longer you work with Blender, the more complex your projects become and the faster you work. A project that takes you a week now might take you only a day in a month from now! Step by step, you will discover your favorite tools, modifiers, backgrounds et cetera. This way you create your own workflow and visual language along the way. Once you have that, everything becomes so much easier because you don’t have to start from scratch any­more. Especially when you’re building a library: we now have a big collection of items such as fonts, lighting, stars, fruit and vegetables that we keep using. We also built a character generator that lets us combine different hairstyles, clothes and ac­ces­sories.

What projects can you use Blender for?
3D software in general is so versatile. You can use it for pretty much everything! Of course you can do illustration and animation, but I also worked with a sculptor to make the first physical sculpture of my work via 3D printing. And you can implement 3D objects and animations in augmented reality apps. The possibilities are endless!

Which kind of works are your favorites?
I studied illustration, so I always approached Blender from an illustrator’s point of view. Bringing subtle movements to a piece makes it so much more dy­namic and interesting. Gradually I moved into full-­fledged animation – simply because people ­asked me to. It wasn’t something I intended to do, it just happened – and I’m loving it. I can express so much more now by including a narrative and multiple messages. You create a lot of animations that your clients use only on Instagram. It’s amazing that this has become a thing now!

That amazes me too. I just did a project for the in­surance company Lemonade Inc. They have this Instagram campaign called Never-ending drip for which they commission different artists. There’s only one rule: in the middle of the animation there needs to be a pink drip running from top to bottom. It is so great that a project like this is now a well-paid commission! Instagram has become a very valuable platform for creative marketing. It’s a great way to connect with an audience – also for artists. You get immediate feedback and see if people understand your message. When you create animations for TV, you never get a direct response like that.

So is this something you can make a living from?
With all the animations we do the two of us can get by, yes. But we do have to work a lot. Taxes in Belgium are pretty high, and I also have to pay a commission to my agency. That’s definitely worth it, though. They do so much paperwork for me! Especially in the Uni­ted States, contracts are often 20 pages long and use a language that requires a law degree. I feel much safer with an agency that has known the business for decades. They also help me with my fees, because they know the regular budgets. I was definitely underpaid before . . . All in all, I feel really blessed to be able to do what I do and make a living from it. My job really does feel like play most of the time!

This article was published in PAGE 05.2021 which you can download here completely

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