This Awesome New Shader Adds a Painterly Look to Your Models

Mani Salguero, a talented Character/LookDev Artist who recently blew our minds with his incredible Zuko portrait that looked like a real-life 2D drawing, has just unveiled a fascinating new shader that lets you add a painterly look to your 3D models.

As showcased in Mani's recent demo, featuring a chibi model of Sousou no Frieren's Fern, the novel shader enables one to give a watercolor-like appearance to digital models, making them nearly indistinguishable from genuine paintings. According to the artist, the shader was set up with Arnold, while the Fern model itself was created with Blender and Substance 3D Painter.

What's more, both the model and the shader in question are available as a free bonus alongside Mani's awesome tutorial on creating painterly shaders in Arnold. The tutorial includes models, shaders, hand-painted textures, detailed documentation, and a 40-minute video guide on how to customize and apply the shader to different geometries. You can learn more and acquire the tutorial by visiting Mani's ArtStation page.

Earlier, the creator also joined 80 Level to discuss the aforementioned Zuko project, explain how he made ATLA's villain-turned-hero resemble a 2D picture using Maya and Substance 3D Painter, and show how he hand-painted the textures. You can read our interview with Mani by clicking this link.

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