Our September Vendor of the Month, BlueTreeStudio, who asked we call him Stuart, was born “quite a long time ago” in Norfolk, England, but then moved to Essex when he was 12. Age 18 came, and he went to university in the North of England to study Theology and after many many years, he’s still there.

Back in the 80s he had a ZX Spectrum. Mostly, he used it for playing games, but he would also occasionally attempt to produce art on it, limited though the possibilities were.

“I think I got my first PC sometime in the 90s, and that led almost immediately to me exploring both 2D and 3D graphics through various pieces of software such as Bryce, Caligari's trueSpace and other software now long since forgotten. However, it was trueSpace that really captured my imagination, and I spent years learning its capabilities until, in the early 2000s, I reached out to an amateur group called Loose Cannon who were reconstructing missing episodes of Doctor Who using the surviving soundtracks, existing and composited photos, specially filmed inserts and any tiny clips that survived,” Stuart said.

He sent a few 3D images based on Doctor Who designs and suggested incorporating CGI into the mix, either as backgrounds or as animations. It turned out they had already enlisted the services of someone to do this and unfortunately, he was an industry professional.

Industry professional trumps enthusiastic hobbyist every time and in every area, except when it comes to the time they have available, and it quickly became clear that he couldn't fit in everything they needed from him, so they got back in touch with Stuart.

“Pretty soon I was recreating sets and spaceships, the TARDIS, the Daleks, a whole host of things. It was a very steep learning curve because they wanted these things, as far as possible, to be screen accurate. Sloppy approximations were not acceptable. Sometimes I was working from original BBC designer plans to recreate the thing that had appeared on screen. Other times, where the plans had gone the same way as the print of the episode, I either had to use imagination to create something that looked appropriate and something that would have been possible on a tiny 1960s BBC budget or I was squinting at the only surviving low quality photo of the prop/spaceship/set and trying to recreate it,” he said.

The result of all this work became “'The Daleks' Master Plan” which was released to the public free of charge in 2003. It was the start of a long association with Loose Cannon, and that in turn led to some commissions from BBC Video when they started including episode reconstructions on their Doctor Who DVDs, along with various animations for bonus features.

 “Around this time, I met a Kurdish guy called Havi who also had an interest in animation. I suggested collaborating on an adaptation of a Kurdish folk tale. Before we knew it, we were fully funded and producing “The Legend of Kawa the Blacksmith” for a professional DVD release. As it turned out, Kawa was also the first animated film in Kurdish and got us invited to a premiere at the Manchester Kurdish Film Festival and subsequent screenings at the London Kurdish Film Festival. Both were accompanied by on-stage Q&A sessions which were great fun, especially because Kurdish children engaged with the film and their own heritage,” said Stuart.

Somewhere in the midst of all this he transitioned from trueSpace to Cinema4D, which gave better and significantly faster results.

Getting funding for the first animated Kurdish film had been surprisingly easy, but finding anyone who wanted to fund the second proved impossible. Eventually Stuart and Havi went their separate ways and, looking for a new CGI avenue to explore, Stuart realized it had been under his nose all along.

“I'd used Poser as far back as “'The Daleks' Master Plan” to create a shot of one of the Doctor's companions adrift in space, and it had proved invaluable during 'Kawa' for the large cast of characters. This was 2014. I formed my BlueTreeStudio store on Renderosity, released 'Zombie Containment' for Poser and have been here ever since. Initially, I augmented this new venture with paid work doing design for a children's charity and a few weekly shifts in a local pub, but it only took a year or so before Renderosity became my sole source of income,” said Stuart.

In 2018, he expanded to also create sets for Daz Studio.

Q&A

Describe your offerings and how would you describe your style?

I like to create a huge variety of settings. Everything from horror and fantasy to historical, modern, futuristic, real world, anything at all that captures my imagination at that moment. Sometimes I like to challenge myself, sometimes I like to do copious amounts of research into an historical era, sometimes I like to let my creativity run free and see what comes out the other end. I get inspiration from everywhere. Sometimes I'll see an image on the TV and that will be the spark, or spot something on a walk or on a bus ride. I have a large number of images clipped out of magazines and newspapers (most of them saved for me by my mother) and these often get my mind working. Even Lego sets can sometimes be the spark.

What is the typical workflow on a new project?

I like to keep it varied and let the product dictate the way I work. So, sometimes I'll texture as I go along whilst other times, I'll texture everything at the end. Sometimes I model from larger geometry down to the smaller items, sometimes I'll start with a small detail and build out around it. Keeping it varied keeps me engaged with the process.

What do you love about producing digital art?

I love the unlimited potential to create anything. I like plucking something from my imagination and realizing it in the digital world, seeing how light and shade play across its surfaces.

What are among your favorite creations to produce?

Amongst my favorites are the Modular Mining Town and the Modular Town House as examples of historical research, but there are many that I would consider favorites. Bridge House was closely based on my great grandmother's house which used to be a farm. Sweet Shop was based on an actual 1970s sweet shop that I used to go to. I'm also very fond of my 'village' sets - Little Chipton, Kent Village, Sussex Village, Devon Village, Scottish Village. The Modular Mall was a huge endeavour that took almost five months from conception to completion. 

How has Renderosity made a difference in your growth as an artist/vendor?

Renderosity has been invaluable. I mean, apart from a place to actually sell my wares, it's also offered encouragement, helped me improve my products, helped me expand into the Daz model market and build my brand. It's extremely heartening to see buyers coming back again and again, purchasing not just steampunk models or Ancient Egyptian models, but the whole range of things that I put out. I also sometimes get contacted by members of the Renderosity community with suggestions for sets and - if those suggestions inspired me - then I've built those sets. 'Jungle Adventure' and 'Antique Shop,' for example, came directly from the community.

What future plans do you have for your work? What career goals do you have in digital art?

To keep going, keep using my imagination and keep seeing what next pops out of my brain.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to become an artist or vendor?

Do it! It's only by doing it that you learn and grow and form a foundation to build bigger and better things on.

Any other comments you have for the community?

Thank you for giving my sets a try and thank you for coming back for more! It's very much appreciated.

Find out more about Blue Tree Studio on FaceBook