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Uyen Dang
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Stylized sunflower study (course study notes)

A small stylized flower build in Blender, focused on clean shapes, readable materials, and a simple toon-style render. Built alongside a paid course, so these notes stay high level on purpose.

Date
Jul 3, 2025

This was a short 3D modeling study where the goal was to get a polished, stylized sunflower from blockout to final render. I followed a paid tutorial as guidance, but the writeup here is intentionally kept to broad decisions and takeaways rather than step-by-step instruction.

Credits and reference

This project was made while following a paid course. I am not sharing the course’s specific workflow or instruction, only the finished result and high-level notes.

Stylized Art & Animation Course (paid tutorial)

Final render

Final render | Blender
Final render | Blender

Process snapshots

I built the flower in parts, then assembled everything with repetition and small variations so it stayed consistent without looking copy-pasted. The focus was silhouette first, then surface breakup, then materials.

Petals

This was a short 3D modeling study where the goal was to get a polished, stylized sunflower from blockout to final render. I followed a paid tutorial as guidance, but the writeup here is intentionally kept to broad decisions and takeaways rather than step-by-step instruction.

Petal blockout
Petal | early shape and silhouette
Petal refinement
Petal | refinement and proportions
Petal material test
Petal | shading test and banding control

Florets

The center was built from simple units and relies on density and placement rather than heavy detail. Most of the work here was spacing and variation, so it feels structured but not perfectly uniform.

Florets blockout
Florets | simple forms laid in
Florets placement
Florets | spacing and repetition pass

Assembly

Once the parts were working individually, I assembled everything early to verify scale, balance, and silhouette. This stage was mostly about placement and small adjustments that make the full flower read as one design.

Flower assembly step 1
Assembly | first full build
Flower assembly step 2
Assembly | tweaks for balance and rhythm
Flower assembly step 3
Assembly | final arrangement before render

Leaves

Leaves were treated as supporting shapes. They were kept simpler than the flower head, with enough form to frame the composition and break up the stem, without pulling attention away from the main subject.

Leaf early step (file exists)
Leaf | early step (not included here)
Leaf mid step (file exists)
Leaf | mid step (not included here)
Leaf late step
Leaf | final shape and placement pass

What I was trying to get right

  • Silhouette clarity: each petal reads cleanly even at a distance.
  • Controlled stylization: simplified shapes, but not flat or boring.
  • Material readability: limited values and clear separations between petal, center, and leaf.
  • Consistency: small variation across repeated parts so it feels hand-made.