Turning classic 2D cartoons into 3D renderings can be a tricky act to balance. There’s always something a little unsettling and kind of off about the finished model, like say, The Peanuts Movie, or Garfield: The Movie. Maybe it’s the way that it looks way too polished, or how it messes with the nostalgic memories of our beloved characters, but we just know it’s not right when we see it.
Calvin and Hobbes in 3D is even more magical
Striking the perfect balance between 2D and 3D
Striking the perfect balance between 2D and 3D
Artist Gabriel de Laubier effortlessly jumped past this hurdle, transforming Bill Watterson’s iconic Calvin and Hobbes “Big Bang” strip into an interactive 3D scene:
Each panel is like a window into a fully imagined world, and seeing Calvin and Hobbes existing in this kind of depth is pretty surreal. It’s crazy to think about the fact that the original strip was drawn in 1991, an entire quarter of a century(!!!) ago.
de Laubier shared some process shots on his online portfolio of how he made the strip using Blender:
Gabriel de Laubier
Gabriel de Laubier
I highly recommend clicking through the strip and exploring each panel for yourself below, and maybe flip through your old Calvin and Hobbes anthologies at home too in good old analog-format (they’re called books, I think) while you’re at it.
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