Meet John, a Hong Kong-born architect turned digital artist who's conjuring up extraordinary visions in London's CG scene. His journey from traditional architectural tools to the spellbinding world of Cinema 4D and Houdini began during the 2020 lockdown, where isolation sparked a creative transformation. What started as a personal challenge has evolved into an impressive portfolio of achievements, including wins at the Reallusion 3D Character Contest 2024, multiple victories in FGT Art & CGandWe challenges, and the coveted Artist of the Year 2023 title by Fox Renderfarm, a leading cloud rendering services provider and render farm in the industry. With a unique perspective that blends architectural precision with a passion for cinematic visuals, John's work captivates audiences by bridging the gap between structural design and digital artistry.
Join us as we explore how this innovative creator brings his haunting visions to life and continues to push the boundaries of 3D art.
Fox Renderfarm: Hi, John! It’s great to have you with us again! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
John: I am an architect based in London, originally from Hong Kong. Growing up, I was always fascinated by the mind-blowing visuals in movies and games.
My 3D journey started back in my university days when we would use software like Rhino and AutoCAD to bring architectural designs to life. After years of using these tools, I hit a bit of a creative wall with their rendering limitations. That was when I discovered Cinema 4D and Houdini, and wow – it was like stepping into a whole new creative universe!
The COVID lockdown in 2020 became my turning point. Stuck at home, I decided to challenge myself. I started diving deep into 3D software, creating and sharing my personal CG projects online. It was my way of expanding my skills, building a portfolio, and finding people who appreciate my creative style.
Fox Renderfarm: Congratulations on winning first place in the CGANDWE Halloween 3D Monthly Render Challenge! Could you give us a brief introduction to your artwork, "Bewitched"?
John: I created this spooky Halloween-themed CG render as part of a challenge, spending about three weeks bringing it to life. The whole project was a playground of creativity, mainly using Houdini, Character Creator, iClone, and Redshift.
Bewitched © Kay John Yim
Honestly, it was as much about learning as it was about creating. I used this project to push my skills – figuring out how to create realistic hair in Houdini, getting the hang of posing multiple characters in iClone, and experimenting with a bunch of new techniques I'd been wanting to try out.
Fox Renderfarm: What inspired you to focus on the concept of "Bewitched" within the broader theme of Halloween? What was the initial spark for this piece?
John: I wanted to break away from my usual fantastical style, creating something more grounded and real. While scrolling through Pinterest, I stumbled across these haunting vintage photos that sent chills down my spine - like ghostly figures lurking in the background or groups of people with blank, featureless faces staring straight into the camera.
Pureref Inspiration references:
Images sourced online by John
These images sparked something in me. I wanted to capture that same unsettling vibe - something eerie that feels so convincing it could pass for an actual haunted photograph. The goal was to create a render that would make people double-take and wonder if what they're seeing is real.
Fox Renderfarm: Can you walk us through your creative process for this project? How did you approach the 3D modeling, texturing, lighting, and overall composition?
John: Early on, I made a key creative decision: I fixed the camera at eye level and shot straight on at the main character. I deliberately kept the frame tight, only showing part of the environment. This approach let me focus on modeling just the details that would actually be in focus.
My creative process is all about constant experimentation. Once I locked in the basic relationship between the camera, characters, and environment, everything else was fair game. I love playing around - trying different character poses, shifting the lighting, and exploring various color palettes. It's like a playground where I keep remixing the elements until something clicks.
I started by building the characters in Character Creator and getting their poses just right in iClone. The clothes were made in Marvelous Designer. Then I brought everything into Houdini, where the real magic happened - adding hair, texturing, lighting, and building out the architectural elements.
Fox Renderfarm: The hellfire and silhouetted figures create a very atmospheric and dramatic scene. What techniques did you use to achieve that eerie, supernatural vibe?
John: There are two main techniques that I used for the final rendering in Redshift.
The first one is using trace sets for lighting the three main characters, in order words I had a couple of fake area lights that only lit up the three main characters and nothing else; so this made their silhouette stand out from the rest of the backdrop.
The second technique is using Redshift fog to add more depth to the overall image and therefore contribute to the Halloween vibe.
Fox Renderfarm: The three central figures appear to be embracing in a powerful, almost ritualistic way. How did you want the viewer to interpret their relationship and the significance of their pose?
John: I drew major inspiration from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - that manga series famous for its insanely dramatic, hyper-realistic character poses. The way I positioned these three characters was basically my own take on a classic "JoJo pose". It was also a personal challenge to see if I could make multiple CG characters interact in a really dynamic way.
Official JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Art example:
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 (JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken) © Shueisha
If you look closely, there is this little narrative happening. The woman in the center is the only one without horns, and she is basically being lured and pulled toward hell by the two witches flanking her. It is like a dark, twisted dance where she is being slowly drawn into something sinister.
Fox Renderfarm: The last time we spoke was three years ago – how would you say your artistic vision and approach have evolved since then? Any new style attempts?
John: Three years ago, my work was all about architectural fantasy scenes, and any animation beyond basic camera movements felt way outside my skill set.
These days, my creative world has totally blown wide open. I am equally excited about storytelling, character design, fashion, architecture, and animation. Learning Houdini was a game-changer. It completely transformed my workflow, giving me the freedom to experiment and animate in ways I never could with Cinema4D.
"Style" is a broad term and very subjective, but I recently have been playing around with Redshift Toon Shader, and have been experimenting with renderings with a more hand-drawn and watercolor look for a future project.
Fox Renderfarm: What's the most challenging piece you've created in the past three years, and what did you learn from that experience?
John: "Henshin" - a 30-second animation I published earlier this year - was the most challenging project I have ever tackled. It was a serious milestone for me, both technically and artistically.
On the technical side, it marked my total transformation from a destructive workflow to an almost completely procedural approach in Houdini. That was huge. Artistically, it was my first real dive into exploring modern, fast-paced movements set against this dark, gothic fashion and classic architectural backdrop.
Fox Renderfarm: How has Fox Renderfarm's cloud rendering services supported your creative process? We'd love to hear about specific projects where you've utilized our render farm and how it impacted your workflow.
John: I have used Fox Renderfarm almost in all my animated personal projects - for both rendering and simulations.
The main challenge in my personal projects lay in the simulation, rendering duration, and iteration time. Using Fox Renderfarm allows me to expedite the process. Working on a heavy pyro simulation for instance, I would upload multiple files with varying simulation parameters to Fox Renderfarm, which essentially allowed me to utilize their resources, freeing up my local workstation, and iterate more in the same timeframe compared.
Fox Renderfarm: Where do you find inspiration for your 3D art, and how do you continue developing your skills in this medium?
John: Anime has always been a major inspiration for my personal projects, even more so than live-action movies or CG animations. As someone who works with CG daily, the 2D linework and distinctive shading in anime are incredibly refreshing, plus anime is such an unreal medium that there is a lot of potential for my artistic interpretation, more so than VFX-heavy films.
Dadadan - a recent anime that has blown my mind:
Dandadan © Shueisha
For me, there is never a lack of inspiration or ideas, the real challenge has always been my technical skills, or more specifically my total lack of programming knowledge. So lately I have been focusing on learning VEX programming, something that I avoided for ages until I finally felt comfortable navigating around Houdini.
Fox Renderfarm: Lastly, what advice would you give to other 3D artists who are looking to create compelling, narrative-driven pieces like "Bewitched"?
John: Not sure if this is the right advice for everyone, but if I could go back and give advice to my younger self just starting out in rendering, I would say stop looking at other CG renders for inspiration.
Renders are always filtered versions of reality - they are artist interpretations, not the real deal. When you reference another render while creating your own work, it is basically like taking a photocopy of a photocopy. You lose all those incredible subtle details and nuances that make something feel authentic. More importantly, you are totally missing the chance to develop your own unique artistic style and technique.
Thanks again to John for accepting our interview! Wishing new heights in you and your team’s professional career!!
John’s social media:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k_johnyim/
- Website: https://johnyim.com/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@k_johnyim
