Petit Orion 

Petit Orion – Handcrafted Wizard Crow

Inspiration

The initial spark came after discovering the work of @little_fishy_things, an artist specialized in textile dolls and fabric crafts. I was especially captivated by one of her handmade crows, which inspired me to create a digital version that would explore patchwork art and evoke the warmth of handcrafted toys. From the very beginning, I imagined this project as if it belonged to a stop motion short film—with stitched textures, button details, and a soft, tactile feel—bringing that analog charm into the digital world.

I also envisioned it as a potential animated short, and developed a simple logline to guide its tone and narrative direction:

“Orion is a handcrafted crow animated with voodoo, embarking on an adventure to explore this new world.”

Design & Preproduction

I began by gathering a wide range of visual references, including soft toys, fabric textures, stitching details, and color palettes. These helped set the foundation for the character’s look and mood.

Since Orion was conceived as a voodoo-powered wizard crow, I wanted to place him in a world that reflected that magical, handcrafted identity. I imagined him standing on an old wooden table, surrounded by books, jars, candles, and other elements from an alchemist's workspace—reinforcing the idea that he had been summoned or brought to life in this forgotten, mystical setting.

Some initial sketches were made to explore Orion’s design. One of the features that stood out early in the process were his button eyes, which give him a soft, endearing personality and became a key element in his visual identity.
Although I developed a few animatic ideas to bring Orion to life in motion, limited time and rendering resources meant they remained in the conceptual stage.

Modeling

The 3D model was created by Iván Maturana, based on the concept art and direction developed during preproduction. His sculpt provided a strong foundation for the look development and grooming stages.

Look Development & Technique

My main goal was to replicate the tactile sensation of a stitched-together, handmade toy, using a mix of digital fabrics. In Substance Painter, I textured the character with materials like canvas, linen, wool, and felt—each chosen to enhance realism and narrative texture. Small details like loose threads, seams, faded patches, and stitching helped sell the idea of a well-loved, slightly worn plush character.

Grooming was one of the biggest challenges, as I had never tried to emulate felt before. It took several experiments with noise modifiers in Interactive XGen to achieve the soft, fuzzy surface that felt true to real-life craft materials. It was a process of pure trial and error until I arrived at a result that gave Orion the right warmth and handcrafted feel.

For the lighting, I wanted to recreate the calm and cozy atmosphere of a bright morning, specifically that soft light between 8 and 10 a.m. To achieve this, I used gobos to cast natural-looking shadows and add depth to the scene, making it feel more grounded and alive.

In composition, I decided to place all the visual weight on Orion by applying a subtle depth-of-field blur to the background. This not only highlighted the character but also gave the image a storybook quality—reinforcing the idea that this is a small magical being brought to life in a forgotten corner of a fantastical world.