My project for course: 3D Interior Visualizations: Design Retro Spaces in... Cinema 4D?

Hi Andrew, I've been a fan of your work for a while on Insta but somehow missed that you had a course. I've never bought something so quickly! I really enjoyed the course and learned a lot, thank you.

I've been learning 3D for a year now, using Blender. I've been spending my time learning the fundamentals and practicing a wide range of styles. I'm not completely sure what I want to do with it yet, and am just spending time absorbing influences and developing my own style. I just know that I want to do this all the time.

Your story really resonated with me, as I'm from the UK, a similar age, started in music production, play guitar, and have a career in web design, before finding 3D. Maybe this is why I love the Dreamfibre aesthetic so much.

I don't have C4D, but I really wanted to understand your workflow, composition and lighting principles the most, and these things transfer perfectly. I think the thing that surprised me is how you're able to achieve such a beautiful look with just a few lights.

Apologies, I pinched your cushions(!) but remade the rest in Blender. I started by trying to be as accurate as possible to your final piece, using it as a reference in the viewport, then tried to improvise some details. These include adding a guitar I made recently, and some feature plants.

With materials, I always try to go for a minimal look, but I can never seem to help myself and always end up adding more and more detail and realism, which undeniably takes me away from the striking look that guys like you and Peter Tarka have. I also have a suspicion that Redshift looks better for the very diffuse, minimal look, but I don't think I'm going to make that leap for now. So maybe I just need to lean into this style?

I was pretty happy with the final render but I wanted to get closer to an authentic "scanned from a book" look, and added some midrange contrast as well as some layers of print-like patterning, grit and grunge (not sure how well this comes out in the previews).

Some things I want to work on are getting the correct scale for items in the scene (I should have used a person model). The main thing I am trying to improve is lighting and colour. I'm still not happy with this.

There's something with getting the image to pop, harmonising, and having everything 'readable' that I'm missing. Sometimes things look great on desktop screen, but then I post and they lose impact, in a way that's not just because it's smaller. I'm not exactly sure what the X factor is but I will keep trying.

If you wouldn't mind, I'd be so grateful if you could tell me where I can improve? Thank you for your time.