Heroes of Bronze in 2025

Hey everyone,

I hope you’re all doing well! As 2025 approaches, I’m feeling a mix of excitement and determination about what’s ahead. It’s been a long journey getting to this point, and I wanted to share some of the plans I’m working on with you.

Finally Releasing My New Blender Course

It’s been two years in the making, but my Master Cinematic Storytelling in Blender course is finally coming out soon! This has been a real labour of love, and I’ve poured so much into it—everything I’ve learned about creating cinematic 3D art. I can’t wait to share it with you.

More Heroes of Bronze!

1. I’m planning to publish two more short stories that dive deeper into the Heroes of Bronze world. These stories mean a lot to me, and I’m also starting to prep for a printed edition. Imagine holding the world of Heroes of Bronze in your hands!

2. On the animation side, I’ll be starting to work on a brand-new short film for Heroes of Bronze. Getting back into animated storytelling feels like coming home.

3. I’m also planning to build a dedicated team to help with future projects. It’s time to bring more people on board to make these ideas even better…

Some Ideas I’m Considering…

I’ve got a few more things in mind that I’m playing around with:

• A Heroes of Bronze YouTube Channel: This would focus on educational and narrative videos about ancient Greece. It’s something I think could be really fun and valuable.

• Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR): I’ve been thinking about experimenting with this style for storytelling. It’s different from the photorealistic approach I’ve been using, but it could open up some great creative opportunities.

• A Heroes of Bronze Comic Book: How cool would it be to see Heroes of Bronze in comic form? I’m considering hiring an artist to help bring this idea to life.

Staying Grounded

With all these plans and ideas, the biggest challenge is staying focused and not overloading myself. I’ve spent a lot of time building the world of Heroes of Bronze, and I’m so excited to get back into creating animated art and stories again in 2025.

What Do You Think?

I’d love to know which of these projects excites you the most. Your thoughts and support mean the world to me, and I’m always grateful for your feedback.

Here’s to a creative and inspiring 2025. Thank you for being part of this journey…

Chairé!
Martin

October News! Teaser #2 is coming, finished new tutorial series and more...

Hey there friends!

The Heroes of Bronze project is proceeding slower than I expected, mainly due to several new upcoming projects, some of which I will be releasing before the end of the year. Yep, there will be a new CGBoost course, so that is taking up most of my time now.

Still, every day for at least a bit, I am able to push new shots for HoB, so the new teaser is definitely coming, only later than expect :-)

In the meantime, I have finished up this series of tutorials focusing on Hair & Beard creation in Blender. Watch the whole playlist here:

Also, I made this piece just for fun, to test the Mixer Brush in Photoshop, painting over 3D render to make it look painterly :-) It is a a moment set around the events of Battle of Cunaxa (401 BC) from the March of Ten Thousand .

The idea behind it was: the phalanx just ran a good distance, trying to get from the reach of Persian arrows. After retaining order, they are forming up behind their commander who took the lead, encountering one of the group of Immortals in the process.I figured there would be chaos going on at that moment,before they formed a line again, giving space for an almost duel-like moment to ensue.

View fullsize

Much more info coming next month!

Chairé!

Martin

September News! Acropolis, Tutorials and Livestream Collection Discount :-)

Whoa, the summer has flown by already and already September is here. Fortunately, I used the last two months to work on Heroes of Bronze as much as possible. Mostly, I finished up my Character Creator - IClone - Blender pipeline, with animations, facial performance and better looking shaders. I took the opportunity to introduce an exciting tool that came out recently for Character Creator - the SkinGen plugin, making automated skin texturing a real joy!

Connected to that topic, I also made a free tutorial where I explored how you can create your own clothing simulation directly in Blender, without any external tools.

Finally, my work on the ancient Acropolis of Athens, ca 500 BC, is coming together.  It is a slightly different city than most of us probably know from the time of Pericles. At around 500 BC it lacked both Parthenon, the magnificent statue of Athena, Propylae and other famous structures. These would only be built after the wars with the Persians. Instead, the Acropolis offered a view of two older doric temples. Still, even then it must have been a magnificent sight...

This still a wip model I was able to put together from my architectural assets and a bit of KitBash 3D. I used Cycles for rendering, Megascans and Grasswald for vegetation and World Creator for some background terrain generation :)

Last but not least, I was able to put together the first 10 livestreams, edit and polish them and put together into this Gumroad package. It is 10 hours of content, detailing my workflows, tips and tricks, Blender, Substance Painter, Photoshop and Character Creator pipeline. Just for you, followers of the blog, you can now get it 50% off with the coupon code: “hoblivestreams110” :-)

Also, as a small teaser, have a look at this image - and know that soon, I will do a tutorial on how I made the beard and hair for this character in Blender.

Enjoy the rest of the hot summer days, my friends!

Chairé,

Martin