Lowpoly 3D is the digital impressionism?

 Lowpoly 3D art, is it the digital era of impressionism?

By Zaid Al-Shaheed

3D Art Generalist / Technical Director

Synty SciFi Cyberpunk

For years I myself admired lowpoly 3D art, characters, objects, environment in games. Not sure if it is nostalgia,  the aesthetics, its efficiency in rendering, time consumption in making or it triggering the imagination and interpretation of what the object is. 

So many things all in the same time, we can admire all the high poly sculpts, the hyper realism 3D models in games that we have been seeing recently, but something about the lowpoly still stands, with indie developers and 3D art creators. Yes it is cheap and fast to make but some of those same people who do lowpoly are highly skilled 3D artists who can produce impressively detailed objects and characters , artists such as Kennth Scott, John Kearney, Karol Miklas, Zoltan "Z" Hegedus and MANY MANY more. They still somehow go back to doing lowpoly models here and there or does a project that involves it.  

As a 3D artform, lowpoly is an entry level but the pros are pushing the boundaries and the mindset of what lowpoly is and can be. A good example is the 256fes hashtag on X formerly known as Twitter, using nothing but 256 triangles creating amazing looking cars, mechs, characters, environments and much much more.

By :VampireDev8 on X aka Twitter

By :LezTusi on X aka Twitter

The thought process that goes behind it, lowpoly is not just form of art but also ascended to being a philosophy.

how is that even possible!? 

Few years ago when I was studying and going through GDC talks on game design and game art, I came across a wonderful talk by an exceptionally fascinating individual, Ethan Redd, an indie game developer artist and designer. He talked about something very interesting, he put into words my thoughts I failed to communicate to myself and others. 

The atomic size of an object as when it is a certain size it needs to have certain number of polygons to represent the shape of the object and how much we can get away with. 

really discussing lowpoly art in somewhat philosophical way sorta speak.

you can watch the whole talk here : 

His talk made me think, why do we stick to lowpoly, why do I and others still do it, and one day I was discussing game art with my wife and it hit me, impressionism!!!

Impressionism describes a style of painting developed in France during the mid-to-late 19th century; characterizations of the style include small, visible brushstrokes that offer the bare impression of form, unblended color and an emphasis on the accurate depiction of natural light.

Lowpoly  is very similar to that small number of polycounts that are visible and offers the bare impression of a form, and still focuses on how the light reads the form "emphasis on the accurate depiction of natural light".

Claude Monet, French, 1840 - 1926, Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Synty pack Polygon Western Frontier

Under our nose we had a rise of an artform that is discussed and the word thrown around even misunderstood and misrepresented, and yet we never noticed that we are living in an era where an artform is born and still living and will still live for many years to come. 

in games and other media, even after 25 years since we migrated to stronger hardware, with more rendering capabilities, bigger memory and advance methods of rendering, still to this day, Lowpoly art is here and here to stay with indie creators making games, with asset packs out there in the wild such as the Synty packs, and even in 3D printing. 

just a thought that I had and wanted to communicate and get it out of my head. 

I hope these words I wrote triggers something in your mind, a thought, a spark of inspiration, or a shrug, thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kenneth Scott : https://www.artstation.com/superactionfunboy

John Kearney : https://www.artstation.com/johnkearney

Karol Miklas : https://www.artstation.com/kmiklas

Zoltan "Z" Hegedus : https://www.artstation.com/zoltanh

256Fes : https://twitter.com/256fes