#1 - I QUIT MY JOB TO BECOME A 3D ARTIST | PropGon with Gabs Hega

Summary

In the first episode of the PropGon Podcast, 3D artist Gabs Hega recounts leaving an engineering job in Mexico to study 3D art, despite her boss’s warning that it might not provide a living. Her early work included simple models, architectural renders, and small freelance projects. She learned on a modest laptop, built a portfolio, and gradually moved into game art.

A race-car portfolio piece helped open professional opportunities. Gabs created two versions—a used car and an abandoned one—to show how material choices could communicate different states. After receiving rejections and portfolio feedback, she eventually joined KitBash, choosing remote work over opportunities that would have required moving to Canada or the United States. Her career later took her from Mexico to Spain.

The episode also touches on teaching, changes in the game-art pipeline, and AI’s potential impact on the industry, though it reaches no firm conclusion about AI.

Artistic Techniques and Creative Processes

• Early 3D practice: Gabs’s first assignment was to make a table and laptop, but she expanded it into a coffee-shop scene using only scaled and rotated primitives.
• Architectural visualization: She and her collaborator, Charlie Ávila, produced architectural renders and learned about lighting while working in Blender.
• Portfolio development: Her demo reel featured models, textures, and wireframes. Feedback from a Naughty Dog environment lead highlighted noisy textures and lighting that needed improvement.
• Material storytelling: For her race-car project, she created used and abandoned versions to show how materials can suggest an asset’s condition and history.
• Game-ready workflow: While teaching, Gabs introduced students to Unreal Engine and guided them in creating environments and playable project builds.
• Workflow tools: After her team shifted from Maya to Blender, she created a Blender add-on to speed up UV work for trim sheets and help with atlases and decals.
• Substance Designer: Gabs promotes a fundamentals workshop focused on creating a material from scratch for a studio-oriented pipeline.

Advice and Takeaways

• Choose a direction you genuinely care about, and think carefully before leaving a job or committing to a new field.
• Keep finishing portfolio pieces, even when they’re imperfect; completing work is part of improving.
• Seek feedback and use it to identify specific areas for improvement, such as texture detail or lighting.
• Learn how to price creative work, not just how to make it, and assess the value of your time and skills.
• Build practical skills by opening the software and making things. Self-directed study can work when approached with discipline.
• Adapt to new tools and workflows, and take the next manageable step rather than waiting to have everything figured out.

Creators and Contributors

• Gabs Hega — Host and 3D artist.
• Charlie Ávila — Collaborator on the architectural-rendering studio Ago Render.

The episode also mentions Gabs’s former students and professional contacts at studios including Naughty Dog, KitBash, Icon, Little Red Dot Games, Feral 3D, and Webisabi Design.