3D ILLUSTRATIONS
All illustration are created by Marissa
Props for Nina's Room
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Vintage Toy Blocks — Prop for Nina’s Room
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To create the textures for these blocks, I collaborated with ChatGPT to generate the base wood and paint patterns.
Then I brought the UV maps into Photoshop, where I customized and refined the textures by hand — adjusting colors, enhancing wear, adding scratches, and painting in additional aging details.
This hybrid workflow allowed me to keep the charm and authenticity of hand-painted textures while maintaining a clean, accurate fit on the 3D model.
Every face of the block was placed and painted intentionally to give the prop a warm, vintage feel.
Vintage Plane Mobile — Prop for Nina’s Room
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This whimsical vintage toy was designed as a small treasure within Nina’s room — a symbol of imagination, courage, and the childlike freedom that still lives inside her story.
I modeled this piece in Blender, drawing inspiration from mid-century wooden toys and hand-painted mobiles. The worn metal, chipped paint, and softened edges are intentional choices, echoing the tender nostalgia that surrounds Nina’s world. Every detail — from the curved support arm to the tiny aviator figure — was sculpted and textured to feel loved, weathered, and full of history.
This prop is part of the growing visual universe for The Heart Mender, the illustrated story I’m bringing to life one object at a time.
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Vintage Toy Drum
A handcrafted vintage drum modeled and textured in Blender.
I built the wood grain, paint, metal brackets, and drum skin from scratch, aiming for a nostalgic, well-used look.
Rendered in 4K using Cycles.
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Wooden Pull-Horse
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This wooden pull-horse is one of the nostalgic objects that lives in Nina’s room in The Heart Mender.
I designed it to feel handmade, slightly imperfect, and full of the quiet charm found in old toys — the kind children keep long after they’ve grown.
I modeled and textured everything in Blender, aiming for a warm, weathered look:
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Softly chipped paint on the blue head
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A simple carved block for the body
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Worn legs and wooden wheels
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A rope pull-string for a bit of playfulness
Nina's Suitcase​
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In the corner of her room, beneath the window where the morning light fades to dust, sits Nina’s old suitcase.
Its leather is worn, its corners rusted — like it’s been waiting for her to open it for years.
Inside are small keepsakes from a life she tried to outgrow — a faded ribbon, a photograph, a note she never sent.
She tells herself she’ll unpack it one day, when she’s ready to remember.
But for now, it stays closed — a quiet reminder that not everything broken needs to be mended at once.
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Artist’s Process
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This suitcase is part of Nina’s Room in The Heart Mender.
I modeled and textured it entirely in Blender, focusing on clean topology and believable surface detail. The leather material was created procedurally, with subtle wear, smudges, and color variation to give it a soft, used look.
The metal parts were carefully weathered with rust tones and roughness variation to suggest age and travel.
Rendered in Cycles, this prop represents both a technical study in material creation and an emotional piece of Nina’s story — something that has endured, quietly, through time.
Vintage Tricycle
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This tricycle is the very first 3D model I created for Nina’s room in The Heart Mender.
It marks the beginning of my journey — not only as a 3D artist but as a storyteller bringing this world to life one fragment at a time.
For me, this little tricycle represents a piece of forgotten childhood — a moment once filled with laughter and movement, now sitting quietly in the corner of memory. Its worn paint and rusted edges tell a story of time, loss, and endurance — the kind of beauty that only exists in things that have been loved and outgrown.
I modeled and textured the tricycle in Blender, focusing on the emotional realism of imperfection. Every detail, from the metal frame to the faded handle grips, was created to evoke the feeling of nostalgia — a reminder that even in decay, there is grace.
This was where The Heart Mender truly began — with a small, ordinary object that became a bridge between story and soul.
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