When Weston Reed sat down with me, we took a deep dive into his Old Jack Cowboy piece, a project that began as a concept sketch from Johnny D and grew into a fully realized, hand-painted 3D character. What struck me most wasn’t just Weston’s technical chops, but the way he treats every stage of the pipeline like an artist with a brush in hand. His approach is equal parts methodical and painterly. Laying a foundation with clean, efficient modeling before diving into values, grayscale, and finally color.
🎨 From 2D to 3D
Weston started by translating Johnny D’s 2D design into a 3D space. What works in a flat drawing doesn't necessarily work in 3D and Weston wanted to be looser and more creative with this project than he normally can be at work. To do this, he imported the concept into ZBrush, stamped it onto the grid as a reference, and blocked the entire character with the simplest primitive shapes possible. At this stage, it wasn’t about beauty, it was about math and proportion. He even described this “ugly mannequin” stage as a way of checking his work, building a skeleton that he could reshape endlessly without resistance.
Key takeaway: start with crude, simple forms. Accuracy and flexibility matter more than detail early on.
🧱 Modeling as Painting Prep
Where many artists rush to Dynamesh and clay-like sculpting, Weston took the opposite route. He leaned heavily on ZModeler, dynamic subdivisions, and crease controls to keep his meshes clean, low-poly, and adjustable. By doing this, he could push proportions, making the cowboy stockier, stronger, and more heroic than the 2D design suggested, without fighting against messy geometry. He described it as working “non-destructively,” so if an art director or his own gut told him to push a shape further, it was a five-second change, not a rework.
Key takeaway: a clean, non-destructive modeling workflow gives you freedom to explore and exaggerate without losing control.
🖌️ Grayscale First, Always
The biggest eye-opener was Weston’s commitment to grayscale. Before adding any color, he builds what he calls an “underpainting”. A full pass of the character in values only. In Substance Painter, he layers procedural bakes (normals, AO, curvature) and then moves into 3D Coat, where he paints by hand in grayscale. This allows him to refine light direction, shadow placement, and material definition long before hues come into play. “If the grayscale reads,” he explained, “you’ve done 80% of the work.” By the time he’s ready to remap into color, all of the hard decisions about readability and focal points have already been solved.
Key takeaway: value comes first; get the grayscale right and your colors will always sit on solid ground.
💡 Painting in 3D Coat
Once in 3D Coat, Weston switches into painter mode. He prefers simple square or round brushes, relying less on fancy tools and more on painterly fundamentals: big-to-small passes, sharp-to-soft edges, and broad strokes before details. He intentionally overpaints shadows or highlights, then erases back into them to create gradients that feel alive. Subtle brush marks on leather, sharp-to-soft shadows under the hat, and hand-painted metal highlights all add up to the hand-painted look. Weston keeps his layers minimal, merging them often to “commit” to his decisions, because too many layers kill both performance and artistic instinct.
Key takeaway: treat 3D Coat like a canvas; work broad to fine, flatten layers to keep it simple, and commit to your painterly choices.
📦 Presentation Matters
Weston crushed the presentation. Check out the Marmoset viewer on his post if you haven't already. His Old Jack Cowboy is posed, slightly animated, and shown in a clean Marmoset viewer that loads fast and communicates instantly. The thumbnail is clear, the first shot is centered and readable, and only as you scroll do you discover more detail shots for the diehard viewers. “Don’t clutter with twenty angles of the same shot,” he advised. A good presentation is about hierarchy: hook with the first impression, then reward deeper viewers with the nerdy details like wireframes and breakdowns. Even the subtle idle animation, just a few bones rotating adds life without overcomplicating the rig.
Key takeaway: present your work with clarity—strong first impressions, minimal clutter, and a sense of life take your work to the next level.
Bottom line:
Weston’s Old Jack Cowboy shows how 3D can be a true painter’s medium. By starting with primitive shapes, committing to non-destructive modeling, prioritizing grayscale underpainting, and finishing with painterly strokes, he built a character that feels alive and hand-crafted. His process reminds us that the difference between “good” and “great” often lies in restraint, clarity, and those final subtle touches that bring art to life.
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