• For business inquiries, you can email me: rowena.frenzel@gmx.de or use the Contact form.

    If you have any questions about my shop products: rowcat@gmx.de

    For anything else, please reach out to me on any of my social media platforms.

  • I’m available for any Freelance job with companies and clients. I also do freelance commissions for private people.

    But I don’t look for any full-time job at the moment, just because I’m currently focusing on freelance. You can still email me to discuss any opportunities. I’m always open to talking about potential cooperation.

    • I’m focused on Animals and Creatures
      That means that I don’t do any human characters right now. (maybe this will change in the future)

    • 3D Creature Design
      I can create 3D models based on an existing concept but also can create my own designs.

    • 2D Creature Design
      Not my main skill, but i can overpaint, mix mediums and scribble different ideas out.

    • Organic modeling
      I do a few props or clothing from time to time when it comes to miniatures or assets for creatures or some vegetation, but in general, I concentrate more on the creature itself.

    • High and Low poly
      I create fully detailed creatures and also retopologize them for games. I’m also familiar with LOD’s.

    • Texture and Color

    • UV maps & Baking
      I’m familiar with single maps and udims.

    • Posing
      Giving creatures dynamic poses and bringing them to life by telling a story with them.

    • Lighting
      Mostly for presentation and nicer final images.

    • Compositing
      Putting every map and mesh together and also able to tweak the final image to another level.

  • Every client and company use different apps to stay in touch with each other, so I’m always open to using new ones if needed. Besides normal E-Mail, i also have Skype, Discord, Slack, Zoom, Google Hangout & Telegram set up already.

    I also have a good camera and microphone for interviews or meetings.

  • I am working as a full-time Freelancer from home, so I don’t plan on relocating or moving to another country or city for a job right now. I have all the necessary equipment and tools here which are needed for good quality jobs. I still do remote work.

  • In general, the answer is No!

  • I can’t tell you a specific amount here, because every client, project, job, the situation is different so will be my charge. Also, the amount will differ each year as well. So, if you plan on working together with me, we have to talk about it over email.

    But for a first impression, my charge for a full 3D Creature can vary between x.xxx EUR & xx.xxx EUR.

  • I’m always open to partner up. Let’s talk about it over email and see if we would fit together.

  • Please, never just take and use my art for your projects without reaching out to me. A general rule for all is:

    ”ALWAYS ask for permission and NEVER forget to tag or mention the owner/creator.”

  • I’m always blessed and grateful when people support me and my art. Thank you! If you want to see some options go to this page.

  • I’m working professionally as a 3D Artist since 2015.

  • I am actually both. I learned a few basics in my media design and the 3D school, but I would say that I’m more self-taught than educated by schools, especially when I dived into the whole freelance business. As a freelancer, you need to teach yourself and find solutions all the time. Every program and workflow I’m using now is 80% self-taught and 20% from schools or tutorials. (+ i don’t forget all the artists who helped me along the way by answering my questions and helping me. Thank you!)

  • I can definitely say, that the whole journey had a really rough beginning and that you need a lot of patience when you want to build your own career, business, and skills. I’m still in the process of finding myself in the industry but as making my current living, I can say that 90% of my income comes from various client jobs and royalties and 10% of my passive income throughout my online stores.

    At the moment I try to figure out how I can increase my passive income (something like affiliate marketing, sponsorships, stocks, courses, YouTube, other projects etc.) and how to expand my business so that I can create my own projects and products one day. It’s a slow path for sure, but I really focus on being independent and financially free. I want to have my own bigger business, a huge amount of passive income, and hopefully can help other artists along my journey as well.

    But let’s see what the future brings.

  • In general, I love to help with giving useful feedback or any advice, but it depends on the time and situation. Sometimes I have some space to squeeze a short feedback round in (i normally over paint your screenshot and write little notes on it), but it also could be, that my schedule is super full. Then I really don’t have any time to give help or guidance. I will always try to at least tell you a yes or no, but please respect when I can’t help you at that time.

  • * I started drawing when I was a little bean.

    * Then I slowly got into graphic design and created my own websites, backgrounds, buttons, banners, etc. with a very old version of Photoshop. This was the first time I used any artistic digital program and I still use it today. It was all self-taught at that time.

    * After normal school was over, I got into a private media design school for 2 years. (I couldn’t find any job at that time, so I thought why not educating myself more.) I had different classes there like: Film-making & Video editing, Graphic design, Entertainment law, Photography, Typography, 3D, Flash animation, Project & Media management, Marketing, Audio vision, Computer science & Economics.

    * Because Media design wasn’t really for me, I went to a 3D Animation and VFX school for 15 months and had classes there like: Drawing, Modeling, Rigging, Animation, Texturing, Compositing, Lighting, Video editing, Roto-scoping, and Project management. Plus I made my first student Demo reel at that time. I always wanted to work in the Game industry, so this was a good starting point.

    * And then I began my journey as a Freelancer which I still love and do.

    * Between all those years and my freelancing path, I also worked in 2 smaller game companies as a full-time 3D artist

  • I do have some classes about 3D Creature design. You can find it here. I also have some tutorials in my online Store (Gumroad) and some useful videos on my YouTube channel. Feel free to have a look.

    But I also have to say that I don’t want to be a teacher right now. I love to help and support other artists on their journeys. If you know me or see my content on social media, you know, that I share my experiences, tips, advice, and behind-the-scenes stuff a lot. I love doing that! But it’s different to share your knowledge along your own journey by working on YOUR dreams, than being a teacher who helps other people with THEIR dreams. (if that makes sense.)

    Maybe I will go more in the teacher direction later on in my career, but right now I focus on learning, growing, and building my own dreams. And besides that, I love to share what I know with others along my journey, so we can grow and learn together! :)

  • It depends on many factors. Is there a specific deadline, how many details does the model have, is there a concept or do I have to do the design, for what is it used, how many feedback rounds are involved, etc.

    In general, it can go from 1 week to 4 weeks. Sometimes even longer.

  • I wrote a long blog post about my current workflow in detail here, but here is a shorter version of it.

    1. Finding the Idea

    2. Searching for References

    3. Writing some notes & a Backstory

    4. Blocking out Model & Scene

    5. Sculpting

    6. Retopology

    7. Uv’s

    8. Basic Color painting

    9. Posing the model

    10. Texturing, Baking maps & Materials

    11. Compositing

    12. Lighting

    13. Rendering

    14. Final Image tweaking

  • Yes, i do!

    I know a lot of artists think that using base meshes or blockouts is a way of cheating, but that’s not true. In the industry, almost every company and artist use base meshes to speed up their workflow. If you have 10 different characters in a game, you don’t need to make each character from scratch. Often times they have even different body types and ages in their collection. Same with creatures. If you know you will do a Pegasus, then you can start with simple horse and bird wing base meshes. Put it all together and start from there.

    Using Base meshes will save you many hours and sometimes even days. So use them if you can. Remember, time is money when it comes to jobs.

    The only time you shouldn’t use them is when you try to practice or study something. Then of course start from the beginning.

  • Yes, i do!

    Same with the whole base mesh topic. Using references is not cheating. It is highly necessary and important for getting the right shapes, anatomy, colors, compositions, and so on into your work. Also, we all need inspiration from somewhere. We can’t assume to have all pictures and ideas in our heads all the time. Yes, your visual library will grow over the years and when you, for example, watch dinosaurs all day long for many weeks, you can identify dinosaur shapes without looking at references. But there is nothing wrong with using and getting inspired by them. You can also shoot your own reference images for example when you need specific character poses. So no worries about that topic.

  • Sadly I can’t.

    I learned some basics in school, but it was long ago, and I never touched those areas again. I really hope I will find some time to get my head into it again, because I want to be able to do a full Creature in the future (that includes drawing, rigging, and animating, besides the whole modeling as well).

  • You can find inspiration EVERYWHERE. You just have to look closely, listen more carefully and take small moments throughout your day to stop, breathe and notice the surrounding things.

    Inspiration can be found for example in films, shows, games, art books, novels, other artists’ work, food, nature, weather, emotions, music, colors, conversations, other people’s stories, museums, conventions, theaters, sport, any kind of hobbies, your mood, shapes, the universe and so much more.

  • At the beginning of my journey, i was told that it’s easier to get into environment art because companies often need more artists for environment, assets, props compared to characters. In a project, there are oftentimes just a handful of character artists but hundreds of environment, props artists.

    So I tried to get my head into props and stuff, but i was lacking motivation. Why? Because that was NOT what i liked and wanted to create. My passion and love were always towards animals and creatures. But i constantly told myself that this was too specific. Character art was already hard so why even go more specific with creatures?!

    Well, the thing is, no area is easier to get in. The only thing that matters is, what YOU like to create over your career. Remember that you need to make a living and work for many years until you retire. Why do you want to create something you don’t like? Fill your portfolio up with the art you are passionate about. Don’t worry so much about what people search for in the industry or what could be better to get a foot in the door because when you are good at what you are doing, people will want it. Enjoy your art, that’s why we are artists in the first place.

    My beginning worries, and man.. i stressed myself out a lot, transformed into something amazing. I was stubborn and stuck to my Creature art and now, people know me because of that and come to me to get my style and designs. If i can do that, you can too.

  • I know it doesn’t help much when I say that we all have those thoughts. And it will also not help when I say not only Beginner artists, but also high Professionals, who work in the industry for many years get those thoughts from time to time.

    I always highly recommend for any artist, or any human being, take care of your mental health. Mental health doesn’t seem really connected to art, right?! But it is. I read so often, that artists get stuck in depression, inspiration holes, anxiety, and a lot of negative self-talk throughout their day. THIS is a huge problem in our whole society in general.

    In my experience, and what helped and still helps me, when i find myself in a dark spot are these few things.

    • Meditation
      It can be hard to do when you are not used to it, but it helps me in every area of my life. No matter if I’m having a good or bad time. The best thing is to search for a guided meditation on YouTube (you have to try out a few until you find the one you like), and go along with that. Here is one of my favorite videos I listen to when I have a lot of self-doubt > Surrender Meditation

    • Journaling
      When we feel not good in our mind and body often times we lack clarity in our life. Writing everything down can help a lot. It doesn’t need to be daily. It can be once a week when you need it in specific moments or multiple times a day. You can write about your current thoughts, your struggles and solutions, your goals (personal or business), you can reflect on things from the past, and write down positive affirmations and sentences to help you stop thinking negatively.

    • Visualizing
      It often comes with meditation but with visualizing I mean closing your eyes and visualize your dream life, dream partner, dream job, dream you, dream finances, dream house, and everything you want in your future. Feel it, embrace it and try to do that daily. When your daily life seems useless, sad, and unfulfilled, then why not diving into a world that you created. A better & happier world. I know there are people out there who have a hard time seeing things in their minds clearly, but you can at least try it out.

    • Taking a break from Social Media
      This is something I do recently from time to time, and it helped me a lot with negative thinking and comparing my life and skills with others. Social Media can be amazing and a great help in many areas. But only when we use it wisely. People mostly show their perfect side and that causes other people who see that a lot of self-doubts. Take a bigger from a month, or maybe just a week, or to be online on weekends. Start to appreciate your own life again instead of losing yourself in other people’s lives.

      Overall I can say, YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH! Please take more care of your mind and yourself. It’s important.

  • Everybody has different techniques to stay focused, but there are a few things that help me to concentrate on a longer period and get my things done.

    1. Nature Ambient sounds in the background
      (fire cracking, rain, thunder, birds singing, library or coffee shop sounds).

    2. Time tracking / Time blocks
      Something like Pomodoro techniques or any other time tracking that you find useful. Basically, it means working for a specific period of time, let’s say 30min, then taking a 5min break. Repeat. Also blocking out your time for specific areas helps a lot too. For example:
      Morning > Client work,
      Afternoon > Writing blogs, answering emails.
      Evening > Video editing (and so on).

    3. Moving your body
      It can be a full workout once a day or/and taking smaller breaks in between work and going for a walk. Only sitting drains your focus and energy.

    4. Enough Water
      Drinking not enough over the day makes you feel tired and causes headaches. (avoid sodas or too much caffeine)

    5. To-do list & a daily goal
      Clarity is important to stay focused.

  • I wrote a longer blog post about it here.

    The big question every artist asks (including me). The thing is, that your own style is something that comes naturally to you over time.

    Style is a combination of 4 different key points. Your Personality, your Interests, your Environment, and your life experiences. All 4 are unique for everybody, and it takes a lot of time to evolve that. Styles can also change over years, or you develop multiple and switch between them.

    The only thing i can say is, that don’t worry too much about ‘if you have a style or not’. We oftentimes don’t see our own style (same with not seeing anybody's results when we daily work out). Just enjoy the process, enjoy trying out different things, look deeper into work from your favorite artists and learn constantly. You will see that your style will develop over your whole life. Sometimes it stays, sometimes not and that is totally fine.

  • If you never worked in any 3D software, and you just do it as a hobby, then I would recommend starting with free versions first or do the trials for specific programs.Blender is a nice free 3D program you can try. There are plenty of free tutorials out there on YouTube, so you can start right away. Zbrush is pretty expensive but also has a 30 or 40-day trial version. There is also a less expensive version called ZbrushCore and a free version called ZbrushCoreMini. They also have a free sculpting program called Sculptris on the site. Autodesk Maya, 3dsMax, and Mudbox can be set on a student version to test them out.

    Coming to Beginner tutorials. Happily today there are multiple good (and bad) free tutorials out there on YouTube and other platforms. Also, a lot of professionals sell cheap tutorials and courses for starters on various sites and online stores.

  • There are a few key points you keep in mind to find clients or jobs.

    • Have a good Portfolio
      The art industry doesn’t really care so much about what education or grades you had. One of the big things that matter is your art and what you show in your portfolio.

    • Have good Connections
      Having good connections to other artists and people who work in the industry is a high-value thing. People recommend each other for jobs, help and support each other when tough times arise, and can bring you faster and easier into interviews or companies. When you start connecting with others, just don’t only connect because of job opportunities. Be friends, a good buddy, or at least a kind human being who has the same interests as the others.

    • Social Media presence
      I don’t say that you need social media for getting a job, but being online is definitely a huge benefit and makes it all easier for you. If you want jobs, then the best way to get them is when people know that you exist. Nobody hires you when they don’t know your art. So being active and being on the spot online is also a huge benefit. I can say from my experience, that when you put your art out there, clients and job opportunities will come to YOU without even applying.

    • Constantly improve your art
      A pretty obvious one. But I mention that here because I saw artists who showed their portfolios around multiple times and didn’t make any new art the last 2 years. Improve, make new art and show people that you really love what you do.

  • I always recommend people to try out all three because it totally depends on your preference and life situation. You can definitely switch between them or do 2 or all of them at the same time. But not everybody likes everything. For me for example, I know that I don’t like working in a company, because there is always traffic, people run around, talk to you, it can be loud and that totally makes me uncomfortable and distracts me a lot. I prefer working at home as a freelancer or doing my own projects. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like working with people, I do a lot, but because I’m a huge introvert, I prefer a calm, quiet environment to be more productive and focused, and I also like planning and scheduling my day, instead of having been on a specific place at the same time.

    This can be totally different for you. Maybe you hate being on your own all the time, and you love having people around you. Maybe you like being in a studio 3 times and being at home 2 times a week. Maybe you don’t like working for clients at all and prefer working on your own business.

    You only can figure that out, when you go through all of those areas at least once. Everybody is different.