Travel Diary — Leni Gao

motion design + illustration

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About

Travel Diary

2025-2026, motion design, substance 3D, sculpting

This is a personal passion (or you can say a self study) project I had been wanting to create for a long time.
I used it as an opportunity to explore tools I’m interested in, while combining a character I designed years ago with my motion design practice.

As I gained experience in motion design, I felt a growing desire to tell stories through my own character. This project became a way for me to bring that idea into the real world.
It also allowed me to learn new skills along the way, turning my playful imagination into something visible and shareable.

Process

The most important matter for me was to find the right workflow for this project, and learning the tools along the way. I didn’t have much experience in character design/sculpting before, so I played around making it in 3D. I used Mixamo for rigging and poses. Overall, I had fun during every step on the way. The learning and execution was really challenging, but it was so satisfying to see how everything had come together in the end.

Designing the character in 3d in C4D

Using Mixamo for rigging

Designing clothing

Assets building with Animate

Assets building with photoshop

Assets building with After Effects

Building models and animations in C4D

Final touches in After Effects

Upgrades and new knowledge

After finishing the first round of design that you see in the top, I took a class on designing 3D textures and materials with Adobe Substance Suite. I then had this idea of upgrading what I have designed before with the new skill. I had fun designing the clothing for the characters, and texturing and redesigning the Takoyaki storefront. The challenge during this stage was to figure out a smooth workflow transporting things between C4D and Substance Painter. And here’s what I’ve got.

Say hi!