26. YONK Pushes Boundaries In Virtual Reality (Live at Pictoplasma Berlin 2024)

YONK is a Dutch 3D animation studio consisting of artistic power couple Victoria Young and Niels van der Donk. Coming from different backgrounds like fine art and graphic design they decided early on to combine their individual skills to create 3D work. Since 2019 they specialize in using Virtual Reality and 3D sculpting tools to create uniquely strange, textured and colorful artworks, animations and character designs for an increasingly international client list such as Google, Sprite, Nike, Amazon and The New York Times, but also just for the sake of creating and having fun experimenting. 

In this episode they take us into their world and explain how sculpting 3D figures in virtual reality is more intuitive and less technical than the traditional way with a keyboard and mouse. Working in VR has led to quicker results and helped them discover their unique style. By embracing the explorer’s mindset they experiment in a way where everything is allowed and create a body of work by describing their nightmares to each other. 

They generously share how their style gradually developed by not knowing how to do things “properly” and how they made a conscious decision to leave the imperfections and happy accidents in their work to give it a more organic feel. While collaborating they acknowledge each other’s strengths and try to involve each other throughout the whole process to create a cohesive result. 

Even though their work is mostly created in VR it can be transferred to many other mediums and be experienced by everyone as an animated video, a 3D print or traditional 2D image. But their activities are not only limited to making art — they also develop tools to solve specific problems within the sculpting or animation programs and share them with the growing VR and 3D sculpting community. 

It was that constant sharing of their personal work on Instagram that has caught the attention of potential clients who want be a part of their exciting experiences and set their mark in the VR space. To YONK, client work not only poses creative challenges, but also requires them to incorporate some planning and organizing into their process while still keeping it as intuitive and natural as possible. 

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MENTIONED LINKS: 

• Adobe Medium

• Substance 3D Modeler (by Adobe)

• Joseph Melhuish

• Meta Quest Pro

• YONK & Friends (live stream)

• Christopher Rutledge

• Blender (open-source 3D & animation software)

• Step Motion on Blender Market

• WarpySTEP v1.2 for Blender (by Will Anderson)

• Grease Pencil Resources for Blender

• Geometry Nodes for Blender

• Dédouze

• Other 3D software: Cinema 4D, Houdini, ZBrush, Maya 

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FOLLOW YONK: 

Instagram: @yonk.online

Website: yonk.online

YouTube: YONK

TikTok: @yonk.online

Twitch: yonkonline

Threads: @yonk.online

Twitter: x.com/yonkonline

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If you liked this episode, please subscribe and leave a review.

And follow Paid 2 Draw on Instagram and TikTok. 

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Hosted by Vicky Cichoń and Dave Leutert.

Music by Amanda Deff. Assistance by Diana Lazaru. 

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This interview was recorded on May 5th, 2024, during the 20th annual Pictoplasma Conference at silent green in Berlin. Each spring, Pictoplasma transforms the city into an international meeting point for a diverse scene of artists and creatives, trailblazing the face of tomorrow’s visual culture. The central conference brings together 900 key players on a global scale and features 20+ lectures by forward-thinking creatives. The accompanying animation screenings showcase cutting edge short films, with most of the filmmakers present in Q&A rounds. The character lab offers hands-on workshops, immersive media demos, panels and networking.

Get your tickets for Pictoplasma Berlin 2025 (May 1st–4th).