Happy Halloween!
I get asked about my process from time to time. I dont deviate from this workflow much because I havent found anything I couldnt produce by doing things this way.
For 2D illustrations I usually start out with a hand sketch that I ink and then scan to clean up in gimp. I try to do as much as possible by hand and then finalize it on the computer.
For 3D animation and illustrations, I use Blender. I like Blender because its free and is powerful enough to do everything I need. I use Blender for just about everything but I will occasionally use Sketchup for some CADs and architectural models. Blender can do photorealistic rendering and lineart which comes in handy and it will import just about everything.
Once I have a 3D model I export to Unity and use a screen capture program to record the animation. This cuts out any render time because Unity will do it in real-time.
I’ve used a couple other 2D apps for painting, but everyone knows what a supporter of open source/freeware programs I am, but gimp is free and can be setup just like photoshop.
Heres the list of programs I use, (all available for Mac):
https://www.blender.org/
http://www.sketchup.com/
https://www.gimp.org
