Meet Marcos Medel: Animating Paintings and the Quest for a Better Workflow
Imagine stepping into a classic painting, its characters and elements moving with surreal, dreamlike animation. This is the captivating world crafted by Marcos Medel, a VFX and motion graphics artist known for bringing the static to life.
As a creator with over 200K followers on Instagram and a decade of experience in video editing, 3D animation, and FPV drone content, Marcos has always pushed creative boundaries. His vision is clear: inspire others by showing that even the wildest concepts can become reality—with the right tools.
Marcos Medel's goal is to inspire others to create. He believes that with the right tools, even the wildest concepts can become reality. He consistently pushes creative boundaries by thinking outside the box.
But turning iconic artworks into animated 3D scenes came with a major hurdle: how to efficiently create the custom, high-quality 3D assets his vision demanded. Traditional modeling was too slow. Asset libraries often fell short. Something needed to change.
The Challenge: Slow, Costly, and Creativity-Limiting 3D Asset Creation
For Marcos, turning bold ideas into animated 3D scenes was often slowed by one major hurdle: creating custom 3D assets.
While he had some experience with modeling, the process of sculpting from scratch was slow and overly complex—especially for creators who want to move fast.
While Marcos has dabbled in 3D modeling before, he found the process to be incredibly time-consuming and requiring specialized expertise. Basic shapes were manageable, but he never ventured into advanced sculpting tools like ZBrush.
Instead of diving into advanced software like ZBrush, Marcos often relied on 3D asset libraries. But that brought a new set of frustrations:
- Time-consuming searches: Sifting through massive libraries took hours—and still didn't guarantee the perfect model.
- Creative compromises: Pre-made assets rarely matched his unique ideas, forcing him to settle for “close enough.”
- Unexpected costs: Licensing or purchasing models added friction, both creatively and financially.
"I used to rely a lot on 3D asset libraries, which meant spending a ton of time searching for the right model—and sometimes even having to pay for it. It was time-consuming and not always exactly what I wanted."
Marcos Medel
VFX & 3D Artist, FPV Drone Pilot
Together, these issues broke the flow of creation. Instead of focusing on storytelling and animation, Marcos found himself stuck in a loop of searching, editing, and settling. What he needed was a way to quickly generate unique, high-quality assets—without sacrificing his creative freedom.
Discovering Meshy: A Simpler Path to Custom 3D
The solution came—like many modern discoveries—through Marcos's social feed.
He began noticing AI tools appearing in his social media feed. Among them, Meshy stood out and captured his interest.
What drew him in was the promise of simplicity and visual quality. Marcos was immediately impressed by the quality of the results. What particularly caught his attention was the simplicity of the process—being able to upload a single image and generate multiple 3D models from it. This straightforward approach made him eager to try it out right away.
As he dug deeper, Marcos realized Meshy wasn't just a single-feature tool. In addition to Image to 3D, it also offered Text to 3D, retexturing, remeshing, and even auto-rigging, all integrated into one streamlined workflow.
"The quality of the models is seriously good, especially with the recent updates. Something that could take a 3D artist days or weeks to make, Meshy can do in just a few clicks. It's an all-in-one kind of tool, and that makes it really powerful."
Marcos Medel
VFX & 3D Artist, FPV Drone Pilot
Compared to his previous workflow, spending hours sifting through 3D asset libraries or struggling with modeling software, Meshy offered a creative breakthrough.
It wasn't just about speed; it was about unlocking a new kind of creative freedom. Marcos could now turn his ideas into reality without compromise—and focus more time on storytelling, animation, and polish.
From Idea to Animation: Marcos's VFX Workflow with Meshy
Integrating Meshy into his workflow didn't just speed things up for Marcos—it gave him a new way to approach his visual storytelling, especially when working with classic, static imagery.
Before discovering Meshy, Marcos relied heavily on 3D asset libraries for his projects. This approach proved to be time-consuming and often left him settling for assets that didn't quite match his creative vision.
Instead of getting stuck in technical limitations, he began building his own assets tailored to each project's vision. That shift opened up a new world of creative possibilities, especially in his recent VFX experiment—turning classic paintings into animated, cinematic loops.
"One of the best moments is when I see the finished model pop up… sometimes even better than I imagined."
Marcos Medel
VFX & 3D Artist, FPV Drone Pilot
So, how exactly does Marcos integrate Meshy into his signature VFX workflow? Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the process he followed for a recent piece.
1. Conceptualize & Extract
He begins by choosing a painting that inspires him and cutting out the main elements in Photoshop—such as characters, objects, or creatures—to isolate them for animation.
2. AI-Enhanced Styling
To maintain consistency with the artwork's original aesthetic, he refines these cutouts using tools like Krea.ai or ChatGPT's image generation. This helps him match textures, brushstrokes, or lighting to the painting's style.
3. Generating Custom 3D Assets with Meshy
Once the 2D images are ready, he uploads them into Meshy AI. That's the point where his process really began to shift—from hunting for assets to quickly generating his own, with results that often exceeded expectations.
"In just a few minutes,Meshy generates multiple 3D model options—often with textures already applied—beautifully aligned with the input images."
Marcos Medel
VFX & 3D Artist, FPV Drone Pilot
4. Scene Building & Animation (Blender + Mixamo)
With 3D models in hand, Marcos moves into Blender, where he sets up lighting, materials, and environments. He uses Mixamo to rig and animate the characters, bringing them to life with smooth, stylized motion.
5. Realistic Camera Movement
To make the scene feel more dynamic, he records real handheld camera movements using CamTrack AR on his phone, then imports that data into Blender to simulate natural camera motion.
6. Polish & Render
Finally, he fine-tunes the animation, syncs timing, refines details, and renders the final cinematic loop.
The Results: More Time for Creativity
The shift in Marcos's VFX workflow since adopting Meshy has been significant. Tasks that once consumed hours are now completed in minutes, freeing up more time for the creative parts of the process—storytelling, lighting, animation, and polish.
According to Marcos Medel, traditional tools would require two to three times longer to complete the same tasks. With Meshy, he notes that processes that previously took hours can now be completed in just a few minutes.
This isn't just about speed—it's about creative freedom. Instead of being tied to asset libraries or complex modeling software, Marcos now builds custom assets aligned precisely with his vision.
"Peace of mind. Just knowing that if I can imagine something, I can probably turn it into a 3D model using just a few words—it really takes a lot of pressure off the whole process."
Marcos Medel
VFX & 3D Artist, FPV Drone Pilot
Meshy helps take care of the more technical parts of asset creation, which means Marcos can spend less time troubleshooting—and more time focusing on the creative details that make his work stand out.
Looking Ahead: The Future of VFX Creation
For Marcos, tools like Meshy AI are doing more than streamlining workflows-they're fundamentally changing who gets to create in 3D. What once demanded years of training and expensive software is now within reach for anyone with an idea.
"Tools like Meshy are making 3D content way more accessible. You don't need to be an expert to start creating cool stuff anymore, and that's a big deal. I think we'll see way more people experimenting with 3D and making amazing things—because now, it's actually possible for anyone to do it. It really feels like the start of a new era for visual effects and 3D content."
Marcos Medel
VFX & 3D Artist, FPV Drone Pilot
As technical barriers fade, Marcos envisions a future where creativity in 3D is defined by imagination rather than skill level. This opens the door for a wider, more diverse community of creators to bring bold, unconventional ideas to life faster and with greater freedom than ever before.
Final Thoughts: Why It Matters
For creators like Marcos, time, flexibility, and quality are everything. Meshy AI doesn't just speed up his VFX workflow—it unlocks a whole new level of creative freedom.
Whether you're a seasoned VFX artist or just beginning your 3D journey, Meshy helps you move faster from idea to execution. From hours to minutes—and from imagination to impact.
