What to know<\/p>\n
Burlington-based artist Eric Godlow, originally from Winnipeg, turned to self-taught 3D animation after experiencing writer\u2019s block as a musician.<\/p>\n
Using Blender and YouTube tutorials, he began creating nostalgic, early-2000s-style animated landscapes inspired by Toronto\u2019s architecture.<\/p>\n
Each 10-second animation takes roughly 20\u201330 hours to complete, with careful modelling, lighting, textures.<\/p>\n
His animations have gained hundreds of thousands of views and strong audience reactions, prompting requests for more neighbourhoods and inspiring his long-term goal of developing an open-world video game set in Toronto.<\/p>\n
A self-taught artist is showing the beauty of Toronto\u2019s landscape through 3D animation.<\/p>\n
Eric Godlow is a musician and artist from Winnipeg, who moved to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in 2023. Since moving to the GTA, Godlow told Now Toronto he was becoming burnt out creatively as a musician, as he experienced writer\u2019s block in songwriting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI still wanted to output something creatively, but obviously, being in a writer\u2019s block situation with music, I defaulted to visual art,\u201d Godlow explained. \u201cI don\u2019t have any background in art. I suck at drawing, so I decided to dabble in 3D modelling.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an art style that initially piqued Godlow\u2019s interest, he says he would consume 3D animation on social media, before he opted to use Blender<\/a>, a free animation developer, as well as Youtube to teach himself how to create landscapes of Toronto.<\/p>\n With his love for 2000s video games and their nostalgic art styles, Godlow began working on pieces that replicated the look in March 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up in Winnipeg, so coming here, it\u2019s a lot different in terms of architecture and even the way that the houses are\u2013a lot of Victorian era houses\u2013 so, that really fascinated me\u2026\u201d Godlow explained. \u201cI think it\u2019s cool to show off Toronto, just because it\u2019s a unique city with a lot of life.\u201d<\/p>\n As a musician, Godlow has also incorporated his animation into music videos for his songs.<\/p>\n Godlow says it typically takes around 20 to 30 hours to create one 10 second 3D animation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most of the time goes into modelling everything from the ground up, and layering lighting, and textures. He says he even incorporated cultural easter eggs, like specific graffiti or artist stickers placed around the city.<\/p>\n Despite the time it takes to create, he says the time flies as he immerses himself into the work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019m passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n