Hot Air Balloon

This was a palette cleanser between heavier projects. I wanted to make something that felt light, both visually and in terms of effort. Hot air balloons are one of those subjects that are satisfying to model because the shape is inherently pleasing: a big round form tapering down to a small basket. There's no way to make it look aggressive or corporate.

The color scheme came from looking at photos of balloon festivals in Cappadocia and Albuquerque. Real balloons use patterns that would look garish on anything else — bright stripes, color blocks, patchwork — but against a sky they just work. The rainbow gradient on black panels felt like the boldest version of that.

I kept the rendering style clean and illustrative. No volumetric atmosphere, no realistic fabric wrinkles. Just saturated color, soft shadows, and a lot of sky. The basket has a woven texture that I spent too long on considering you can barely see it, but that's how these things go.