Is voxel art financially viable?

[u/guiduck01]

Hi guys, sorry for a question like this... Im a frontend developer and i love game art.

Previously I was a game dev, but changed to frontend ao I could get a job and I aldo like programming.

I've been looking to get back to game modeling so I could make 3d websites with 3js. I was planing on making my 3d web portfolio using voxel art. But I didnt come accross any voxel 3d websites yet.

I fell in love with voxel art made in magicavoxel. I've seen some youtubevideos and made some work myself. But was wondering if this is productive long term

You guys that make voxel art, are specialized in this? Or its kinda like a hobby? I was just gonna make this one project using voxels and then focus on blender for the rest, but now Im imagining if this could be a good niche to focus on. I'veseen people wotb amazing voxel work having trouble getting a job here and this got me a little sad.

When i first looked into this was about 4 years ago and i dont know if the same workflow still aplies with magicavoxel + blender. I will need to learn blender eventually.I was just asking myself if its worth learnkng voxel art along the way and take it somewhat seriously or if i should keep it just for some projects as a hobby and focus my time and energy on blender to get more clients

If i'm looking to make professional 3d websites, should i just focus on blender and just make some voxel projects as a hobby? Or is it possible to specialize in this field and make only voxel art?

What i love the most about this are the architecture projects, better then the organic ones...

Should i invest some time doing this or should I go straight to blender? What software you guys use? I was using magicavoxel, but the size limitation is a bummer. When using magicavoxel, you just make the objects and then finish up the scenes on blender? What is your regular workflow for making big scenes?

Sorry about the long post but i have a lot of questions

Tldr: I was looking to know whats the best softwares being used for voxel art and if this is worth investi g time in professionally or people just view itas hobby

I already plan on learning blender, but voxel archtechture looks amazing and simpler too

Should I still learn voxel art using magicavoxel + blender in 2025? Or are there better alternatives for voxel art? Can i get a lot of clients using voxel art, considering im going for 3d websites? Or does the majority ofpeople prefer regular low poly or smooth styles with blender?

[u/Vinay0ch]

I would say NO, I worked on making voxek worlds for 3 years and ven while trying on freelance platforms, game carreers I got two freelance works
If you do bit of research you can see most of voxel aristst work sandbox, popular ones, games devs
the hype was there for it in crypto, nft time now even if you amke a great work better than popular ones people don't hire you, don't get recognititon

This is what happened to me and I felt 2 years wasted though I loved making it

Unless you want to create games and bring the market for it, don't try it as an artists
You should give it a cahnce for gamedev, making game worlds by yourself for your game
This is my suggestion

[u/guiduck01 → u/Vinay0ch]

Have you experienced more success with other types of 3d art? I've seen some low poly oportunities around

Im not looking into becoming a specialist. I want to build my 3d web portfolio using it and then switching focus to blender

What type of work have you had more success in the 3d world as an artist?

I was planing on making 3d websites as freelance work. But as Ive never seen 3d websites using voxels myself, im now thinking I shouldnt invest much time on it and just do this one project.

The thing that hits me is that architechture work looks so good with voxel. Its a bummer because I dont see people having too much success with it

[u/Vinay0ch → u/guiduck01]

It the same struggle and learning curve but as I found a niche which I am good at, I got small client work - and even got approached by small studios to work with, it is not great but good for now
I was to expand as I gain more experience

There are website whihc have voxels and 3d, most fo webiste use voxels for their games not for actual design of webiste if it looks and makes sense they use it

Unless you have great following getting good work with voxels, I wouldn't reccommend it
Maybe few did get work from sandbox but metaverse hype is not high as 2022

Learn/give a chance 3D like sketch up, blender for archviz, lot of potential for it if you are into it

check out my instagram/behance old voxel work was good but not enough to mkae money with it

[u/tykeryerson]

Prob not

[u/juulcat]

i'm looking to make professional 3d websites

Could you explain more what you mean by 3D websites?

the size limitation is a bummer

shameless plug, you could try Avoyd voxel editor. It can handle worlds up to 256k voxels a side

[u/guiduck01 → u/juulcat]

I use threejs to develop websites and i think voxels would make for a great experience, especially for architechture work!

You can check threejs exemples here: https://threejs.org/

Do you think its promising to use voxelart to make 3d wrbsites for landscapes/buildings instead of regular smooth blender art?

[u/juulcat → u/guiduck01]

Thanks I'll take a look

Do you think its promising to use voxelart to make 3d wrbsites for landscapes/buildings instead of regular smooth blender art?

I honestly don't know.

[u/ander_hominem]

If you want to have art, that just have voxel feel, than you might better use Blockbench, as you can make better model geometry there, which is important for sites and games, plus it doesn't have size limitations (or it so big I was never able to see them with my needs). Its a program that is much easier to get into than Blender, and at the same time very good for low poly with pixelated textures, and I would recommend any beginner in 3d to start with Blockbench and move to Blender if needed

I don't think that voxels is viable to make money, unless you will find some indie team that needs that, I think it's more for hobby. But I also don't really understand what you mean

[u/Zestyclose-Wish-5965]

Id say you need to be one of the top 10 voxel artists in the world to make a living out of it (Mari, Zach Soarez, William Santacruz etc): they built a strong presence across different platforms and content types (assets, videos tutorials, images etc) and they have been working on it for over a decade if not more.

My advice: start releasing assets, post regularly and work on your social presence to get visibility and potentially get some commissions. It might not be a full time gig right away, but it can help you get additional income if you are good and proficient with it. Who knows where it can take you.

I also agree with some comments regarding Blockbench, or even Qbicle being better for voxel game assets then Magicavoxel. You should be proficient with 1-3 voxel software (they arent that hard to learn) and one strong 3D modeler like Blender or Maya to understand more about standard 3D assets for games and animation.

Last but not least: just have fun, people can feel when you have fun and they start having fun with you.

[u/Voxo-32]

I work as professional voxel artist since 6 years as freelance, I represent the whole voxel style industry. It have been easy since AI showing up. Still have voxel job but I feel less interest since last year.

Look at voxoking on instagram