If you're a 2D artist looking to speed up your workflow and make your illustrations more professional, this tip is for you. Concept artist and educator Kelly Daley shares how integrating simple 3D into your 2D painting process can save time and elevate your work.
From locking in perspective and lighting to making paintovers a breeze, 3D is quickly becoming an industry standard. In this video, Kelly demonstrates her process using the Wacom Cintiq 24, showing how to blend stylized textures and brushwork with a clean 3D base – no advanced 3D skills required.
Whether you're a digital painter, concept artist, or illustration student, learning to incorporate 3D will make you more versatile – and more hireable. Check out the video below and read on for a transcript and more information about Kelly.
Kelly Daley's tutorial on using 3D for 2D art:
This is why you should implement 3D into your 2D painting process. 3D gets all the hard stuff out of the way early by locking in your perspective, your lighting, and proportions. Using 3D isn't just for realism either, because you can paint your own reusable stylized textures for your 3D objects, which makes your 2D paintover process even faster.
Once I'm happy with the blockout, I move everything over to Photoshop. Because I already solved the technical stuff in 3D, I can focus purely on the artsy stuff, adding brush strokes and building upon the atmosphere. Plus, breaking the scene up into flat colored parts in your 3D program makes rendering super easy and clean. It's like masking, but with zero effort.
This isn't just a personal trick, either. It's standard in the industry now. If you know how to integrate a little 3D into your workflow, you're instantly more versatile and hirable than someone who doesn't use it. By the way, if you couldn't tell already, I'm working on the new Wacom Cintiq 24 for this painting, and it's honestly amazing.
I'm not a 3D artist by any means. I just know the basics. But if you want to make stylized 2D art faster, cleaner, and more professional, utilizing 3D will absolutely get you there.
About the artist
Kelly Daley is a dedicated concept artist and illustrator in the video game industry. She has contributed to high-impact titles and campaigns at studios such as Hidden Leaf Games, Wild Blue Studios, Easy Games, Lenovo Legion, and Intel. Kelly blends visual development, environment concepts, 3D-to-2D workflows, and even set dressing in her work. She also finds immense joy in sharing art tips and tricks with aspiring artists, both through in-depth courses and on social media!
Follow Kelly's work on Instagram, Facebook, ArtStation, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Tik Tok, or her website.
