Meet Maya Mashiach: the architectural designer using watercolours and 3D to build vivid new worlds

By combining her knowledge of architecture, passion for video games, and skills in digital rendering, Maya Mashiach creates immersive spaces that exceed the limitations of the physical world. This process always begins with watercolour sketches. Here, the LA-based artist explains how she uses exactly.ai to streamline her process – without a compromise on creativity.

Video games have always influenced my work and how I navigate spaces. Growing up, I’d spent hours exploring virtual spaces, fascinated by the idea that you could walk through buildings that didn’t exist in real life.

Digital environments don’t have to abide by the laws of physics or engineering – they’re purely creative, limited only by its designer’s imagination. I completed a BA and an MA in architecture, but as I progressed through my architectural studies, I realised that I enjoyed designing physical spaces, but I disliked the technical aspects like drawing floor plans.

After completing my master’s, I began applying for architecture jobs out of necessity, but my heart was set on something different. I wanted to create digital spaces – immersive worlds that people could explore and interact with, just like in the video games I loved as a kid so I started taking game design classes. Now, my practice combines my architectural knowledge with digital tools, exploring the conceptual and creative possibilities of 3D modelling to create immersive worlds.

My process always begins with watercolour, and this is where exactly.ai comes into play. These drawings are particularly special to me. Whenever I travel I always take my sketchbook to record and capture the essence of the built environment. It’s a way for me to absorb and understand the materials that define the spaces I’m in. At home, I’ll use these sketches as a basis for my 3D renders.

A couple of years ago, I discovered exactly.ai and trained a model on my hand-drawn watercolours. The results were crazy. I used to spend hours, sometimes days, sketching out ideas by hand before moving onto digital tools. Now, I can input these sketches into exactly.ai, and it generates ideas that align perfectly with my style, saving me so much time. The results are often indistinguishable from what I would have created manually, which is both thrilling and a little surreal.

Some people find this scary, but I see this as a tool that enhances my creativity. It’s not about stifling or replacing my artistic process. It’s about streamlining it, allowing me to focus more on the conceptual side rather than getting bogged down by details.

Initially, I kept my prompts simple, thinking it would give the best results. But as I experimented more, I found that detailed, paragraph-long prompts produced even more interesting and varied outputs. I could describe a scene in dazzling detail – like a building by the water, nestled in a cave with a building beside it – and exactly.ai would generate something truly unique, yet completely in line with my style.

Recently I’ve played around with using the same prompts across different models I’ve trained. I use one prompt to generate a photorealistic rendering, and then use the same prompt with my watercolour-trained model. These outputs often sparked new ideas for 3D models or renders that I’d never have thought of otherwise.

Publishing my public model feels like an ethical way to contribute to the artistic community. I’ve always been someone who doesn’t mind if others draw inspiration from my work. In fact, I find it gratifying.

In many ways, exactly.ai has transformed my workflow. I’m faster and more intuitive. I spend less time on the technical aspects and more on what truly matters to me – creating immersive, imaginative spaces that push the boundaries of our imagination.