I would like to make more high-poly models using Zbrush, I feel most of my work in university has been low-poly game ready models and I have not practiced sculpting as much as I'd like to. So for the main project I was hoping to tackle a task that would challenge me in every aspect of the 3d pipeline, sans animation. An arcane style character (be it bust or full body)
What is my style?
I wouldn’t say I have a style, what I've done in 3d sculpting is the equivalent of what painters do with fruit bowls. It’s an unmistakable ‘student art style’. It was done for a grade but I never really did a similar project outside of that. I feel the model can be improved with what I know now. Namely:
Hair, My biggest gripe with the sculpt is how the hair is just a sphere sculpted to look like hair. Reminds me of LEGO minifigure hair pieces. Though it fails to be convincing, in my opinion. I have since learned and prefer making hair in a different way. This alone should make for a better piece.
Stylization, the sculpt lands in this weird uncanny valley. The concept mood board leads people to assume a more stylized style but I felt incapable of carrying it out and fell back on trying to be as anatomically correct as possible but I fell short of even that.
Pose, Jiangshi are known as the hopping zombies. The body stiffens up due to rigor mortis, the pose I ended up at is a lazy pose that makes it look like she’s asking for uppies. There are way better ways to portray stiffness in characters I could have used.
Costume, the design is pretty basic, uninspired and doesn’t communicate the concept I envisioned well.
Process, I went ahead with the design in an odd way, starting with the head, finishing it and then working on the body. The end result makes it seem very out of scale and disproportionate.
Most of my experience in 3d has been low poly, game ready models. I didn’t seek that out, it just worked out that way. However, the projects I‘ve worked on were retro style games using a low resolution post processing filter. Which means the only texturing I did was solid colors. Needless to say this project would be the complete opposite of what I’m comfortable with but it’s something I would love to be able to do.
What is the Arcane [Fortiche] style?
In short, stylized realism that incorporates hand painted textures. The characters feature sharp and exaggerated angles, a departure from my zBrush style which is very smooth and round. I tend to overuse the smooth brush and this leads to all my sculpts having a blurry look to them despite the relatively high poly count. Comparing my work to Fortiche’s models is crazy, I know but necessary to figure out what the fundamental differences are. If I were to remake my sculpt, I would probably take Mel’s model as a reference and standard to reach. It might make for a fun exercise to do before tackling the main project just to make sure I can feasibly copy the style but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
I don’t think any model embodies the way textures and sculpt compliment each other more than Silco. One could be forgiven for thinking his scars were sculpted, but taking a look at his untextured model reveals what’s actually happening under the hood.
Behold, smooth Silco.
Why is this noteworthy? For one, it shows how much of Silco’s iconic look is carried by the textures but the main reason I brought this up is to put into perspective the importance of texturing as a solo 3d artist. I could just sculpt the model but that wouldn’t be the best way to showcase the model. The texturing for this project will be just as important as the sculpt, if I can’t nail it then I would consider the project a partial failure.
On a side note, having the details be dependent on textures is also more efficient than sculpting in the detail (specifically in animation and video games.) It’s generally easier and quicker to make changes for textures rather than the model itself. Silco uses makeup to cover up his scars which make them more smoothed out and subtle. If the scars were sculpted into the model, achieving this effect would require significantly more effort. Using normal maps, the artist could even ADD more textures to the model without having to sculpt them in. I’m not planning on rigging or animating this model so this was all a moot point but I still found it appropriate to mention here.
The Project
I'll be attempting to do a collectible statue of an intellectual property that will fit well into the Fortiche style and doesn't have that many fan works. Had a lot of options but I ended up landing on the Mistborn series of novels by Brandon Sanderson.
