Beast Tamer

Goals

When creating this character my goal was to maximize convey the vibe of the concept, all the silhouettes, pose, and character. From a technical point of view, it was necessary to make all surfaces clean and stylized.

Software

To create the character I used Zbrush and for modeling individual elements I used Maya, the rendering was done in Marmoset Toolbag.

Design

I always stick to the Fortnite/Overwatch-type stylization. The only additional references used were photos of pangolins, the character holding similar creatures in a basket and on his arm.

The concept is from Meng Fan.

Blockout

I usually create a rough draft first in A pose, sketching approximate shapes and silhouettes of clothing elements, anatomy, and other props.
Then for this model, I went a little more complicated way and put it straight into the pose with Transpose Master and masking. That way I was able to catch the character’s character early on.
The pose has a very strong effect on this, all the body curves, body twists, and tilts dramatically change the feel of the character.

Modelling

I work with sub tools in Dynamic sub div. This allows me to make changes comfortably and painlessly.

Working with armor and clothing elements always starts with primitives. The less-dense the mesh of the object, the easier it is to change its shape, thickness, etc. When I am satisfied with the silhouettes, shapes, and volumes, I can proceed to high poly

I apply Dynamic sub div and I can already sculpt folds, make insets, etc. Here comes careful work with the forms, I try not to allow crumple surfaces.

The animal in his hand and in the basket also started with the spheres that I have given the right shape and created anatomy, the scales were made from an ordinary plain to which I have given the shape of scales and then duplicated them a number of times. Creating the animals was probably one of the most difficult stages.

The basket had several iterations, but to make it believable I decided to do the right weave in Maya. I had to watch a guide on YouTube on how to create such a section.

On the props, I want to note that it is very important to make sure that the wall thicknesses of the objects do not stray and remain constant unless otherwise required by the concept.

Textures

Textures I did a simple poly paint in Zbrush. I took the colors from the concept and transferred them to the model.

I personally found it very helpful to record the intermediate stages by taking screenshots. That way I could more easily find problem areas and fix them right away. In Marmoset, the RayTracing option was turned on during rendering. Also for each group of materials, I assigned separate parameters Rough and Metal.

Outro

In conclusion I would like to say that I had a lot of fun while working on this character, although it was not without its challenges. Don’t leave the model halfway through! At one point it seemed to me that the character has too many details and I don’t have the strength and motivation to finish it. But I got over that feeling.

Choose interesting concepts and create only what you really like! Good luck to you all! This work took me about 80 hours of work time.