Summer Progress
Proposals
-See https://georgecozensfmp.myblog.arts.ac.uk/ for Gothic Proposal-
During the summer, I teamed up with George to collaborate on our FMP. We focused on three main proposal ideas: Gothic, East Asain, and Lost Civilization. To thoroughly explore each concept, we drafted three iterations for each idea, ensuring we had a wide range of options to choose from. I specifically worked on the proposals for the Edo Period and Lost Civilization. We exchanged feedback on each other’s proposals, refining existing concepts and introducing new ones to strengthen and add more detail to each proposal, effectively conveying our vision.
Next, we created moodboards for each theme, aiming to establish the atmosphere and setting for each. Our goal was to outline the directions and influences we wanted to pursue, drawing inspiration from real-life references, concept art, games, and films.
Theme Moodboards
Gothic
The piece that stood out to me most on this moodboard was the concept art from Elden Ring. It closely resembles real-world architecture but incorporates fantastical elements, such as massive, oversized buttresses in the background, and is perched on tall, overhanging rocks. For our cathedral, I’d like to experiment with similar extremes to create an otherworldly feel, making it stand out from the other assets in the scene. I also appreciate the grungy, earthy tones used throughout, as the washed-out colours suggest a lost vitality, evoking sadness and melancholy, and contributing to a sense of gloom. We can replicate this atmosphere in our work, not only through textures but also by using mist and cloud effects in Unreal Engine.
East Asain
George recommended that I explore Blue eye samurai, Samurai Jack, Afro Samurai, Sekiro, Nioh, Ghost of Tsuschima, Mini ninjas, Kung Fu Panda, Samuri Champloo, and black myth wukong.
If we decide to move forward with this theme, we agreed that Kung Fu Panda would be an excellent reference for the art direction we want to pursue. There is a wealth of concept material available through Google Images and art books, showcasing bold, vibrant colors and striking shapes with fantasy elements.
This art piece from the Kung Fu Panda reference stood out to me the most. It captures a sense of serenity with its inviting colours, like green, and an ethereal atmosphere. The contrast between the two dominant colours—green and blue—helps the village stand out against the surrounding mountains. I also love the glowing burst of light in the background, suggesting there’s more to explore and evoking the feeling of stepping into a new world.
In terms of the post-war theme, this art piece stands out due to its striking, sharp silhouettes and bold use of color. The predominant red and black tones convey a sense of danger. The characters standing atop the building suggest an impending threat below, where red flames and embers erupt, hinting at an imminent, life-threatening battle. The red symbolizes the bloodshed that awaits beneath them.
Lost Civilisation
George suggested that I look at references such as Wakanda, Star Wars battlefront to go alongside my other game references.
The reference that stood out to me the most on the Lost Civilization moodboard were the game shots from Star Wars Battlefront‘s Kashyyyk. They portray a civilization that, while hidden, is still thriving—nestled within enormous, fantastical trees and sustained by nature’s resources. I love how the roots and branches twist upward, guiding your eyes toward the tree canopies. The use of oversized mushrooms as platforms leading up to the housing is also a creative way to blend nature and function.
Presentation
We then collectively made a presentation briefly showing our directions and influences:
We aimed to keep the presentation brief and focused. For each proposal, we outlined the overall objective, highlighted key features that define the theme, and selected two game or film references for each iteration, listing what elements we would incorporate. Each slide included key photo references from our moodboards to help convey our ideas visually.
Thursday 3rd October
Presented our 3×3 summer proposals and received feedback:
- Gothic Sci-fi was the most preferred
- Explore the unsettling nature of gothic, looking at sources like Scorn, aim to create the sense of unease
- Avoid any direct references to Warhammer 40k and other game sources
- Take influence from religion but don’t explicitly state it
- Veins/powercables/something connecting the buildings and objects leading to the main building (cathedral)
- Have a statue/object of power/focus point within the cathedral, something to build up to
Saturday 5th October
Exploring what makes the gothic theme, looking at its history and delving deeper into its key features.
My most interesting finds through this research were that gothic statues are usually more realistic than past figures, often featuring an ‘S’ shape. This is something to consider when creating a focal point within our cathedral.
It also gave reasoning behind gothic architecture’s most recognisable features like buttresses, sharp arches and decorative ceilings each designed to help support the sheer weight of the building.
Sunday 6th October
I explored the characteristics of the science fiction genre, noting that it often overlaps with fantasy under the umbrella of “speculative fiction,” as its ideas are typically further removed from our reality. I then examined key historical examples of sci-fi, discovering that Amazing Stories—a magazine series running from 1926 to 2005—featured work by notable sci-fi writers.
A common theme in these stories is an alien force taking over or threatening humanity. One that stood out to me was “The Colour Out of Space,” which describes a cosmic entity slowly consuming the land and living creatures. This concept could serve as excellent inspiration for the central object or focal point within our cathedral. It’s not a traditional alien, but rather a meteorite that emits color, which encourages us to think beyond conventional alien designs for our hero asset. I was also drawn to “The Fate of the Poseidonia,” where aliens siphon water from Earth, a concept that aligns with our idea of interconnected buildings and objects, linked by power cables or organic structures. I like the idea of something feeding on what’s inside and draining Earth’s resources.
Cathedral Hero Asset:
I started exploring ideas for our hero asset within the cathedral, focusing on horror creatures and dark, gothic statues to create a sense of unease. After reviewing various references, I came up with the concept of a host or mother figure birthing children or workers within the cathedral. The host would have a swollen abdomen, overwhelmed by numerous umbilical cords that extend from the stomach and lower body. These cords would stretch out from the cathedral, tethered to smaller, weaker workers that echo the host’s design, explaining the veins scattered throughout the environment.
The host would be a fusion of metal, technology, and organic material, with a vaguely human form to ground it in reality and heighten the disturbing atmosphere. The workers, or children, would scuttle through the environment, collecting food for the host—whether organic material or scrap metal washed up from the coast. Some of these workers might have exposed mechanical components that break down the food into smaller pieces before it’s sucked up through the tubes connecting them to the host. You might even see shapes like human faces, hands, or parts of weapons bulging through the tubes, hinting at the disturbing process within.
I later had a discussion with George to generate more ideas for the statue hero asset:
-Weeping angel/morning star statue chained up/down within the main cathedral possibly in-front/over a blood pool/fountain and watched over by monks (inspired by Schema Monk Russia).
– Throughout time the monks start hearing voices compelling them to bring blood to the statue, whether that be their own, from fallen soldiers, blood from the shoreline (possibly tech filtration system).
– In the process of delivering blood they leave behind blood trails and footsteps that lead towards the chamber from all parts of the map.
– They possibly deliver blood in skulls using them as buckets or even carrying blood in cupped hands
– Bloody handprints on doors
– 1st Potential Stretch Goal: Have a different phase of the statue showing a later development of reviving the statue, you may see patches turn to pale, almost translucent like skin (inspiration from Prometheus Alien). You may see veins pumping blood through the statue. A compliment to this idea could also be that the monks start to get paler from their loss of blood and lifeless (zombie-like), their sense of selves leaving them as they become almost a hive mind.
– 2nd Potential Stretch Goal: Tapestry/painting on the ceiling of the chamber displaying the story that is unfolding. Panels could include: when the cathedral was first being built, when the angel was first captured and trapped, when it preserved itself in stone, when it started to compel the monks to give it blood, when the angel re-awakens spreading chaos.
– Potential stone reasoning: vampiric- it may be that the angel turned to stone as a way of self preserving itself (inspiration from the Pillar Men from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure(1987)).
-The statue may have tubes connecting its back to the pool of blood as a way of absorbing the blood. Alternatively, their may be a balcony above the the statue where the monks pour blood over it. There also may be fountains/taps of blood leading up the walls.
Following on from my moodboard and research on the statue, I decided to take a closer look at H. R. Giger’s work for further inspiration. I started by collecting images of his work and collecting them into a moodboard.
I then looked at the history of Giger:
H. R. Giger is one of the world’s most famous artists of Fantastic Realism. He was born in 1940 in Chur, Switzerland and then later moved to Zurich in 1962 where he studied architecture and industrial design. By 1964 he was producing his first artworks, mostly ink drawings and oil paintings, resulting in his own first solo exhibition in 1966. Shortly after he was experimenting with the airbrush and his own hand painting style leading to the creation of his surrealistic Biomechanical dreamscapes.
Necronomicon was published in 1977 which was used as inspiration for the Alien film directed by Ridley Scott. He was then awarded the 1980 Oscar for the Best Achievement in Visual Effects for the title character. Giger is also well known for Poltergeist II, Alien 3, and Species.
Giger also extended his art style to sculptures, which later led to him opening a Giger bar in Tokyo.
The HR Giger Museum was opening in June 1998, in the Chateau St. Germain, in the city of Gruyères, Switzerland.
He then hosted numerous exhibitions in places such as Paris, France, previously mentioned Chur, Switzerland, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Germany, Kunsthaus Wein, Austria, Moscow, Istanbul.
Giger passed away Monday 12th May 2014 at the age of 74 (HR giger – the official website 2012).
Monday 7th October
[insert fantasy landscape moodboard here- include an analysis from favourite works found in the moodboard]
I started experimenting in ZBrush to create a 3D base for the statue concept in our cathedral. We concluded that multiple arms would give it a god-like appearance. To streamline the process, I used Insert Meshes (IMMs) in ZBrush since this was just a preliminary concept. I also created my own IMM for the eyes featured on the chest and hands, intentionally designing the eye bags to sag slightly for a more unsettling, creepy effect.
Tuesday 8th October
I employed various techniques to refine my 3D base, including paint overs, photo bashing, and the transform and liquify tools. I began by lassoing and liquifying the limbs to create a twisted distortion. Next, I collected images to incorporate into the concept, such as the wings, rings, head, headpiece, and bowl/goblet. Using brushes, I blended these images into my design. This approach allowed for a quick creation of a basic concept; if I were to develop it further, I would paint these elements myself and adjust their shapes and details to align more closely with my vision.
While I appreciated this design, it felt too horrifying and demonic for our intent, especially since the statue resides in a cathedral. Going forward, we plan to add clothing and desexualize the image, aiming for a more appealing and less disturbing look. This aligns better with our story, as the statue is meant to attract the monks, and a softer appearance would be more fitting for that purpose.
Wednesday 9th October
I moved onto writing up a project proposal:
Thursday 10th October
Today we spoke to our lecturer, Amil, to discuss our ideas and how to approach the remainder of our research segment until. the end of November. From this feedback I created a to do list:
Continuation of H R Giger research
Line and shape: The artwork features smooth, flowing lines that transition between organic and mechanical parts, giving the figures an otherworldly or alien appearance. The shapes are elongated and skeletal, resembling mechanical parts, yet deeply human-like anatomical structure, these is something I would like to experiment with in my own concepts, specifically for the statue.
Texture: There is a sense of cold, hard metal juxtaposed with the soft, organic contours of the bodies.
Colour: The monochromatic palette, dominated by grey, blacks, and metallic hues, contributes to the stark, industrial, and lifeless atmosphere.
Form: The figures occupy the foreground, deeply intertwined with machinery around them, giving a sense of fusion between flesh and technology. The background is dark and minimal, focusing attention on the subjects.
The alien, dehumanised figures reflects themes of isolation. The overall feeling is dystopian, as if these figures exist in a world dominated by machines, a feeling I would like to replicate in my own work. The biomechanical forms hint at a loss of individually or the submission of organic life to industrial forces.
Deeper look into the Gothic and Sci-Fi themes in Games
Warframe
In particular I liked this interior, ‘Hall of Memories’. The use of arches and smooth, flowing curves in the architecture emphasises an advanced, sleek, and futuristic design. The arches blend tradition with high-tech.
The straight lines and geometric shapes (rectangular panels, hexagonal lights) with the curved elements evoke a sense of technological precision and control. The clean, polished textures of walls and floor emphasises the idea of advanced materials. The predominant colours are metallic greys, whites and greens are commonly associated with sci-fi settings. The green glow and subtle gold highlights contrast and stand out from the rest of the environment, underlining the importance of the use of colours to make certain aspects of a scene stand out.
The grand scale provokes the sense of wonder and curiosity, draws the viewer into the scene. The cool, subdued colours and soft lighting evoke a calm, meditative atmosphere, yet the glowing green light and subtle details hint at hidden dangers or undiscovered secrets.
In conclusion, this scene from Warframe(2013) effectively conveys a sci-fi theme through its use of sleek, futuristic architecture, grand scale, and carefully controlled lighting.
Warhammer 40k: Space marine 2
The golds mixed within the gothic architecture blends the theme of Gothic and Sci-Fi well as the smooth metallics hint at themes of advanced materials and the ornate shapes and sharp arches hint at the gothic elements.
The sharp broken shapes of the ruins convey destruction, contributing to the sense of a world ravaged by war. The swarm of creatures crowding the sky imply a sense of impending doom and danger, combined with the smoke that overcasts the sun.
The scene primarily uses muted greys, browns, and other earth tones, which contribute to the feeling of a grim, decayed world.
The lighting in this scene is harsh and dramatic, with the flames casting an orange glow that contrasts against the cold blue and gray tones of the sky and buildings. This contrast adds to the tension and unease, as the flames suggest immediate danger while the dim, overcast sky implies a bleak future.
This scene from Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 blends gothic and sci-fi styles through its use of grand, ancient architecture, high-tech armor, and a war-torn, futuristic setting.
Sunday 13th October
Today, we expanded upon our Gantt chart in Notion to create a more detailed and comprehensive project plan. The updated plan includes more precise task breakdowns, real-time status updates, set task dependencies, prioritising of tasks, deadlines for each task, and further features to allow for seamless collaboration. The website also allows for meeting planning and document sharing facilitating for excellent communication and organisation.
I’ve given a brief display of how we are utilising Notion below:
This the main overview of our tasks, we added tasks up until our hand-in on November 21st for EP1. The table is expandable and allows for sub-tasks which provide for more detailed breakdowns of each task.
An example use of a sub-task.
This is a simplified display of all tasks, helping give a broader overview of the progress of each task.
A calendar is also available for an overview of upcoming deadlines.
Specific Project brief
MVP
Monday 15th October
Today I looked into the Book of Ezekiel as suggested by lecturer, Amil.
I want to use this historical tale as inspiration for the story behind our god-like statue, giving it a purpose for draining life and blood from the island. The monks could serve as prophets, dedicated to restoring the statue by destroying the land around it in order to bring forth new life. Outsiders might not understand or accept their actions, and some may even oppose them. Perhaps the statue compels the monks to offer blood and restore it through visions, much like the ones God gave to Ezekiel.
As a stretch goal to our storyboard, we could animate a scene where the island is vibrant and full of life, as if offering the viewer a vision. This could subtly encourage them to embrace the role of a prophet and join in giving the statue unlimited blood acting as almost propaganda.
Tuesday 15th October
Today, I wanted to focus on making a start to our scene slice by making arches that can be used as walls, windows or supports.
I started by collecting images for a moodboard in order to inspire and educate my designs.
I created a series of ornate arches that build upon each other so that they can be used as a whole, combined or singularly.
Example use alongside George’s pillars.
We tested our initial assets in a corridor and realized we needed to examine vaulted Gothic ceilings more closely, as they have a specific construction style. Additionally, we decided to widen the corridor to enhance its grandeur and impact, which means creating extra pillars and arches for structural support.
Thursday 17th October
Today, I cleaned up the geometry for the arches and created UVs for each one, keeping them on a single UV tile. This approach improves loading performance and eliminates the overhead of using multiple materials for the same purpose.
Closer Look At vaulted Ceilings
I looked at a video to understand the construction behind vaulted ceilings in order to better inform our models. I looked at a video by Myles Zhang – https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=DHtYXJ-bgnI.
In our previous attempt we were missing a middle arch that would help better shape the ceiling to the arches.
Friday 18th October
Following my previous attempt, I shifted to sketching in 2D to refine the concept, drawing inspiration from George’s concepts and the generated images we created to address the elements we felt were lacking. You can view George’s referenced work here: George Cozens’ blog. Once I was satisfied with the body concept, I added photobashed wings to incorporate the statue’s angelic aspect.
I aimed to integrate all the research we had done so far, including biomechanical influences from Giger’s work, which are evident in the upper arms, sci-fi elements inspired by Warframe (2013), and features from the newly generated images. Additional touches, such as drapery in a ‘mermaid’ pattern on the lower half, added a seductive quality, complementing the contrapposto pose and ‘S’ curve of the body I explored earlier during my research in the Gothic theme.
Although this iteration brought us closer to our vision for the statue, it appeared too much like a ‘harpy.’ To address this, we considered making the headpiece more dramatic and intimidating, as well as designing custom wings rather than using photo images.
Gargoyle Research
I first looked into what makes a gargoyle and what are its key features. The most notable feature was that is acts like a drainage system, redirecting water away from brick walls.
George suggested that I look at the gargoyle at Paisley Abbey which features a gargoyle inspired by the creature in Alien(1979)(The story behind Paisley Abbey’s alien gargoyle 2020).
I think it blends the sci-fi theme and gargoyles well adding functionality to the design through elongating its body and posing it with its mouth open, something I’d like to consider in my own designs.
Find George’s synopsis here: /https://georgecozensfmp.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2024/10/15/week-3-further-research-and-concepting/
I also collected a series of images involving realistic and concept gargoyles in order to better inform my own concepts.
Wednesday 23rd October
I attempted to start sculpting a gargoyle in Zbrush however I was struggling to get the forms right and started to lose definition the more I tried to adjust the forms. Therefore, in my next attempt, I will create a simple blockout first establishing the main shapes and then add detail ontop.
Thursday 24th October
Following on my my attempt yesterday, as stated, I began my second attempt by blocking out the main forms first in maya and then imported it into Zbrush.
I started by establishing the face and expression and then worked down, I like my progress so far however I would like to add more sci-fi elements before adding more detail.
Tuesday 29th October
We decided that creating a gargoyle is lower on our priority list therefore I began making a substance designer texture for a rocky ground.
Rocks
To begin my texture, I created different sized rocks by varying the scales of each cell 4 node then applied edge detect to each one with varying edge widths and roundness in order to control the amount of each kind of rock; big rocks have less density, while the smaller rocks have a higher density. I then blended them all together and applied grayscale colour, giving each sized rock a specific colour. I used a distance node in order to reduce the spacing and compact the rocks.
In order to give shape to the rocks, I used flood fill to gradient nodes with different angle variations and random seed values to give roundness to the edges of the rocks, I blended each of them together using blend nodes set to min darken. I also used Gradient Maps in order to change the shape of some of the rocks in the gradient pattern above.
I also added noise to this graph in order to add some natural variation.
I added a Flood Fill to BBox Size node and an Auto Levels node which increased the values, this makes the larger rocks lighter giving them more height and the smaller rocks darker making them blend in more with the ground.
I added a Flood Fill to Grayscale node and adjusted it’s luminance in order to flatten some of the sharp edges and points.
I kept this graph separate to my main graph and gave it an input and output node and dragged it into my main graph.
I exposed certain aspects of the graph, such as Noise Overlay, Scale Multiply and Luminance Adjustment and set them as parameters so that I could easily adjust certain aspects of this branch graph in my main graph.
This is how the rock sculpting graph appears in the main graph alongside sliders for the parameters. This makes my graph cleaner and less busy.
I created another separate graph for rounding and softening the edges of the rocks and also adding a rough texture to the rock. I did this through a series of noise maps including Cloud, Perlin and Gaussian.
This is my material so far with completed rocks.
Wednesday 31st October
Today I focused on creating a fence for our scene slice, I tried to include Sci-fi elements in the framing, and then Gothic elements for the bars. I think the outcome was a successful blend between the two.
I decided not to stack the UV’s for the fence so that we could adding lighting wherever without any duplication issues.
Friday 1st November
Dirt
Today I added a dirt level to my Substance Designer material by adding height variation to the ground and subtle small rocks/stones.
I created the foundation for my dirt through a series of base noise such as, fractural sum base, moisture noise, perlin noise, and blended them together and utilised multidirectional warp to adapt the noises further, adjusting the shapes to create a ‘less procedural’/custom outcome.
I added small rocks to the dirt as if the rocks have been ground up/eroded in the dirt. I did this by using BnW 3 spots, Dirt 3 and 5, blended together and warped them.
I then flattened my dirt to better blend with the rocks by reducing the range of levels.
smaller rocks
I started to create smaller rocks for my ground, I began by using a tile sampler and set the pattern to 2 by 2, half bells and randomised the angles to create the base shape for my smaller rocks. I used a perlin noise to randomise the rocks further and then used a histogram scan to get a clear cut shape.
Similar to my larger rocks from earlier, I used flood fill gradient to sculpt the rock shapes.
I used auto levels to ensure I am using the full range of values, I then used slope blur node with a perlin noise to warp the rocks slightly making them less polygonal and then blended the outcome with the initial clear cut shape to remove any unwanted height. I used my rock noise graph from earlier to add texture to my rocks but with a moisture noise blended in to add variation between these new rocks and old.
This graph blends the rocks with the dirt, utilising height blend creating my final height map.
I then moved onto creating colour maps:
Starting with my dirt height map, through using grunge maps and gradient maps I created the colour for my dirt, finishing with a uniform colour to add cohesion. I aimed for a dark, almost red colour reflecting the rocks/dirt on Barren Island.
Using a similar method, using gradient maps to generate the colour for my rocks, except this time I blended HSL nodes so that I could control hue, saturation, and lightness. I then added a blend at the end to combine the dirt and stone colour maps.
I then created a roughness map to make the rocks slightly shiner, using the height map from my dirt and rock blend and inverting it.
Lighting with Elliot McSherry
Today I also attended a lighting lecture for 3D environments in Unreal, the lesson underlined the importance of global and local levels which helps better organise not only lighting setups but can also be used to organise assets within a scene; we utilised premade assets on fab.com: [VP] Temples of Cambodia – Ruins exterior and interior
I learned new features such as using and importing custom HDRI backdrops and how to adjust settings within them to customise it to either day or night, and how to add more light to interior spaces without adding artificial lighting; this also optimal for performance.
I also experimented with directional lighting and fog to appear as god rays and looked at post processing techniques (PPV).
Sunday 3rd November
I looked at the main architectural features of gothic cathedrals and the naming and terminology for each; this gave me a much deeper understanding of how gothic cathedrals are made and highlighted important aspects that I should aim to include in my own work.
Monday 4th November
2D
For the 2D session today, our task was to create some quick character concepts, focusing on overall shape rather than details. I found this really helpful as the more concepts I did, the more interesting my shapes and silhouettes became. If given time for this stretch goal, I would like to develop these concepts further and create these in 3D.
3D
I gathered my previous models together and added new ones to create a small asset pack, these will be my modular pieces to create a spire for our scene slice.
I used all of the above pieces to create a spire that can be used on the ground, at the edge of walls, or on top of towers. I am quite happy with the outcome, I would like to create a trimsheet/part of a trimsheet to add further detail to the flooring, trimmings and roofing.
Tuesday 5th November & Wednesday 6th November
I decided to revisit the gargoyle, in my previous attempt, although I had made improvements since the first gargoyle, I felt that I could still include more sci-fi elements.
I decided to expand upon my moodboard by collecting sci-fi creature references, focusing on the Tyranids from our theme inspiration, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (2024) and a range of concepts.
1- I began sculpting by establishing the basic pose and defining the features of my gargoyle. I envisioned it gripping the ledge and gazing outward, creating the impression of a looming threat.
2-I gathered references of animals with features similar to my creature’s design to guide my anatomical choices and enhance its believability (see 2 Moodboard). For example, I referenced greyhounds for the legs, bats for the arms and wings, and crows or ravens for the head. I chose to exaggerate the ribcage to mimic the distinctive patterns often seen in H.R. Giger’s work.
3- I added a flat plane so I could better position the claws so it actually clings onto a ledge.
4- I opted to elongate the tail using ZSpheres, adding asymmetry to the sculpt.
Since this asset will primarily be viewed from a distance and positioned high up, I concentrated on creating a strong silhouette with sharp, angular shapes to convey a sense of power and menace. I have highlighted main shapes within the silhouette.
Thursday 7th November
I spoke to my lecturer for advice and he recommended that I make the shapes sharper and less round as if its been chiselled from stone.
I was referred to The Chronicles Of Riddick(2004) and the logo from Judge Dread(1977) to look at their sharpness in shape. For Riddick in particular, I hope to recreate the shame distinct and chiselled shapes in my own sculpt.
Friday 8th November
Based on feedback and research, I flattened the shapes to give the gargoyle a more rock-like appearance. This helps it blend more seamlessly with the architecture while maintaining a cohesive art style through its simplified surfaces.
Saturday 9th November
I then decimated the high-poly model to create a mid-poly mesh, which I imported into Maya. Using Quad Draw, I retopologized the object to create the low-poly model.
Sunday 10th November
I began to bake down the high poly to the low poly.
I encountered some errors with my bake mostly with the spine spikes, the AO was baking onto the skin and the spikes were deformed.
To address this issue, I used ZRemesher to reduce the poly count specifically for the spikes and then removed unnecessary edge loops in Maya to further optimize the mesh. I exported the spine as a separate material from the body, allowing me to bake the materials individually and avoid overlap. Additionally, I discovered another solution by adjusting the AO baking settings in Substance Painter to bake each object individually.
Wednesday 13th November
emissive colours:
base: #E0832A
Emissive: #E0752A
Element 2
Thursday 16th January
Over Christmas I was able to receive mentorship from industry professional Zakia Khan, my main focus of feedback was on 3D sculpting as I felt that in my previous projects it was my weakest area and I felt her art style closely aligned with our semi-realism aesthetic aim. I came to her with my first personal attempt of a headsculpt and her feedback was as followed:
She began by going into detail about Kibbe face types and what each of them portray, she also gave game examples alongside this: Moria (Overwatch) Dramatic, Tracer (Overwatch) Gamine, Widowmaker (Overwatch) Romantic, Ana (Overwatch) Natural. She also provided examples of her work that show the differences more clearly,
She then recorded a video of her sculpting over my original personal attempt and these were her changes:
From this feedback, I followed the same processes and steps to correct my initial sculpt. In her video she demonstrates new tools that I haven’t used before, some key examples: masking areas of the face to create poly groups and ZRemesher to create better topology that more closely aligns with the flow of the face, she works with multiple subdivision levels so that she can make large changes in the lower subdivision levels and small details in the higher subdivision levels, clay polish to create smoother, less bumpy surface, and dam standard alternate to create sharp edges. Thanks to these new tools and advice from Zakia, I think my sculpt looks a lot better.
She also gave feedback on some concepts I was working on at the time, her changes are highlighted in red. She suggested a really interesting idea that some parts of the statue could be floating/rotating (In this case the horns) and she advised me that I should push the silhouettes more.
I gathered concepts I created throughout Element 1 and over Christmas and presented them to my tutor. I expressed that overall I don’t think I have quite captured the alien/otherworldly creature look and I felt that none of them were overly successful.
Through our discussions we determined that out of all of them, this one more closely aligns with our vision. The key points we liked were: the interesting corset piece, two arms pinned up and the other two twisted, the elongated neck. His advice for moving forward was to create a base silhouette/body base including the elements we discussed that were successful and then add the alien elements on top and create iterations.