"Skin Graber"
This is my entry for the 2021 Rookies Contest of Netflix and Skill with Stranger Things as the theme
Update - 23 Dec 2021
I think I’m almost done, at this point I’m just trying to find the perfect balance between the darkness of the night scene and showing the detail of the monsters.
As you can see, I decided to have my monsters on the higher polycount side to allow them to have great detail at the moment of rendering. if this creature models were to be used for an animation I would have to go with fewer polys for a better performance.
I also wanted to show some of the things I had to do and use to make the environment for my render, the birch trees are the base birch model that comes with Maya, but I played with the UVs and new textures to make them look updated and better. For the leaves I used an aiColorJitter to make them varied in color and look realistic for an autumn setting. I used some Quixel materials and assets to enhance the scene and make it more realistic and alive.
For the clouds in the sky I used a volume shader on an elongated sphere combined with a Maya cloud node, the moon is a circular Area light from Arnold. the fog on the ground was made using and environmental aiFog placed below the ground level
Also, I decided to render the scene with a daytime lighting but a night sky, so that later inside photoshop I could lower the exposure and play with the color correction to convey a night time scene while keeping the monsters well lit and as the focus of the scene.
Update - 20 Dec 2021
I think I’m getting closer to a final version, I think I have to keep testing some final details in photoshop and I’m done
Update - 18 Dec 2021
I think I’m getting close to a final version, I have almost finished building the scene and I’m also testing some final looks and compos. I really love the renders and how everything fits, I’m really glad I decided to take a step back and start almost from scratch. This is looking fantastic and I hope you guys like it!
Update - 15 Dec 2021
This is the first look at the skin grabber on Arnold, I think it looks good but I have to tune some of the roughness maps and textures.
Update - 9 Dec 2021
After some great feedback I received, I decided to tone back the shapes and details on the legs so that the torso and arms could shine. I also made some progress on the tentacles and the detailing of the creature. I still have a bit more of the finer details and then I’ll go to painting the model. I think that the painting will really make the details pop up.
Update - 8 Dec 2021
More progress done, I’m taking inspiration in flowers, especially thorny roses and vines. I think I’m going to change the creature name to something else but I’m loving the design. Any feedback will be appreciated!!!
Update - 7 Dec 2021
I decided to add some more “mouths” and holes were the tentacles could come out. I’m liking how its looking, right now I’m in the middle of adding the teeth of the main mouth
Update - 6 Dec 2021
I decided to create a new creature, a new “variant” of the Demogorgon that feels quite similar but integrates some of the characteristics and design of the Mindflayer that appears at the end of the 3rd season. I decided to call this variant the “Skin Graber” and have it look like a Demogorgon whose mouth kept getting bigger to allow tentacles with tiny mouths to be able to come out. The following images are from the first draft of the creature, I’m still tossing around some ideas to add, like a second pair of tiny arms and more “mouths” around the body. Ill keep updating how it goes.
Update - 15 Nov 2021
The last couple of days I have been trying to put the Demogorgon inside the scene but it always ended up feeling weird and unnatural to me. Although the forest scene and the Demogorgon look fantastic on their own I don’t feel like they work together, I’m thinking on keeping the Demogorgon and building a new scene/background that fits him better. I want to focus more on the monster side of things since creatures and monsters is what I’m best at. Ill post an update when I have a clearer idea of how its all going to look.
Update - 4 Nov 2021
I started by recreating the cabin in the woods were 11 lived with hopper on season 2, I liked the mood it had in a night setting and I wanted to have it as a main scenery. I still have a lot to polish but this is a good starting point.
I decided that the next step in my process would be recreating the iconic Demogorgon from season 1 and try to be as faithful as possible while giving it my personal touch.
And for the first time ever I decided to record my whole sculpting process as best as I could to de able to show how I did everything.
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