Confectionary Fairy Mooncake Dragon Turtle

The beauty render in Maya, using Arnold renderer

Basically, this is the blocking progress I did in Maya during week 1,2 and 3, I tried to get the feel of the head and the fur around it's neck. Once I've gotten the basic structure, I brought it to Zbrush for the first time. I tried to smooth out the sharp edges on the head and fur first.

During week 4, I sculpted the design on the tail as well the mouth. I also started to sculpt the eye area bit by bit.

During week 5 to 7, I worked on making the face and nose area more rounder and more chubby. I did some sculpting on the legs as well. I put some volume in the cheeks and the bottom of the jaw. I also experimented with various brushes, alphas and technique to achieve the sculpt I wanted, especially for the tail and fur around the neck.

By week 8 and 9, the model is close to being ready to color. I adjusted the tail a little bit, making it more curvier. Then, I begin to color my model using Zbrush polypaint function. Because it's main design is based off a mooncake, I went ahead and colored it in a beige brownish color, which is considered the common colors of a mooncake. I also gave the edges of the fur and tail some shading to show depth. 

During week 10 and 11, I begin to test render my model so I could determine which light worked the best. I did one render using Zbrush render (The lower image) and another two in Maya, using Arnold renderer. I tried two different lightings in Maya, one is using a more orange tint light and another is using a white light.

By week 12, I posed the model in Zbrush and exported it to Maya to render. I also  did a simple base in Zbrush to compliment the model. 

During week 13, I rendered the model and lights separately using Maya render passes so I could have more control during the composition process.  Using this composition, I hope I am able to showcase the environment where the creature can be found roaming and living.  

These are some additional images that I saved during the 14 weeks progress of this model. It consist of the flat colors, the A/T pose and the chosen pose.

 It was a long journey, using Zbrush for the first time is a bit challenging,  but it was very fun too! I hope this adorable looking creature is able to show you how much I've loved working on this project!