3D Character Art - Hannah Mae McCulloch

My name is Hannah Mae McCulloch, and I'm an aspiring 3D character artist. After finishing my first zBrush project when I was 15, I knew I wanted to pursue it in my future and maybe even turn it into a career. This is what led me to studying Game Graphics Production and Howest Digital Arts and Entertainment in Belgium. There, I rediscovered my love for creating characters and have been enhancing my skills ever since. Below you will find an overview of the zbrush/character projects that I have created.

The Traveler's Rest

In this project, I practiced my sculpting skills. My focus was on creating realistic and believable materials, including wood, stone, glass, bone, metal, and cloth. The final result is this little diorama where I have assembled 5 props and created a small environment to present them in.

The concepts for the lamp and the crossbow are by Becca Halstedt, and the concept of the backpack is by Gabe Kralik. The skull and grappling hook are of my own design, and the beads and feathers on all the props were also an addition by me to tie the whole piece together. The tree stump was based on a concept by Daria Silbern.

This project was created and rendered with zBrush.

The Props

Cyberpunk Girl

In this project, my focus was directed towards creating a (semi-)realistic character through studying anatomy, hair and clothing. The end result is this cyberpunk girl, a character of my own design. She was sculpted in ZBrush, and then rigged and posed in Maya 2022. The rendering was done in ZBrush.

This project was my first encounter with 3D character sculpting, and it's the reason why I fell in love with the process of creating characters in 3D. As a huge cyberpunk fan this project was an absolute pleasure to create.

Renders

Spirited Medium

In this project I chose a concept by Alexis Rives and translated it into a 3D character. It was a great way to learn and practice the character creation pipeline. It was also my first attempt at creating a stylised character in 3D.

This project was sculpted with zBrush, retopo and unwrapped with 3dsMax, baked and textured with Adobe Substance Painter, posed with zBrush, and rendered with Unreal Engine 5. Renders of the sculpts were done in zBrush, and the renders of the retopo was done in Blender.

Sculpt

Retopo/UVs

Stitched Demon

In this project, I wanted to hone in on my stylised skills and create something that was a little less realistic. I found this concept by Japanese artist Nelnal (@nelnalium on Twitter) and thought it would translate well into 3D.

This project was sculpted with zBrush, retopo and unwrapped with 3dsMax, baked and textured with Adobe Substance Painter, posed with zBrush, and rendered with Unreal Engine 5. The retopo renders were done in blender.

Sculpt

Retopo/UVs

Warrior Girl

The original concept for this character is by Christophe Young.

Sculpt

Bo and Nana

In this project, I created two characters from concept to animation. These characters were created for a game I helped make, called BoNana Bounce. It was a pleasure to bring these two characters through the whole pipeline and see my creations come to life in the game.

These two were sculpted with zBrush, retopologised with Maya, unwrapped with 3dsMax, baked and textured with substance painter, and rigged and animated with Maya. They were rendered in Unreal Engine 5. The retopo renders were done in Blender, and the sculpt renders were done in zBrush.

Sculpts

Retopo/UVs

Bo

Nana

Adventurer Truly

Since in my other projects I mostly create female/non-human characters, I wanted to create a male character. I found this concept by Wouter Gort and thought that it would be a fun one to create in 3D. It was great to practice and gain knowledge of male anatomy this time rather than always focusing on female. This concept was particularly enjoyable to make because of all of the small details and strange oddities found attached to the character.

This project was sculpted with zBrush, retopologised with Maya, unwrapped with 3dsMax, baked and textured with Adobe Substance Painter, posed with zBrush, and rendered with Unreal Engine 5. The retopo renders were done in Blender, and the sculpt renders were done in Zbrush.

Sculpt

Retopo/UVs

Thank you for taking a look at my Rookies Awards entry!