Ostrowski's Cliffdrake

INTRODUCTION

I’m happy to present this project as it is a huge progress milestone from where I began in 2021. My understanding and approach to 3D creature creation has been much better refined while working on this, and I will go over the many challenges I’ve overcome throughout this post. 

For my wyvern assignment given at CG Spectrum, I chose Alexander Ostrowskis’ eye-catching Crested Cliffdrake dossier concept.

REFERENCE GATHERING

Although the original concept provided plenty of information, I still needed real world reference. The birdlike head and wing shapes reminded me of cormorants and vultures while alligator lizards, komodo dragons and other reptiles came to mind for the rest of its body.

Many more references were gathered overtime as the project progressed.

ZBRUSH SCULPTING

One of the biggest challenges in regards to sculpting was making the scales. Due to their unique shape, I wasn't sure what the best way would be to approach them. I tried making VDM and IMM brushes, but they weren’t giving the results I desired. In the end, I opted to use masking and extraction as it gave the cleanest outcome. 

Each and every scale was masked out, extracted, and cleaned up. It was tedious but I was happy with the results I was getting. This method, however, led to some complications down the line when it came to reprojecting details since the scales were separate from the main body instead of dynameshed together. Least to say, there was LOTS of spiking and lots more cleaning up to be done.

*sculpts below are unfinalized versions

RETOPOLOGY, UV,  AND TEXTURES

Retopologizing the wings was the trickiest part in this stage. I asked around and used assets from other artists and existing media, ranging from Game of Thrones to Skyrim, as reference to get a grasp of how wing topology was handled in production.

I would have enjoyed texturing a lot more had substance not slowed down so much to the point I had to wait 2 minutes after every stroke (slightly exaggerated T_T)

Apart from slow PC performance, the main obstacles here were creating believable textures that would make the creature look whole, alive and present rather than a CG plastic toy. Getting the right material look was crucial to selling the believability of the creature. 

RIGGING AND POSING

This is my first attempt at rigging, so it's far from excellent, but good enough to do what I needed it to. As I was learning, I found that it had a similar feel to programming which I oddly enjoyed. There's still much I don’t know in this area, but It is something I certainly would like to invest more time into learning.

RENDERING

Lookdev is another area I would like to hone in on as texturing, lighting, environment, and camera settings are all incredibly important for presenting a final model. I used wildlife photography for reference to achieve similar looks.

TAKE AWAY AND FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

There’s a lot that I learned with this project and I have already begun applying that knowledge to new works. There's much that I can go back and improve on with this particular piece, but the tides continue forward. This is still just the beginning of my journey and I hope to continue growing and sharing my progress and understanding with peers and other aspiring creatives alike.