Sorceress Of Dark Magic

Introduction

This is my mentorship project that I have completed at Think Tank Training Centre. With the incredible assistance of my mentor, Vinicius Favero, I was able to achieve a higher level of quality in my work. As the saying goes, "1% everyday." I would like to share my process on how I accomplished this character, from conceptualization to 3D adaptation

Material Planning

Before beginning my project, I had to assess how I would break down the materials and decide which materials would have the most compact UVs. This helped me determine where I would be spending most of my time during the UV process once everything was modeled. Below, I would like to show the concept created by Thatlight 그빛, along with the material breakdowns, UV maps, and textures.

Whenever I approach a character, the first thing I do is identify the materials. This gives me a clear understanding of what needs to be modeled for each material and provides general information for determining the polycount. It also helps me adjust the ideal texel densities before UV mapping, taking into account the scale of the overall model.

Creating A Texture Benchmark

Before embarking on the project, I dedicated time to finding realistic references that closely aligned with the chosen concept. Jinso served as the closest reference, so I can sculpt the face with a clearer vision of a realistic reference while maintaining fidelity to the concept. Additionally, I sought out texture benchmarks to establish the ideal level of fidelity I aimed to achieve. Striking a balance between stylistic and realistic texturing was essential, as I deliberately avoided hyper-realistic textures for this particular project. The identified texture benchmarks provided a solid foundation and guidance for my approach to the character's texturing process. Below is my reference board before I began the project.

Blocking Out The Clothing And Accessories

For my initial approach, I use Marvelous Designer to create a blockout of the clothing. For garments with a lot of draping, I perform a basic simulation in Marvelous Designer and then import the garment into ZBrush. Once in ZBrush, I use the ZRemesher tool to optimize the geometry of the garment, and I use the Move brush to adjust the clothing to better match the concept. Additionally, I start sculpting to add extra folds and details to the garment.

In the Marvelous Designer image, there are no frills on the chest part of the corset. I wanted complete control over the frills, so I used Blender's curve tools. What I did was model a section of the frill and used an Array Modifier to duplicate the frills across. Then, I added a subdivision modifier to increase the resolution. After spawning a Bezier Curve in the scene, I applied a Curve Modifier to the frills and attached the curve to the mesh. This allows me to dynamically manipulate the frills by adjusting the curve. Below is a visual demonstration of how I approached the frills.

My approach to creating the flowers was more artistic than technical. Below is a real-time demonstration of how I approached the flowers. I started by spawning a Bezier Curve and deleting all the points. Then, I used the Curve Pen tool to manually redraw the curve by hand. As I made my strokes, splines were also generated. If you feel that a particular curve needs further adjustments, you can manipulate them. Once you are satisfied with your curves, you can use the "Convert Curves to Mesh" function. Afterward, I select all the edges and extrude them upwards in the front orthographic perspective, making further adjustments to shape the flower. Since this flower consists of planar surfaces, it is quite easy to unwrap its UVs and apply a texture map during the texturing process.

Although creating the staff was challenging due to its intricate design, it was difficult to imagine the edge flow just by looking at the concept. I was curious about how to approach the swirls on the staff in a non-destructive manner while maintaining precise twisting on the geometry. I wanted to share my approach to the swirls since others have been asking me about it. Below is a visual demonstration of how I created the swirls at the top and bottom of the staff.