3D Art Showcase | 2022 - 2023 | Thomas Grosjean

Quick side note

You will see a lot of stylized pieces but also a few ones that are a bit more realistic. I'm still not quite sure about which style I prefer making, so for now I remain curious and open-minded as I find them all very interesting to approach and work on. Because I'm still in my second year, we've been focusing a lot on art fundamentals and there have been several courses on Concept Art and 3D Character Art as well, which is why you will also find a 3D Character sculpt in this entry.

Handpainted Dagger

This piece was completed in two separated weeks, both under the supervision of Jules Caron.

During the first week, I was tasked to model a high-poly of a stylized dagger concept made by Baldi Konijn. It was done entirely in Blender, with a workflow using creases and subdivisions, no sculpt involved. The goal was to stick to the concept as much as possible while keeping a decently clean topology and trying to be as non-destructive as possible.

We also did a retopology for a low-poly. Jules provided us with a base mesh and bake maps for the second part, but I wanted to try and use my own! So I made sure it was clean and then went to do the UVs, which were not perfect: I figured later on that I just needed one half of the dagger to speed up the whole process and gain a lot of room for the UV maps. Luckily this wasn't critical in this exercise, because I would still be able to mirror paint in Substance Painter, it was just not the most efficient way of doing it, and a good lesson.

The baking was made in Marmoset Toolbag and it all went fine, so then I was ready to tackle the next step: handpaint!

Following screenshot taken in ZBrush

After a week of props studies using gouache paint with Florian Devos to get everyone up to speed and provide a little refresh on the lessons from our first year, we met back with Jules to paint this dagger, spending the entire second week on Substance Painter. 

Because the goal was to focus on handpainting techniques, it had to look good even in the "Base Color" view of the viewport, which is why we mostly painted using this setting. I would be able to add a few roughness layers later on if we wanted to try it out, but we needed to nail the feelings of the different materials and textures right with the handpaint.

Looking back on it now, I feel like it would have been easier to paint it using 3D Coat (Textura), especially since we did not have much PBR elements to it, but it's still nice to know how to do it with on both softwares.

Following screenshots, in order: Material View in Substance Painter's Iray renderer - Base Color Viewport View - Reference Concept Art

Cooked Fish

This exercise was done in one week under the great supervision of Matthieu Laude and based on a concept art by Veerle Zandstra.

The goal was to explore the whole process from beginning to (almost) end: blocking phase in Blender, high-poly sculpt in ZBrush, retopology and UVs in Blender, baking in Marmoset Toolbag and Texturing in Substance Painter. I lacked a proper render done in Marmoset or Unreal but we had not learned how to use those yet properly and it felt a bit overwhelming back then.

This time around we went for a more "hybrid" approach when it comes to the Texturing part. Making it PBR with little bits of handpaint here and there. Looking back on it now, I'm not really satisfied with said Texturing, but I feel like I did alright on the sculpt even though I maybe went a little bit too low poly for the retopology. It was still a satisfying week because it finally allowed us to learn the basics of the entire process in just a few days.

Following screenshots, in order: Material Viewport view in Substance Painter - Sculpt View in ZBrush - Reference Concept Art

Archeologist Room

This big project was done in just two weeks, with the supervision of Matthieu Laude, and based on a concept art made by Vadim Zaitsev.

Here again the goal was to practice the entire process, while also adding the concept of Modularity to it for the first time. We started with a thorough analysis of the concept art; it was split in three distinct sections and the goal was to build at least one to make sure we could finish it properly, resulting in a smaller room. But I decided I would challenge myself and try to make two: focusing on the right section with the chest and the window at first in class, and starting to build the left section at home on my side, knowing I would be able to reuse some elements along the way.

Because of that the pace was quite intense and challenging: the wood sculpt could be a little more elaborate, the texturing (mix of Handpaint-PBR) could use some improvements, I'm still not sure about the look of the window and there are a few small baking imperfections. Next time I will probably showcase the modular elements in their high-poly versions directly from ZBrush, it will probably be cleaner.

Even though Matthieu was here to help us in case we really needed it and provided us with feedback, I still had to figure out a lot of stuff and solve a bunch of problems by myself. It was not easy but it felt really rewarding and I gained a lot of knowledge that way, so I feel like I was able to achieve a decent result and I'm still quite proud that I got both rooms done in time.

Following screenshots, in order: Beauty Shot rendered in Marmoset Toolbag - High Poly Sculpt View in ZBrush - Modular pieces showcased in Marmoset Toolbag - Reference Concept Art

Gold Priest

This project was done in two weeks under the supervision of Jules Caron. He prepared a nice selections of various concepts and I picked one made by Evgeniy Evstratiy. 

It was our first time making an entire 3D Character from scratch. We previously did several traditional clay sculptures and ZBrush anatomy studies since the beginning of the schooling, as well as a bust sculpt. I did not use any third-party base mesh, the intent was to achieve a correct anatomy as well. 

It was really fun to see him getting more and more dressed up along the way. We had to at least get the top half properly done but I had enough time to try and sculpt him entirely. I used Blender quite a few times to get some quick blockouts of simple shapes for his clothes and gear, which I then refined and sculpted in ZBrush. Z-Modeler was a bit scary at first but since then I am more comfortable with it, so I probably wouldn't need as many back and forths between both apps.

Folds and clothes were probably the biggest struggles and I'm still not quite sure how to feel about them now, but it was a really cool exercise nonetheless.

Following screenshots: turn screenshots made in ZBrush - Reference Concept Art

Portable Light

This was a project made at the end of my first year that we had to do at home during our free time, based on an original asset and concept done by Kyle Bromley for Star Citizen. 

We had a little bit less than three months to do the entire modeling in Blender and the Texturing in Substance Painter. It was a little bit tricky at the time because we hadn't done a lot of hard surface modeling and only one week of realistic texturing several months before. So my process was a bit messy and the asset itself is far from clean, but for a first year project it didn't turn out too bad!

Following Screenshots providing two textured views and two clay renders, all done in Blender

Smithy

This is another project for school I made during my free time, for which we had a little bit more than three months. We were tasked to focus on the modeling, but we could also try and it give it basic materials and colors, as well as a quick painting pass. I tried to do it as well but I am not totally satisfied with the result I ended up with so I did not include a colored shot here. 

I made sure to include the concept used as reference but unfortunately could not find a reliable link to the artist

From now on these last few posts will all be school projects done over the span of two weeks during my free time at home

Mossy Log

For this one, I had to reproduce a sculpt made by Smolievskaia Ekaterina, based on an original concept by Anastasia "Forest Diver".

I made a quick blocking in Blender and then sculpted the whole thing in ZBrush.

Gothic Remains

Just like the previous one, I had to reproduce a sculpt taken from an amazing Environment made by Sophie Rose Stübinger.

For some reason I really like sculpting rocks, I find it quite relaxing. So even though I could have reused several blocks, I figured I would take my time and practice my sculpt on each one individually. Clean blockout made in Blender as usual, then sculpt and render done in ZBrush.

Wooden Door

For this last one, we come back to a more realistic asset. I had to remake a door from Deathloop, originally created by Yannick Gombart.

I did a Low Poly in Blender and sent it directly into Substance Painter. I didn't sculpt anything for this one and actually didn't even use a high-poly (I used the "Low Poly as High Poly" option in the Substance Baker). I challenged myself to find all these details with the texturing. 

I really love sharp et detailed realistic textures, but I haven't done a lot myself and I don't find it very easy, especially since we've been doing a lot of stylized work at school. So there is still a lot of room for improvement, but this was fun! I definitely felt like I improved and learned a lot about the process, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Following renders made with Marmoset Toolbag and Substance Painter's Iray Renderer

Conclusion

If you made it all the way down here, thank you so much, and I hope you liked my work!

Next time, I will try my best to provide more pictures with wireframes, maps and better visual breakdowns, I feel like this is definitely lacking on this one.

I still have a lot to learn and I cannot wait to start my specialization year in September. But before that, there are a few weeks remaining with super cool projects to work on before summer. See you around!

Many thanks again to all our amazing teachers for their help and feedbacks, and shoutout as well to my friends and colleagues who make this whole journey super fun.