Gina Izerel - Character Art 2023

About Gizmo

I was responsible for all aspects of this character, following the entire production pipeline, including anatomy and locomotion study, concept art, sculpting, retopology, texturing, rigging, grooming, animation, and rendering.

Working on this beautiful wolf pup trained me to have a keen eye for polished visuals, incorporate imperfections, and exposed me to the character creation pipeline in-depth.

Investing in making Gizmo anatomically correct, I focused on studying the skeleton (built from scratch) and incorporating it into a rig that would drive the character’s skin to create realistic movement.

About Metaria

I have really enjoyed exploring anatomy and kinematics for mythical creatures in this project. Metaria’s design is influenced by human and Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) anatomy. Her tattoos are based on the wing patterns of a monarch butterfly, and her clothing took influence from the female muscular system.

I am fascinated by discovering new ways to translate anatomy principles (be it human or creature anatomy) into 3D. My background as a makeup artist with knowledge in skincare enabled me to better understand the nuances of creating a human character that suspends an audience’s disbelief. I extensively researched skin-pore detail, blood cells and sun damage, and subsurface scattering to achieve accuracy for this character. I also did research into morphology to create interesting poses and silhouettes.

About Sakara

Designing Sakara was really exciting. I wanted to advance my skills in creating fine detail on armor, ornaments, and clothing – from studded lining to subtle chips and scratches. I also enjoyed expanding to a more stylized approach for my character designs, focusing on a painterly texturing style. I have learned to apply my knowledge of shape language and anatomy to this character’s design, and my background in makeup artistry was helpful as well!

This project advanced my character design skills to a new level and reiterated my love for using ZBrush! In this project, I started ideating character concepts from 25 silhouettes, narrowed them down to 3 refined silhouettes, and finally, detailed concept art and a character sheet which I could then translate into 3D (as seen in the reel breakdown).

About Springbot

Springbot is a piece of my identity that I was excited to incorporate into my work in the US. The design of Springbot was influenced by my South African roots, based on the springbok, our national animal. The springbok represents pride and the beauty I have been surrounded by growing up in South Africa. Like the scratched and rusted metal, our country has its history; however, the panels replaced with silver and gold represent the building of the new South Africa that we have today, which I consider home.

I was inspired by the aesthetic of steampunk robots, incorporating chipped and scratched features – imperfections that contribute to the hyperrealism of the character. I also took into consideration the anatomy of springboks, where I incorporated the ribs and flow of the muscles into the metal. I’m obsessed with this little guy.

If you're interested in seeing more of my work, check out my website at ginaizerel.com and my demo reel!

Find me on ArtStation and LinkedIn.