Alien Mermaid

This is a project I started based on the fantastic concept by Daniel Hiew.

I found it great to work on a transparent character, it was a good exercise to figure out how to texture it so that the skeleton is visible without losing details on its body.

I used Zbrush, Maya, Substance Painter, and Nuke for this project.

CONCEPT ART / MOOD BOARD

The first step was to research for references and created a moodboard, particularly to understand how I would approach the textures.

I sought examples of deep-sea fish, among which some species are partially transparent. Then, I quickly sketched a scene layout to have a final direction to pursue.

CHARACTER MODELLING

I started by modeling the base of my character in Zbrush. Initially, I began with simple shapes and then gradually worked into more detail. Firstly, I modeled the body of my mermaid, then I proceeded to create the skeleton based on the body, ensuring that its proportions remained consistent. I stopped at a basic model as I intended to re-topologize everything later on Maya. I didn't create the fins on the body right away because I planned to model them directly in Maya, building off the base model.

Then, I began the retopology of the body and skeleton in Maya. The most challenging part was figuring out the best approach to retopologize the head fins. I decided to incorporate them into the body retopology, thinking it would streamline the modeling for displacement and texturing.

Next, I imported the retopology into Zbrush to refine the overall shape of the body, particularly the fins, and to position everything correctly. I decided to do the UVs after placing it in its final position to avoid any stretching risks. Since I didn't intend to animate it, I favored this method.

I applied displacement to enhance the body details, but I didn't spend much time on it since part of my mermaid's body is transparent.

TEXTURING

I first created the UVs, then started by texturing the body before working on the skeleton. I focused on the scattering for the body by creating an accurate map which I then integrated into the transmission of an Arnold AI Standard shader. I added a bit of transparency to the body. As for the skeleton, I added some emission to make it stand out more.

LIGHTING

For the lighting I used a DOMlight with an HDRI to establish the initial atmosphere of the scene. I aimed to convey the idea of a secret laboratory, so I lit the scene to evoke a sense of secrecy and mystery. I opted for green and blue tones for the lighting. I added smoke on the floor, then applied a strong rim light to highlight the scattering of my mermaid. Finally, I incorporated a volumetric light with a Gobo to simulate caustics in the liquid tank.

COMPOSITING

I composited the scene in Nuke. I enhanced the color contrasts, added a touch of blue to the metal, and highlighted the scattering effect of my mermaid.

Finally, I created a mask around the silhouette of my mermaid, which I tinted yellow to draw attention towards her.