Zorak - Creature Development

Part Goat, Part Toad, Part Gorilla - All Awesome 

Creature Description: 

A Zorak is an open woodland creature, standing nearly twice the height of an average man when reared on its hind legs. When relaxed, the Zorak remains crouched, walking with the majority of its immense weight on it’s forearms (similar to the movement of a gorilla).

Usually slow moving, a Zorak can reach higher speeds in short bursts, charging headfirst (like a mountain goat) or using its long arms to bash its enemies using one of its rudimentary clubs or its bare hands. Solitary omnivores, their diet consists largely of fish and fruits, and in times of scarcity they can be very prolific scavengers.

Despite their four eyes a Zorak’s sight is limited, and they depend heavily on their sense of smell using rows of sensors beneath the flaps of muscle above their large mouth.  

Project Description:

This was a practice in Creature Modeling completed during a 5 week class, combined with a personal goal of fleshing out the original rough concept I had painted in Photoshop several years ago.

The model was constructed using a base mesh in Maya, detail sculpting was added in Zbrush, and coloring completed the model in Substance Painter. I used Photoshop to bring out the detail from layered multi-render passes (Beauty, Ambient Occlusion, Coat, Defuse, Specular, and Sub-Surface Scattering) generated from Maya for presentation.

For this project I focused on the bone, muscle, and skin structures of the 3D character development and have yet to delve into generating the Orangutan like dreadlocked fur that hangs from the shoulders, or the more goat like fur on the legs and tail. 

Inspiration & References: