Final Major Project Update – 21/05/20 – Forest Deities

 

I recently finished work on the deities that can be found around the environment and at native settlements, where the main character can “pray” in order to level up skills etc.

I began with inspiration from clay sculptures and pottery from Africa, as well as pottery from the Jomon period of Japan. With these in mind, I sketched 6 iterations of what the sculptures would look like. I made sure to give them all the same trait of having 4 eyes, and a head crest, to relate to the natives and creatures.

I got some feedback from my peers and concluded that the final design should be sturdy and not too delicate, as most of these “shrine deities” are old and scattered through nature. I chose the top right to be the basis of my final design.  I moved to Zbrush next to sculpt the final version. I thought it would be much faster and easier this way to edit and show different views. I mostly used the clay build up, dam standard, move, and trim dynamic brushes. After, I applied some materials and then screenshotted some angles to move back to photoshop.

Next, I added more realistic lighting and texture using textured brushes on multiply and overlay layers. I also painted moss on top. I then made an aged iteration. I created a new layer in Zbrush to subtract chunks of the model and make it appear broken and worn. I took this back into photoshop and edited the colours and shadows.

I took this aged version and added glowing lights to some areas, showing how it would react when “praying” at it.

Lastly I quickly bashed this guy into one of my own photographs to give a rough example of how they could be found. The environment is not as tropical as the in-game environment would be though.

 I really like how this little guy came out, I would like to do a couple more versions but I am quickly moving to my next task.

Final Major Project Update – 27/3/20

In the past week I have gone back to working on my creatures, starting with the scavenger creature. Here is the design reference board:

As previously posted I started with some sketches and silhouettes. I used the silhouettes to determine what kind of body shape I wanted to use, whether it would be something more raptor-like or more bird-like. My aim was to make the creature look agile and somewhat threatening. 

With the sketches I continued the idea of the anatomical similarities with the first creature I designed (the predator). I gave this creature a crest, four eyes, and spikes along its spinal cord/tail. There are also smaller similarities to tie it all together.  I made one of the eyes bigger and one smaller to emphasise the bird qualities. I was very happy with the head I created in my first sketches and only made small alterations along the way.

Next I took note of which bodies suited the creature most and continued to sketch with this in mind. I used oviraptors and velociraptors as reference. I sketched something I really liked, and went on to refine it. 

I changed the body shape, feathers, and spike placement. I found that the final iteration looked best. It gives a sense of agility and mischievousness. It was also eye catching and unique.

I tested some colors. I already knew I wanted red from my previous sketches, especially because I had incorporated the red and turquoise feathers into my natives’ designs. So I mostly experimented with pattern and color placement.

After choosing a color scheme, I made some gestural/action sketches to show how this creature would move.

And finally, I created anatomy sheets, showing muscle, skeleton, and head views.

I also began a photobash+painting of the scavengers’ head. It is a work in progress.

Final Major Project Update – Environment - 23/3/20

I created a new photobash recently to depict a fortress built by the enemy race in the middle of the woods. I began with base images of a forest, some giant sequoia trees, and a mossy ground. 

I manufactured the hole in the tree by using two images of a tree and merging them together. 

I then added the fort itself and decided it would look more convincing to cover the front with a gate, so as not to make this fort look very welcoming. Something felt off and then I thought that as they are such a practical group of people, they probably would have created some kind of rough road to make it easier to travel and use transportation (like carts etc.), so I added a dirt path (made up of two images of the same path). I also felt that there was a lack of depth behind the fortress, so I bashed another image into the back to make it feel like there was space behind the building. 

At this point in the photo bashing process, I have gotten all the main/base features down. This is the point where I start to add a color pass and lighting. I also added the important red ivy detail. 

I needed the environment to look more like a jungle-like forest than a regular forest. I added some viney tree images into the background behind the trees to make the forest look more tangled and cluttered with overgrowth. At this point I had also hand painted over a couple areas to make them appear more natural. 

I duplicated the group and merged it into one image and edited the hue and levels to give the scene the same color scheme as my previous environment pieces. I still have some finishing touches to add but I added some guards to the gate and painted a native scout hiding behind the large tree in the foreground. I've left this piece on hold for now to have fresh eyes next time I edit it. I want to make the native appear more realistic, since I think she looks a bit too 2D right now, and I will change the guards a bit to match their actual uniform designs (showed in previous blog post).