Week 1-3
To start of this module we looked at scripts and had to try and imagine a character based on what the scripts described. This was really fun and it actually helped me decide on my own character early on.
I was interested in something along the lines of witch, swamp creature, banshee and tree like human that was intertwined with nature. A lot to work with but I went for it as I wanted to push myself to do something a little different than I’m used to.
I began by looking up references as I wanted to go for a swamp kind of creature that has humanoid with fish like features while being intertwined with nature.
Based on these images I did a few quick sketches to develop some ideas. I had a better idea of what exactly I was looking for, so I then did some more research only looking for specific features and this is what found:
I also researched more into smaller details such as textures or features that I wanted my character to have and compiled them:
This really gave me a clear picture of all the different ideas flowing through my head and i managed to come up with a more detailed design:
This is the design I came up with but after speaking with Henry, he recommend that I should add more detail and keep it asymmetrical. I decided to add bark onto her legs and arms to give the appearance of wood growing from her body as she is so intertwined with the forest/swamp.
I really loved my new design, even though I knew it would be a lot to take on in terms of sculpting the wooden details in her legs and arms but I took the risk as I knew the end result would be worth it. In terms of the mouth with lots of teeth, it would be best left as a concept for the character for a later development.
Breakdown of the design: Female creature who is humanoid and lives in a forest/swamp environment with witch characteristics. Her slim like appearance and long black hair is to give her a representation of a witch or evil being such as a banshee who lurks around in the shadows. Her skin is green, she has gills and webbed toes, because she lives in a swamp. She is so intertwined with nature that the trees grow within her, as you can see by her bark hands and limbs. I originally wanted her to have a mouth that opened from her neck upwards with many teeth inside just like pennywise from IT. Although this was very complicated and I didn’t plan on including it in the actual model. Her skin is saggy due to the swamp which explains her stomach.
After I was happy with my design I needed to start blocking the model out. In class we did some blocking out exercises which helped refresh my memory on some of the techniques I used last year.
I completely blocked my model out in blender and sculpted it in Zbrush, which I found a lot better than blender. This is my final sculpt of my model and I think I have really improved on my sculpting. I also looked at references to help me with building up muscles and creating a good female form by building up clay strokes. This really helped me create a realistic looking body and show muscle shapes.
My sculpt:
Week 4-7
I was pretty confident when it came to retopology as I learnt a lot last year.
I looked at a lot of references to insure I had a perfect form and flow of polygons.
following Henry’s examples I began to create the main loops on the face and I learned as long as they are in a loop, it will work and that’s how I continued working throughout the rest and the more I did the more it made sense and how I understood the geometry and flow better.
I also ensured that all of my mesh had loops as this will help with the overall mesh and if I decide to animate later down the line. Ensuring the topology is correct also guarantees perfect seams to create UV maps.
The last time I retopologised, I didn’t have a great flow or very much loops and can now see the benefits of a correct topology.
After Retopology, I decided I wanted to create a throat/mouth for my character In case I ever want to use it for animations or further prop work. I placed a sphere inside the mesh and sculpted it. I then joined it to the model in edit mode by merging vertices.
Topology Research:
https://topologyguides.com
I then took my low poly mesh into Zbrush to add more details to the mesh by subdividing within geometry which doesn’t affect my topology. This meant I could later bake in substance by baking the higher poly mesh onto the lower poly mesh to ensure my model is highly detailed. I created my own brushes in blender to create the leaves on my model and made the wood from 3 cylinders twisted.
I had a go at creating a few different brushes of my own that I could add to my model.
I spoke with henry about my model and he advised to make the belly a little bit more asymmetrical as real stomachs do not always have the same amount of fat content on each side so i looked at some references of real life belly fat and adjusted my model.
Its very minor adjustments, but I think it looks a lot more realistic than before.
once finished I then exported the low poly mesh and brought it back into blender. For the model I marked the seams and unwrapped.
Here is all of my seams marked and my UVs unwrapped ready for textures.
I brought my low poly mesh into Adobe Substance painter and then baked the higher poly model onto it to give it more height and detail while still keeping it low poly so I can later use in Unreal Engine. I repeated this process for all of my assets. I did them all sperate as it seemed less complicated.
I used all of the textures that are preloaded onto Substance apart from a few of the bark and wood textures that I found for free on the built in marketplace.
I then created my skirt, hair and some extra details in blender using the Curve tool and textured in substance.
I slightly changed my model as It didn’t like some elements such as the branches on the face and the claws coming from the toes as it didn’t really make sense to have them.
Main body maps:
Details (wood and leaves) and eyes maps:
Hair and skirt maps:
Week 8-11
This is my first time using unreal and I was really excited to start learning how to use it as it was something I was wanting to try for a while. In class we tried it out by creating our own beach scene by adding a height map to create a 3D cliff like scene from a texture. I then just added my own assets from quixel bridge.
This got me excited to start creating my own environment so I began to research a type of environment I wanted to achieve to pose my model in.
I began to study composition as I wanted to achieve a really professional render for my model ad add a story behind the image. Here are some references I looked at:
What is Composition in Photography? (photographylife.com)
Focus On Composition: The S Curve (lightstalking.com)
15 Types of Composition | Muddy Colors
From research I think anything with an S curve would be perfect for my shot as I want to include a lake/swamp and it would make a more dynamic shot rather than just having a straight river flowing. Its also seen a lot in more outdoor/natural scenes which helps make the composition more realistic and create life behind it.
Here are some visual references I gathered to help me design a layout:
I wanted to create a swamp but instead of it being very dark I wanted it to be sort of mid-day or when the sun is setting to give more warm colours in contrast to the green water and nature around my character. Here are some reference photos I gathered for my environment. 
Here you can see I achieved the S kind of composition and breaking it up in the middle to help achieve a longer distance from the middle to the back of the shot. I think the layout is perfect although the lighting just wasn’t looking right to me. To create the water I watched a few tutorials on YouTube:
To create the water I basically inserted a plane and added a water texture from the starter pack then added waves. I then adjusted the colour of it to green and added some low lights underneath to create a glowing swamp lake. I used assets from the starter content and quixel bridge.
I adjusted the light direction and strength and then added in further lights around the character to help make her stand out from the surroundings but I still feel like she blends too much here.
I also wanted to experiment with a different pose to simply show off the rest of her body and features, so I went back to blender and re posed my character so she is standing up. the The kneeling pose is the pose I want her to have for my final shot.
I asked my friends for their opinions and they suggested tweaks to the lighting or composition. I changed the direction and intensity of the sun and added extra lights behind and Infront to help keep the mid day-sunset kind of look and this is what I achieved for my final render:
Deep into this enchanting forest lives a witch whom is so intertwined with nature, that it grows within her bones… do not disturb her swamp or you will suffer the consequences.
I feel like this is a much better composition and the lighting is just right. The red sky contrasts very well from the scenery and helps define my character.