MASTER ZBRUSH
Ubisoft’s Pascal Blanché delivers a masterclass!
There are many ways to approach character design. Mine is one of many other possibilities, but doing things this way has always worked for me, and hopefully some of these processes can be applied to your work.
The basics are simple: start by getting inspired! We have all heard about the stress of seeing a blank page in front of us that needs to be filled. However, from my experience, you shouldn’t worry about this as long as you keep an open mind and continue to be curious.
Never allow a blank canvas to excuse your blank mind. Creation doesn’t come that way. Instead, fill up your head with other designs. Don’t worry, you won’t become overloaded. Use what you see around you – on forums, movies and books – to look for what you like first or what attracts you. Maybe you are in a mood for sci-fi or maybe fantasy? It has occurred to me that you don’t really dictate your artistic taste, it is more the other way around. It just so happens that I’ve learned to listen to these influences with more attention than others might.
If you’re working on a commissioned project, or you have a very specific task you have been given, then looking at how other artists have approached similar subjects and projects is even more important.
Once you’ve gathered some good references (I like to use Pinterest), take your time to study them – look for interesting shapes, colours and patterns. Some of them will feel more right to you, more like: “yup that is the stuff I’d like to do.”
Try to concentrate on those areas that grab your attention and begin looking for more references that go in that direction. Soon you’ll start to see what you like, but also – and this is very important – what you don’t like in the reference. This is where your creation process begins and where you start to fill that blank canvas with something that is your own.
Start setting a theme
With reference set, ideas sparking, it’s time to pick up a thematic direction. For instance, on my illustration on these pages, this particular render started with the idea of creating my own design of the old Psygnosis game Shadow of the Beast. I always loved the tone, the cover art by Roger Dean and the music of that game, which became an instant classic back then in the Amiga days.
The remake was good, but my artistic side was kind of frustrated to not have the chance to work on it. So I started this project creating my own vision of it. I started to gather pictures that would inspire that world using references from Roger Dean, and then expanded into what I felt
was the inspiration for that universe; this included everything from art by 1990s comic book artist Simon Bisley to some other artists inspired by heavy metal. The Shadow of The Beast game was brutal but also had this very airy alien aesthetic, and I wanted to get back to that feeling. That was the drive that led me to my design.
The more I create characters, the more I think of them as part of a whole universe. I like to picture my characters as part of a set, for example I consider my character in a group of similar characters and plot their role in this new world – what dangers would they be facing?
This helps a lot when creating a design with more story-related elements, and in the end, I think that the final design really benefits from the process.
Gathering elements
My backstory is set, my references gathered and my research done, it’s now time to put together some concepts.
A great way to approach this and enable me to get inspired and find interesting designs is to use the kitbashing technique. Kitbashing was originally created at Industrial light & Magic as a more effective way to create spaceship shapes and details (using tank and planes plastic models) for the Star Wars films and has since further evolved within the hobbyist community to create alternate versions of existing kits.
This technique allows you to be creative using a limited number of set 3D pieces, a bit like playing with lego blocks to come up with new designs.
Over the years, I have gathered a library of kitbash elements, and I’d suggest you do the same – every time you create a new sculpt, save all your elements into a library. I use these saved elements to come up with a few interesting shapes to use as a base to create my character’s armour.
Pose and composition
Posing is also a very important part of the creation process. I actually like to imagine my character in pose even before getting a clear idea of its design, as a good pose can influence the character’s shape, mannerisms and design. An action pose or stance is important, and can say a lot about what your character is – a berserk warrior, a monk or a knight will all stand in unique ways and so infer their design. Think about classic poses that could match what you’d like to convey in your final piece. Also remember that inspiration is everything and you should not
Posing is very important. i like to think of My Character in Pose before even Getting A Clear idea of its design
hesitate to revisit your references, but for now focus on the poses, not the design. This will hopefully fuel your imagination!
When I’ve found and created my pose, then – and only then – do I start to kit-bash my armour on top: a shoulder here, a knee-pad there, some cables floating behind to put more emphasis on the movement, and so on until I’ve created my armour.
colour rules
I have my own way of approaching colour, which is always less is more. I try to use a maximum of three key colours and stick to using primary and complementary colours. As you may have noticed, I love playing with primary colours (yellow, red and blue) and then shift them slightly to get more interesting results; blues lean more toward greens, reds toward orange and yellows. Avoid mixing greens and pink or purple colours as they don’t match together. (Only the Hulk goes all out with these.)
I also use light and shadows to paint more colours into my final piece. While lighter tones go with warmer tones, you’ll find shadows go with colder colours. experiment and find your style. When compositing, I work with separated renders as this gives me better control, these include a classic colour render, to a normal map and a depth pass.
The first thing I do in Photoshop with my final renders is isolate the light colours and shadow colours on a separate layer using Color Range (you can use the eyedropper or select localized Color Clusters to build a more accurate selection). I apply a Hue and Saturation adjustment on top, and importantly, I set it to Colorize, to force a consistent monochromatic tone across the image. This is one of my trademark touches and I encourage you to try my technique for yourself, and then have fun experimenting with your own recipes. The sky is the limit once you get started!
FYI
Read more by Pascal in 3D World 204, visit www.bit.ly/3dworld-app