Build a complex shaman character
Marco Rizzotti illustrates how he created this intricately detailed shaman render
Marco Rizzotti takes us step by step through this creation process
In every artist’s life there comes a moment when you realise that you need to work on a very ambitious personal project in order to push your skills forward. I had three key points I wanted to be present in this particular artwork. First, I looked for something complex, completely out of my comfort zone both technically and style wise. Second, I tried to keep a good readable design by using a very high number of details. Finally, I wanted to create something that would for sure need planning, dedication and commitment. The goal was to start and finish a complex artwork even considering the short amount of time I am able to dedicate to my personal work, which is about a couple of hours per day.
In order to follow my plan I used a fantastic sketch by Dave Rapoza which was perfect for realising all these points. The witch he designed is a complex concept, challenging to translate in 3D, with an incredible vibe and the right mix of mystery, power as well as a sparkle of madness.
Technically speaking it pushed me to create a specific and efficient pipeline establishing the most convenient timing for jumping from one software to the other, just to produce the enormous amount of jewels.
01 PLAN ANALOGICALLY
I was born in the analog era and that’s why I prefer writing down my plan and pipeline with pen and paper before starting. In this specific project the focus point was to figure out how to handle the big amount of jewels and props to place all over the sculpture. I decided to handle them in a smarter way by creating a modular system based on a limited amount of components which, by mixing them, would allow me to have a large number of different jewels. This helped to minimise the production time while maximising the results.
02 TRANSLATE A CONCEPT TO 3D
When using a sketch as a base, you need to use your imagination and external references to fill the gaps of what the concept is not showing. In this specific case I had to translate a very big number of props in 3D and some of them were barely defined or not defined at all. I decided to focus on what was visible and to translate those elements in 3D first.
At the end if something is not completely visible in the concept, I take it as an opportunity because it gives me freedom and room for my own interpretation.
03 INITIAL SCULPTING
I decided to work on the head and body first and to sculpt the clothes and the snake on top after posing the anatomy.
I have a very traditional approach when it comes to sculpting – I pose the model early and after building the basic volumes I turn off the symmetry to give the character a more natural look. The arms for example might look very different depending on the pose.
I leave the fine details for the end because the simulation of the weight of the clothes, the jewels and the snake will affect the flesh and skin.
04 MAKE THE CLOTHES
One of the things I like to sculpt the most are the folds of the clothes. Even if there are so many advanced ways to simulate clothes physics, I enjoy using the traditional method on my personal projects.
I had to first create a basic snake body, because together with the clothes and the body of the witch, it creates an intricate, complex puzzle of shapes.
In Zbrush and Photoshop I created all the alphas for the embroidery, which I placed manually on the hood.
05 THE SNAKE
I decided to go for an albino python to create a colour contrast with the witch itself.
The challenge was to create a believable flow around the body of the witch and the clothes. I used a snake scales alpha mask for the body which again I placed manually because I wanted to have more control. The scales on the face are sculpted manually since I found they are very specific and symmetric on the border of the eyes, on the mouth and on the upper part of the head.
06 JEWELS MASTERFILE
I modelled the base components of the jewels in Maya where I unwrapped and organised the UVS in a clean layout. In Zbrush I applied all the inlays and fine details, but not the damages.
I baked and exported all the maps from Substance Painter
where I also did a material test. By using the green channel of the space normal map I created in Photoshop a greyscale albedo texture which I could use on the components of the jewels.
This allowed me to visualise all the details on the low-resolution version of the components and to mix and place them comfortably on the sculpture in Maya.
07 SUBSTANCE PAINTER PASS
From the Masterfile in Maya I exported all the jewels already in position in Substance Painter. Then I imported the baked map that I had exported previously for the jewels Masterfile.
For the hood I used an ID colour mask exported from Zbrush which helped me to work separately on the embroidery. I painted the skin completely in Substance Painter and I added at the end some tattoos which should appear aged.
I completed the materials by adding a lot of layers of dust, rust and damages on all the surfaces.
08 FUR AND HAIR
For the fur and the hair I used hair cards which I placed mostly manually. To create the cards, I modelled several different strands of fibermesh in Zbrush. Exporting the BPR passes already provided me with textures of the hair, a separate shadows map and the alpha mask.
I adjusted the hair textures in Photoshop by using the BPR passes. In Maya I built the cards and I applied the textures and the alpha mask for the transparency.
09 RENDER IN MARMOSET
In Marmoset you can achieve very high standards with little effort. I set up standard threepoint lighting, applying a much stronger cold key light hitting the left side of the witch, and a much less intense fill light to create a sort of chiaroscuro effect. I used a warm back light to simulate the light coming from the subtle sparkling spell dropping from the hand. I included an additional point light to illuminate the snake’s body.
To finish, I added in post some spell particles and some colour and contrast adjustments. •