THE BODY
07 BLOCK OUT THE BODY
I'm keen to do something really dynamic for the body, showing a lot of action! My first thought is to do something similar to Venom from the old Marvel vs Capcom games, where he constantly transforms when attacking, but I also really want to do a boxer, so I'm going to try to combine those two ideas. It's a lot to pose, so I'm going to have to block out a body fast. I’m loading up a scan I have of a vaguely athletic-build male that I purchased at the 3dscanstore. This gives me good proportional reference, and some anatomy I can refer to as I block out. My first block out is a little too bulky, almost like a troll, but I'm mainly just looking to get the anatomy in. For this block out, I'm mostly using the Move brush, Claybuildup and Dynamesh to quickly define shape and form.
08 POSE
Now I have a rough torso to play with, I can pose it and continue to refine as I go. Three hours isn't a huge amount of time, so I'm keen to move into the final pose sooner than later, in case I have to make larger changes towards the end. I'm using Snake Hook to pull out one of his arms like Stretch Armstrong. And then Clay Tubes to block in some tendrils.
09 DELETE AND REMESH
By masking areas and creating polygroups, I can hide or delete sections. When I delete them it allows me to re-dynamesh and start to create gaps in my forearm. Now my Venom-esque idea can really take shape. By merging the clay tubes I previously plotted in step 8, I can create a pretty decent base mesh. This first
stage has taken maybe a third of my time, so that leaves me with plenty of time to add more tendrils and detail to my torso.
10 DYNAMESH AND DEFINE
For me this is the biggest step forward of the sculpt; I have all the pieces, but there is very little cohesion between them. What I’m aiming to do here is add more tendrils using Clay Tubes, then Dynamesh and smooth as I go, so I can start to entwine them, making this seem like one long, sticky arm. I'm also using this time to refine the anatomy a little, in order to give my character more power in his pose. Since I don't have a head or legs, a lot of what makes my portion of this assembly unique will be the pose, so I’m keen to make it as accurate and engaging as possible.
11 DETAIL
Everything I want is blocked in, so I can finally work on the details. First off I’m going to clean up the recognisable anatomy, adding details to the hands and a more defined torso. I’m also adding additional tendrils and some pieces that have broken off. The finishing touch is to use an alpha to add some veins, as if his arm has been taken over by an alien parasite.
12 SLICE OFF THE BASE
I've tried to keep the very bottom of my mesh as symmetrical and centred as possible, so that Ryan has an easier time starting his legs. To slice it up I use the Slice Curve brush and create a new polygroup. I then separate that into a separate subtool and Dynamesh. Finally, like Omar, I add a simple arrow to indicate the direction that Ryan should sculpt in. This gives him as much info as he needs – position, scale and direction.