Step by Step - "Hopper Spine"
▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️
⚙️ Software i used: Zbrush | Maya | 3DCoat | Photoshop | Substance Painter | Marmoset Toolbag
🖌️ Brushes i used:
▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️
Here is a step-by-step process of client work i did last year. I had to do a Frog creature which was for a game.
You can see above that i didn’t need to start from 0% because they already had a base mesh for this type of creature in their database. The reason for that is simple. There were i think 4 different frog breeds (ice, fire, ghost, and this spine one), and they all needed to be rigged and animated later for the game. When you have the same type of creature it’s easier to make them all almost the same shape because then you can simply put a default rig onto every single one of them without doing the full rig again and again.
The other frogs were made by other artists btw. This whole job was from an agency im working together with from time to time. Depends on if they have a creature job. (Just in case you dont know what an agency does. An agency gets jobs from clients, and then search for artists who do the job. You work with the agency together (not with the end client) and the agency shift the work over to the client for feedback. Kinda like A > B > C (A= you, B= agency, C=client).
____
Our job was now to bring this 3D model as close as possible to the original concept art we also got provided with. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult because you don’t have so much freedom with the form especially when you think the base shape doesn’t look so good), but of course, it will speed up the whole workflow in general, and you don’t struggle with finding the right shape which the client needs to like.
Here is the original concept art. Like i always say, as a 3D Artist you have to learn to model something in 3D even when you can’t see all angles. It’s always better to have more angles but often times that’s not the case. You just get one view, and you have to turn it into 3D.
🡫
So let’s see some progress shots in between.
Sadly this client (or agency) didn’t give visual feedback for this project so i only got some notes written down if the progress is good or not. (i didn’t save the notes because it wasn’t really much to say at this model. They were most of the time pretty happy with it).
So the first step i needed to do was to bring the overall shape closer to the original concept art. The base model was just one single low poly mesh so i needed to add some eyes, spikes, nails, and the tongue first at different subtools. I also reshaped the head and the back to make it all wider and also sculpted a shell on the back as well. First, i struggled a bit if i should make the back shell as a subtool or not, but i knew that this creature would be very low poly so i just sculpted the back like that. I also added some wrinkles to the sides and the feet to make it look a bit more natural, even as stylized art.
Frogs or more specifically Toads, in general, always look wider in their shape because their skin is very soft and gets dragged down to the bottom because of the small bones inside. They normally have the belly touching the ground but for rigging purposes, it was easier to not make it so blobby.
🡫
The next step was to refine some details like wrinkles, some warts on the legs, the tongue and to build slowly some skin texture on the head. I also polished the back shell more to make it look harder than the rest of the body. Overall just focusing on some details.
🡫
After that, i made another detail round and pushed everything to a finished look. I wanted to wait with the back shell though till the agency was happy with the rest of it. Because when there were bigger critiques i would need to do the back shell and the details again.
Tip: Think smart and don’t do too many things at the same time. Better to wait for another feedback round to see if everything is okay.
You can already see what technique i wanted to use for the texture of the shell. Masking and pushing the masked parts out. That’s the best way to get a clean look. I used the FormSoft brush in Zbrush to bring the details out from the masking parts.
🡫
After the rest of the shell was done and the agency was happy with it, i could finish the sculpting part. I added some more little details to it, like skin texture on the belly with some alphas and more skin texture on the whole body
🡫
The sculpture was done now, so i moved to the retopology area. We had a limit of 4k as a poly count so i needed to take care of that while trying to keep everything in shape. I’m still not the best when it comes to retopology but well till now, it works haha. We never stop learning. So here is the result of the low poly version.
🡫
80% were already done so i jumped over to color and texture this creature. Luckily the concept art already had the colors on it, so it was easier to finish it. I made some poly paint base colors in Zbrush and then pulled it over to Substance Painter to tweak it more and bake the texture maps.
Btw the images you see here are the same i sent to the agency. It’s good to present your work in a clean way. It makes you look more professional and the client is more secure that you know what you do.
🡫
Normally i was done with the project, but suddenly the agency said i need to rework the back shell. You can see that the shell has these straight-down edges on every side. But the agency wanted it more round. (this can often happen, to redo things in your model. That’s why it’s so important to ask the right questions and to send over feedback at least every day or every second day, to avoid huge gaps in redoing work).
So i needed to go back a few steps. Happily, it wasn’t a big deal at all because the only thing i needed to do was flatten the edges to make it more round. So i went back to Zbrush, sculpted over it a bit, exported the new high poly again, pushed a bit of the edge from the low poly version down, and baked everything again in Substance Painter.
Sometimes this can cost one or more days to redo things, that’s why i highly recommend you ask questions during the feedback sessions. Don’t only rely on the client you have (like i did here stupidly). When you send your screenshots over, ask if this area is okay like this, or would they like it to make it longer, thicker, rounder whatever. Make and draw some notes on the screenshots and send them over, so you can be sure, that the client put some attention to specific areas and probably doesn’t change it in the end.
So long story short, i just redid the feedback and rounded the edges.
🡫
The agency was happy with it and as a test for myself, i put the model into Marmoset and laid down every map on it as well to see if everything is working together. Normal map, the uvs, if you see any seam of the uvs, is the color okay, and are the maps working? It’s mostly not needed to put it into marmoset, unreal, or any kind of render program (depends on which software you like), but it’s good for you to see if everything is working. What also gives you security, is that the client dont comes back because something looks weird or is not working. Just a little tip.
To make this step even easier, you can already make a template file with basic lights in it, so the only thing you have to do is put your model and maps in it and see if it’s working.
🡫
So here again the step-by-step process of the sculpting. Small steps bring good results.
AND DONE!
▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️ ▪️
It’s weird to look at old art. You see so many things you want to do better, but hey that’s okay. :) I love looking at my old art, brings back so many memories. And YOU should think the same way about your art.
