01
I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across this Character done By Bone Dust an illustrator from Italy.
I immediately Knew I wanted to try my hand at creating this character in 3D. I feel like I have been in a 3D personal project creative rut as of late, so My goal is to fully realize and make a basic Animation by the end of November.
Create an Aesthetic board
I like to gather Images from around the web that inspire me or give me reference for the project. I gather it all up and put it on PureRef, unsure if Im gonna take it in the same toon shading or a more realistic style I added both to my board
Sketch big shapes
First thing I try to do is rough in big shapes on paper, this sometime reveals problematic areas or areas I need to get creative with since the reference doesn’t show it. I also list out all the Materials and textures that will be present, even though I’m not at that step I want to sculpt these different object keeping in mind what they are made out of
02
Once I feel like i’m ready to dive in I start modeling the character. for him I loved his crazy proportions and stylized look. Modeling is one of my favorite sections of the pipeline.
Sculpting Ancient armor and bone
Mostly using the clay buildup and Standard brush I’m able to do most of the modeling. Pinch and Dam Standard are my other two go to brushes.
Blocking In Big Shapes
I spent ah hour using basic shapes in Zbrush to have place holders for sections of the Angel. live boolean has been a game changer for this step. I used it heavily on his neck and pauldrons.
Refining overall Shape
Starting at the Chestplate I push the shapes to better match the reference and studies. Making changes I feel that make it more of my own. I move onto the Pauldrons and add the edge and rivits. I skip over the dents and dings for a later step.
Digging into the Details
This is where I can get lost, I move all around the model so one section doesn’t get over worked while other areas get neglected
03
Translating Bonedustuff awesome illustrative style to a diablo II style
Bone, Rust, and Fire
When Texturing the character, I took into account that he has been locked away in a dank dirty dungeon for centuries, gone are the Angelic feathers and smooth polished armor.
Unwrapping
Used a simple Auto unwrap in Substance painter.
Substance Painter
Was used to paint all the materials and grunge up the fallen Angel.
04
To be worked on in the future when I feel up to it
Bones, Nodes and Controls
The Rig for the fallen angel was enjoyably simple as there wasn’t many places that had skinning stretching. I went for a simple rig. as this is going to to mostly be used for Large movements while being smaller and Isometric.
04
For the animation I wanted to do 3 Basic animations viewed mostly in a 3/4th view.
Standard Animations
Walk, Swinging the sword, and Death Animation