Content and Task:
- Make a boss model and determine the proportions of the limbs
- Determine muscle direction
- Definite silhouette
- Engrave the details of the chest
In the head sculpt, I want to convey a sense of both danger and gentleness. Its silhouette might resemble that of a deer, but the details will deviate from this impression.
Around the mouth, I want to sculpt an emaciated and dry appearance, as if the skin is clinging tightly to the bones. Additionally, I want to create the impression of vines growing beneath the skin.
For the overall body, I aim for a more slender and lean design, suggesting that it doesn’t rely on strength or muscle to win battles.
Due to the story setting (though this won’t be shown in the video), this boss possesses the powers of both life and death. However, the power of death was taken away many years ago, leaving an unhealed scar on its chest. Therefore, I want to sculpt some details that convey the sensation of flesh growing on a hard surface. It resembles a fusion of organic matter, rock, and jade.
I aim to highlight its divine nature, showing that while it has formidable healing abilities and powers, it still bears permanent scars and can experience pain. At this stage, I noticed that its chest and muscles appear somewhat soft, so in the final polishing stage, I plan to make the edges look sharper.
I noticed that I started sculpting the back muscles relatively early, but because of the need to use Dynamesh, the details were lost. I’ll pay more attention to this in future work to avoid wasting unnecessary time. Since this time I started creating after not using the software for six months, many of the repetitive tasks could have been avoided with better planning.
For example, in a proper workflow, I should finalize the shapes of the fingers, toes, and all other parts before moving on to detailing the head and chest. However, I couldn’t help but start with those details first.
However, I often find myself getting lost in the process of refining the shape. This stage, which lies between rough sketching and detailing, tends to feel tedious. I often can’t help but dive into detailing a specific area instead of focusing on the overall form.
My weekly reflection:
Sculpting the mid-level model is a painful process because it’s extremely tedious. I can’t immediately see the final result, which makes the entire workflow feel endlessly long. I ended up remaking the legs three times.
The first attempt aimed to create a treant-like feel, with legs resembling a structure made of branches. However, when considering the integration of the legs with the body, I realized they were too thin to properly support its weight. So, I redid the legs.
The second attempt followed an animal-like structure, including bent knees and heels. But I had to reconsider this because the character needs to sit cross-legged, and I also needed to factor in the later rigging work. This led to the third version of the legs, where I switched to a human skeletal structure to make the subsequent work less troublesome.
I had to make some compromises, such as removing the branch-like structures extending from the hip area. I was worried they might clip through the body when the character sits cross-legged.