My first approach in Zbrush was via Ian, my alien, which I had to provide textures for. As I have never liked to be chaotic when it comes to concepts, I started to do some research on my chromatic range. In nature, the colours of the creatures are strongly related to their environment, so a background had to be provided for my alien as well, so that there is no discrepancy in his appearance.
As a kid, my favourite animation was Finding Nemo and I still remember how mesmerized I was by its colours, all of those coral reefs which shared the shades of the fish and of the entire marine life presented there. This is why I decided to create an aquatic alien, a mixture between a reptile and a fish.
I started my research by looking for my palette of colours and obviously, the first step was a dive into what I treasured most as a kid when it comes to animation. The Art of Finding Nemo can be found online (such a blessing!) and I took some screenshots in order to point out my main chromatic reference.
Diving further into the marine life, I discovered Alexander Semenov, a marine biologist and underwater photographer, whose photos had a huge impact on my idea of Ian. Once again, I was stunned by how diverse and unique the sea life can be and I will use it as a reference more often from now on.
This is a series of pictures that really drew my attention and inspired me to colour and texture Ian. I used the colours of the Bubble Coral as the main tone, I added the red shade of the Pygmy Seahorse where the pieces of the cranium come together and behind those three bags on the sides of his neck, I opted for five colours (red, blue, green, yellow and purple), inspired by the Giant Squid (in order to inspire danger, as it is suggested in the marine environment by the usage of complementary colours). As Ian was way too blue, even for an aquatic alien, I decided to add some purple and violet, inspired by the Sea Anemone, on his face and under his jaw, just to break the silence of the blue shade. The final touches were inspired by the jellyfish Cyanea Capillata (I used its shades especially on the neck, with a soft brush).
As far as the main textures are concerned, I used scales and reptilian skin, together with a coral component photographed in macro mode.
Originally, I would have liked to make him a flying creature, covering him in feathers, but quickly abandoned the idea when I realised there would have been a large discrepancy between the model and the textures. In spite of this, I kept the feathers texture at the back of his neck because it looks interesting fits the whole chromatic mood (and it's very hard to figure out what that texture actually is).
Finally, this is what resulted from all my research:
P.S: Even though I opted for 2 different types of textures for the eyes in Zbrush, when uploading the Normal Map in Marmoset, I noticed the eyes got a little bit awkward, so I had to settle for a single texture, which is the hand painted one :D. Anyway, I reckon Ian looks a lot better now.
0 comentarii :
Trimiteți un comentariu