Sculpting Influence & Research

 

Philippe Faraut

On top of the immensely talented 3d sculptors I watch online, I also like to learn from some of the most talented clay sculptors. Although its different technical mediums, I think the techniques and methods are very much applicable with digital sculpting. Philippe Faraut is a great example of talent. I like his methods and like to apply similar techniques to my models. He is great examples in his book Figure Sculpting: Planes & construction techniques in clay. 

Anatomy Research

Form and understanding of anatomy is irrefutably important when it comes to a good human sculpt. Because I was sculpting from scratch I found it useful to block out the model planarly, using planar models as reference for correctly and helpfully blocking out the face.

After blocking out the model using the planar reference, and softening the hard edges I can add the different muscle groups. I made sure to properly familiarise myself with the male anatomy and the muscular system to really enhance the detail and correctness of my model.

I had a lot of different anatomy and muscle references so I included a Pinterest board below that you can take a look at. Its were I save all my references and the ones I use as reference for my sculpts.

 

Character Modelling… continued

After the feedback and the reconsideration of the style I went back to modelling the background character from scratch. Again I didn’t have to focus too much on the details and rather just work on getting those realistic body proportions correct. Its the same organic process as the last, modelling the torso, head and limbs with separate spheres, dynamesh it together and use use ZRemesher to really nail down that solid, anatmocially correct form. I didn’t need to re dynamesh because the finer details aren’t necessary.

Similar to the clothes on the last model I just used the lasso tool as a stencil, extruded and separated as a subtool, then used the standard and clay buildup to add the details of the folds and wrinkles. As I said the character will feature predominately in the background and will be shrouded in ominous shadows so I didn’t pay to much attention to the details on this model. I want to focus primarily on the child and the main antagonist. For the boots, I modelled the basic shape on maya, then on ZBrush used the lasso tool to extract the “blutcher” part of the boot and used ZSpheres to create the laces. I was more attentive to detail because I can use the boots for the other characters too.

Characters and Assets Spreadsheet

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Over the years I’ve learned how truly important it is to plan and keep track of progress so that there’s no confusion or a slip of memory. So in order to save myself some time and pain I put together a spreadsheet for all the things I had to model. I included what type of model it is and if they had been modelled, UV’d, textured and if required, rigged. It’ll help me keep track of my progress so much easier and I can simply tick off whats been done.

Clothing _Concept Design

Seeing how I’ve been illustrating for the past couple weeks I thought I’d try and nail down the concept design for the outfits before I progress onto modelling again. Quite apparently the camo and the green is unmistakably associated with the army and militia groups but I thought the green would also be a good colour in contrast with the browns, beiges and orange & purple skies anyway, so I avoided any superfluous items of clothing with random, uncomplimentary colours that would contrast with the overall palette of colour. It also insinuates quite obviously as well that they are part of a militia and can allude to connotations of danger and violence which is also important.

 

I also wanted to draw out some concepts for the child, originally I had intended on doing him much younger at the beginning and older at the end, however for continuities sake and to avoid confusion I decided on keeping him the same age throughout.

Environment_Sketches

I designed a few different variations of how the cabin would look and how it would fit into the surrounding environment. I have a solid idea in my head of what it will look like so there isn’t much deviation. I just altered the landscape a little, how the trees enclose around the cabin or alternatively lay bare on most sides. The trees enclosing on the cabin give it a more confined and imprisoned feel which could lend well to the tone of the scene. The only thing is that the skies play a big part in the animation and the trees obscure the sky a lot.

 

I also sketched up some concepts for the houses at the beginning of the film. Because I had used references for the families and communities who leave or are forced out of the villages and have to settle in rural or wooded areas, they build more makeshift and temporary homes so I tried to replicate that style even if that logic wasn’t obvious to the audience. I might however omit the houses from the beginning. I’ll consider that after I have the majority of my modelling completed.

Storyboard Update

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One day I was sitting revising the storyboard, going through it scene by scene, breaking it down in my head and envisaging what each scene required; the animating involved, how long each scene would be and I started to think that there was some easier and more improved ways of doing some of the scenes. I constantly recalled when Henry had told me that I should let the props and images do the talking, when introducing the antagonist I should show the guns, the helmet, the ominous shadows on the face to visually clarify the messages I’m trying to illustrate. So I thought that using compositions and certain influences from photographers for example I could use static shots with the right, interesting material, and avoid having to animate in some places but still conserve visually appealing shots that could efficiently and appropriately take the place of some more technically arduous and strenuously animated shots that I had originally conceived.

After my conversation with Yuan about how I should probably avoid closeups of faces and over exaggerated, callous, amateurish animated facial expressions and my feedback from my pitch presentation with Henry suggesting a more ominous, Neo-Noir appearance to the film I decided to revaluate the scenes. There are some quite notable differences from the original storyboard that I did but rather than change the narrative, change what I mean, or change what the images symbolize, I instead replaced them with interchangeable representations of the same underlying connotations and visual messages & metaphors. I wanted to compose shots that were beautiful and reminiscent of the research I have done but also being able to use more intelligent less time-consuming ways of creating the animation.

I thought hard about each panel, each frame, and how I could generate something visually attractive, something visually engaging but simultaneously creating something that was perfectly representative of the message I was trying to portray in the frame or the emotion I was trying to evoke. I had to consider all the fundamental elements of evoking emotion in my audience, like light, colour, composition, the distance from the subject and the moment. I considered all these components when formulating my new scenes, making sure I could include as many of these interesting fundamentals as I could, creating the best image, without overindulging and effectively lessening the impact of the image. Its important to get that balance and use what techniques are most appropriate to evoke that particular feeling, emotion or style that I’m going for.

Now that I’m happy with my storyboard and feel I have it properly nailed down I can continue on to create an animatic, this is when you first get a sense of the pacing, the rhythm and the progression of your film.

This is also the last step before going into 3D, so it’s important to make sure that no more story changes are needed.