He Lives!

After I was finally able to make some progress with my laptop, I was able to start modelling my lizard again - third time lucky! I was still having to put up with countless problems, such as slow laptop speed and my system crashing at least once an hour, so considering the setbacks I like to think that I've done quite well.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have been so determined on getting the quality of detail in Maya, but rather saved it for the sculpting process in ZBrush. Good geometry was always a top priority of mine however, and it was worth spending the extra time in Maya to really become fluent with the modelling tools.

I knew that sculpting scales in ZBrush would be a highly laborious task, so I was apprehensive to say the least. I wanted the model to be realistic and organic, so I looked at some reference photos of scales, and took some of my own photos using my lizard as reference.

I took the photos into Photoshop and made some custom alphas, which I then tried painting on to spheres in ZBrush to anticipate what they might look like. Pleased with the results, I took some more photos and made them into alphas too, which I then used on my model.

This took a long time, but the results were well worth it. I used a combination of different alphas of different scale patterns, painting them on my model bit by bit using the Projection Master in ZBrush. Each limb and every area was a patchwork of different alphas and some of my own hand sculpting of scales.

I had originally want to hand paint the model as I'd never tried digital painting and wanted to give it a go. However, due to time restraints, I largely textured the model by using photographs and the Spotlight tool, much the same way as I'd done with the alphas.

Again, this took many hours, but I'm pleased at how the model looks. He's semi-realistic and looks somewhat organic due to the use of asymmetry. I hope to include him in my desert environment.

This is my final showreel containing the modelling work I've been able to produce for 'Industry Exercises':

https://vimeo.com/68377551