Unit 2: Sculpt Villain
My villain's name is Nex. He is a 25 year old white male. He became a villain because his parents used to abuse him as a child and would give him small cuts on his neck whenever he disobeyed them. He now leaves small cuts on the neck of his victims as a reference to what his parents used to do to him, hence why he is called Nex. He turned into a psychopath at the age of 16, where his parents went too far one night and he ended up in hospital due to excessive blood loss. When he got back home he gave his parents small cuts on their neck every night, until one day they noticed it was his fault. He lost his sanity that day and is now unable to talk normally, all he has ever said since that day is “Necks”. His appearance includes scars on his neck, in reference to that one night that changed his life.
I chose an image of Leonardo DiCaprio and highlighted the head and neck's most important muscles to show understanding of where they are placed and what their function is for 3D modelling of the human head and neck. The main parts are:
Zygomatic Arch
Orbicularis oris
Orbicularis oculi
Corrugator
Masseter
Superclavicular fossa(major)
Clavicle
Sternomastoid
Villain backstory
Head and Neck
Example drawings
These are a profile and front drawing of a skull. These drawings were done to show that I understand the anatomy of the human face and muscles as well as the positioning of these, including the distance between one another such as the distance between each eye. While drawing this I also developed my understanding about the human skull and the names and placement of various muscles such as the Zygomatic Arch which is one of the most important ones when it comes to modelling and designing the face of a human.
Character sketches
This is the first sketch that I made of my villain. In this sketch I only focused on getting a rough idea of how the facial structure would be. I chose a wide (not detailed) mouth based on the Joker, as he is one of the most well known villains and I thought that a wide mouth would look clown-like, which is a big fear of many people. I am unsure about the eyes and did not focus much on them, however I intend to keep the eyebrows at a similar size or shape. The ears are also not detailed but are roughly the size that I would like them to be in my final product. The nose in this sketch is a bit detailed, but I did not go too in-depth with it because it might need to change it so that it's in proportion with the head size and the rest of the facial features.
This is the second sketch of my villain. In this sketch I detailed the facial features and changed the size and shape of the ears as well as focusing on the neck and shoulder of the villain. I changed the shape of the eyes into a more closed/wide shape as well as making the eyebrows not too noticeable to make the villain more menacing. The nose was, as mentioned in the previous sketch, changed in size to put it into proportion with the rest of the face. The mouth was made slightly smaller in height so that it looks smiley in an evil way and not happy or joyful. In respect to the neck and shoulders, I made the shoulders wide so that he looks tough and has muscles and I made his neck slightly wide so that there's room for his scars and so that he looks tougher and more bulked.
This is my third and final sketch of my villain. In this sketch I focused on aesthetics of my villain. In the eye section I made the eyebrows darker so that it stands out in the design. I included a tear-drop scar that may be excluded from the final design as I am not too convinced about how fitting it is to his background. However, I included a large neck scar which will be included in the final Mudbox design and is directly related to the character's background as it is the scar that his parents gave him. I also included a small scar in his neck that could possibly be discarded for the final design as it may be consider an abusive use of scars.
Villain sculpt development
To modify the shape of the eyes and eyebrow of my villain's head sculpt I used the grab tool to lower a specific part of the eyebrow to make it lowered which makes it seem more aggressive, as well as putting it closer to the eyes to make it seem like the villain has his eyes closed. My brush size was approximately 9, and my brush strength was at default. To even out some parts of the eyebrow I used the smooth tool through the shortcut, which is shift. I used the mirror function to make it even.
Making the villain's mouth was, initially, a difficult process that got easier the more I experienced with the settings. To create the mouth, I had to create an opening which I did with the knife tool which allowed me to achieve this with ease. After this I used the sculpt tool to lift the surface and combined it with the grab tool to modify the shape of the lifted surface at ease. At first I turned it into a normal mouth, to get the anatomy right, and then proceeded to adjust the mouth so that it matches my sketches. I used the mirror function to make it even and also used the smooth tool to smooth out some of the edges and borders.
The nose was by far the easiest part of the face to sculpt for me. I modified the shape with ease and flexibility by using the grab tool and I then created the nostrils by using the sculpt tool as well as the mirror function so that the nostrils were even. I used the smooth tool to even out the sides of the nose mixing it with the mirror function as well.
The hardest part of the head sculpting was the ear, I have spent the longest amount of time on it as it was a lengthy process. First I had to use the sculpt tool's inverse function mixed with the smooth tool to lower the surface and make depth in the ear. After making depth I had to use the sculpt tool and grab tool to create more detail in the air, as well as adjusting the ear lobe and the rest of the ear's positioning. Once I thought that all of the details were good enough I used the sculpt tool's inverse function to dig inwards and create the ear-hole.
The images above show the aesthetics that I created post modelling. On the left is an X shaped scar that I put on the back of my character using the knife tool. This scar was included with the intention of showing a part of his name Nex somewhere in his body. Some of the back muscles are and shoulder are also visible, which were made with the grab tool as it allowed me to adjust the shapes more accurately and with freedom. On the right you can see the scar mentioned on my villain's backstory as well as on my final villain sketch. This scar was also made with the knife tool as it is the best tool for scars in my opinion because the way that it lowers the surface makes it seem like it is scarred/cut. In this image you can also see the collarbone and chest muscles, which were made with a mixture of the sculpt tool and the grab tool as well as the smooth tool. I used the sculpt tool to raise the surface, the grab tool to manipulate the shape and the smooth tool to even it out.
Experimentation
These images shows the experimentation that I have done after I had finished my initial character design to further develop my character. For the experimentation I decided to focus on the knife tool and see what kinds of patterns and connections I could make. I had to adjust the strength and brush size multiple times to adjust to my ideas as sometimes it would go too deep or not deep enough, as well as affecting a bigger or smaller area than what was intended. I was quite satisfied with how this looked in the end as I think that the patterns looked cool and they added background to the character as they could be interpreted as signs of being locked up in a mental asylum. However I did not include this in my final design as I thought it looked too complex and messy, as well as being an overuse of scars.
Final design renders
Unit 2 Project Evaluation
The Unit 2 project theme was Halloween villains, and I liked this theme as it allowed us to be creative and gave us some flexibility when it came to our ideas and character backgrounds.
The most enjoyable and interesting part of this project was the 3D modelling, as it was really enjoyable once you learned how each tool functions and what techniques are the most effective for you, whilst it was also really interesting when learning to use it because you develop an understanding of how each tool works and what the best ways of using them are.
The new techniques I have experienced are the sculpt tool to raise and lower surface, the smooth tool to smooth out the surfaces when manipulated, the grab tool which is useful for manipulating the surface into the shape that you want and the knife tool which I used mainly for aesthetics. I would like to further develop my technique with the grab tool as it seems to be the most useful tool.
Through this project I researched many games' villains to get inspiration on how to design my model, and I also did some research on how Mudbox works to adjust myself to the program and learn how to use it effectively. The villains I researched heavily influenced my project, as I made my villain's mouth look similar to The Joker's to add a sense of uneasiness and evil to his persona.
My favourite technique in this project was the grab tool, as it was the most enjoyable to use as well as the most useful and effective because it added a sense of precision and accuracy to the surfaces that I was trying to manipulate.
I feel like the most successful part of my project was the final design as I believe that I made it look realistic whilst adding a touch of fantasy with the mouth to make the villain look more evil and menacing, as this is what is done to film and video game villains.
I encountered some problems when I first started to create the mouth of my villain as I had not yet learnt how to properly use the tools. I learned from this problem by messing with the brush size and strength until I understood how it functioned properly. I also encountered problems when designing the ears as I kept having some trouble when smoothing and digging inwards with the sculpt tool because sometimes I'd do it too much and other times not enough, which became frustrating at some points. In this case I learned what I was doing wrong, which is sculpt too high/low in one go without smoothing.
If I was given the chance to complete this project again I would add some texturing to it, as I spent most of my time learning how to use Mudbox and how each tool functioned which did not give me time to add the textures that I would've liked and thus make it a better designed model.