How to Create a Painterly-Style 3D Character in Under Two Days

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Antoine Zavagno. Currently, I live in Paris, France. I am a freelance 3D Character Artist, mainly in video games. I was able to work as a 3D Character Artist for Stratosphere Games GmbH and also as a teacher for the Game Art School Artside.

I spent much of my youth playing video games, reading comic books, and watching cartoons, so it wasn't a surprise that I started reproducing my favorite characters through different artistic mediums. Then I decided to join the Game Art School New3dge. It was during these four years spent there that I fell in love with creating 3D characters.

This school taught me a lot, both technically and artistically, but I reached my current level mainly due to my personal work and curiosity. When I find an artist who inspires me, I try to deconstruct their work and integrate part of their workflow into mine. Creating 3D characters has become a routine. In some sense, it is an integral part of me. It is this rigor that has allowed me to evolve to this point as an artist.

Getting Started & Gathering References

I had a sketch made by Victor Titov that was among the references that I used when creating my characters. And the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to convey it in 3D. I also started this project because I wished to get out of my comfort zone. I was looking to improve my hand paint skills, which until recently were one of my weaknesses.

For this project, I utilized PureRef to group images as I created characters. For those who don't know, PureRef is a highly practical software to organize your references. The images I used are mainly from books, such as Anatomy for Sculptors, which I highly recommend. I also used references from the Arcane series to see how far they pushed the sculpt and what they could fake in paint.

Modeling

My main software when producing my characters is ZBrush, which I utilize for modeling and texturing. I started this project with a sphere. I tend to use one of my Base Meshes because it allows me to produce faster and more efficiently. At the beginning of my sculpt, I prefer to keep some parts such as the nose, eyelids, and ears separate to adjust the main proportions more easily. I also kept the head separate throughout the project because I knew it would not be seen on the final render.

Once the proportions were in place, I merged everything. I used DynaMesh to get a single mesh, followed by a ZRemesher to lower my polycount. After, I reprojected my details while going up in the subdivisions and continued to polish my sculpt to a stage that I needed. During this process, I used as many of my references as possible to get a 3D sculpt that suits the concept.

As for the brushes, I used the Move brush and the Clay Buildup to create the main shapes. I tried to follow each line of the concept by making very sharp transitions between each plane. The hPolish in combination with the Dam Standard is perfect for that. And finally, the Smooth Directional allows me to clean my shapes while keeping the creases.

The armor was probably the most complex part to create, especially the chainmail. I had to find a balance between following the concept and obtaining a suitable result in 3D. For this, I decided to use the micro poly that can be found in the Dynamic Subdiv panel. First, I gave the general shape of the folds before applying the micro poly, then I deleted the excess rings by selecting them manually. After that, I added a leather rim to hide the edges. For the rest, I followed the classic box modeling process using the ZModeler with a few strokes of TrimDynamic to make the helmet look damaged on one side.

Texturing

All texturing was done in ZBrush using the Standard brush with the help of the Mask Lasso tool. I also projected the concept on certain parts using the Spotlight tool to recover textures that would have taken too much time to reproduce. I ensured that sharp shapes featured stronger transitions, while rounder shapes had softer transitions. Once the colors were in place, I added lines to mark the edges and also lines in a random way to accentuate this unfinished side.

I wanted to keep the sketchy and rough look of the concept. When I made a mistake, instead of instantly hitting Ctrl+Z, I took a step back. Almost every time I ended up keeping the inadvertent changes to be sure that the final version didn't look too perfect. It's this imperfect side that sells the 2D aspect.

I believe the key to achieving this 2D aspect is, at first, to create a sculpt that follows the concept while also giving a 3D significance to each line and change in value. I also went back and forth between ZBrush and Marmoset Toolbag, which I used for rendering a lot. My goal was to be sure to have a final image that works and also not to waste too much time on areas that would not be seen.

Rendering

I used Marmoset Toolbag for rendering in all my projects so far. However, I am gradually switching to Blender with Cycles as it offers many more possibilities in terms of shaders and lights. It allows me to better control my final image without switching between software. The reason why I used Marmoset is simple because it is in real-time and, therefore, allows me to iterate more quickly.

As the lighting there was already diffused, I used Sky Light or Ambient Light as the main light source and accompanied it with some secondary lights. They included main light that comes in the same direction as the lighting of the diffuse; secondary light that is in the opposite direction to the main light; flash that comes from the camera, which was used to create focus and brighten the places that are too dark; bounce light that comes from below, and rim light, which comes from behind the character to detach it from the background.

I am used to adding lighting with a warm-cold contrast because I find it more visually appealing. Once the lighting was finished, I added a bit of sharpening and focus to my camera and exported the image to Photoshop to add a few finishing touches.

Conclusion

This project took me a day and a half to complete. It was one of the fastest projects I've ever done, and that's because I didn't waste time trying to create something perfect. Keeping my mistakes and not trying to have ideal brush strokes allowed me to go faster than usual.

Trying to translate the 2D and sketchy look of the concept in 3D was the most difficult challenge I encountered in this project. Preventing myself from removing every single mistake was also counter-intuitive.

The few tips I could give to beginner artists would be to be curious, find artists who inspire you, try to understand their workflow, and adapt them to yours. Don't be too hard on yourself when comparing your art to professionals. It took them decades to reach their level. As long as you keep creating artwork consistently and don't stop challenging yourself, you will get there.

For those looking to make a living from their art, it is important to observe what is being created today, whether in the video game industry, film, miniatures, or other fields. Try to create art that aligns with the industry you would like to work in. And, of course, most importantly, have fun!

Antoine Zavagno, 3D Character Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine