Catching Waves
I started by making a ZBrush sketch to figure out how the hair should flow, and then built the hair using hair cards in Maya. For the beard and eyebrows, I relied more on reference images to help me figure out where to place the cards.
The backpack is inspired by an old Nike design. The RAID branding is from a commercial for sportswear that used to run when I was a kid.
I made the clothes, accesoried and backpack in Marvelous Designer and then used ZBrush to refine the models, find the right shapes and silhouettes, and add details. Retopology/UVs were done in Maya, and textures were created in Substance Painter.
To make the surfboard, I first had to learn how they are made. Turns out it's not wood, it's essentially foam covered in resin/fiberglass, with a wooden stringer down the middle. I looked at boards from the 90s and they all had really cool fiberglass fins
The prosthetic actually exists IRL, it's a waterproof athletic rigid arm which is great for a surfer who needs to paddle and then push themselves up into a standing position.
The sandals, jewelry, and prosthetic arm were made the same way as the clothes, but I skipped Marvelous Designer and sculpted them directly in ZBrush before doing the retopology and texturing.
When retopologizing, I focus on maintaining even quads and clean edge flow for animation. Items that need to deform together also share matching edge loops.
Summer is my favorite season and now that it's winter I really miss sunny days at the beach. I decided to recapture the feeling by making a surfer dude. I'm calling him Cody, after a surfing penguin I'm sure many of you are familiar with.
I started with the body. I knew all along I wanted him to have a tattoo, although the amputated arm idea came a little later in the process: it allowed me to change up the silhouette and it's a nice storytelling element. The prosthetic actually exists IRL, it's a waterproof athletic rigid arm which is great for a surfer who needs to paddle and then push themselves up into a standing position. After that I made the clothes, sandals, and backpack. I started out in Marvelous Designer and then used ZBrush to refine the models, find the right shapes and silhouettes, and add details. Retopology/UVs were done in Maya, and textures were created in Substance Painter.
To make the surfboard, I first had to learn how they are made. Turns out it's not wood (at least not anymore), it's essentially foam covered in resin/fiberglass, with a wooden stringer down the middle. I looked at boards from the 90s and they all had really cool fiberglass fins. It took some finessing with the shader in Marmoset but I'm really happy with the translucency of the fins when the light hits them.
I made Cody's hair last, and it was the second-most fun part to make (after the surfboard). I just had a very clear vision of a natural brunette with bleached tips, I've always associated that hairstyle with beach guys. I started out by making a ZBrush sketch to help me figure out how the hair would flow, and then I built the hair using hair cards in Maya. For the beard and eyebrows I just used reference images to help me figure out how to place the cards.
This character was a lot of fun to make - Hang ten, Cody!