Anatomy & Character Sculpture - Full Compilation

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22/09/25-12/10/25 (Week 1-Week 3)
Samuel Keane / 0376236
Anatomy & Character Sculpture / Bachelors of Design (Honors) in Creative Media
Task 1: Character Design Concept

JUMPLINKS

1. LECTURES

LECTURES

Lectures were given in class.

    INSTRUCTIONS

    MIB

    TASK

    Task 1: Character Design Concept

    Our first task on this module is to make a character concept to turn into a sculpture on ZBrush. Before I start searching up for references, I already have a character in mind. This character will be tied to both of my characters from the other two modules I'm taking for this sem. He will be tank of the team, the strongest. So, I want to make him tall and wield a big weapon.

    Backstory

    Dominic Kairo, half Black and half Japanese, was born in the aftermath of Jiwan’s 7th Independence War, now living in Galba, West Oasis, a slum where the neon never dies and the air tastes like rust. Dom’s the type to throw a punch first, but he knows when to shut up and think.

    His childhood’s a scar that never healed. His mom died giving birth to Naomi, his sister. Their dad, a Joylink worker, lost his mind after losing his job. One night, he stabbed them both and vanished. Naomi didn’t make it. Dom did, found half-alive by a Reject, chip ripped out, name wiped clean.

    Now he runs with Sorin Kim’s rebels, making noise in the shadow of Eden Tower. He says it’s for revenge, but deep down, he’s just trying to find a purpose to be alive in a city that’s already dead.

    Moodboard & References

    Fig. 3.1, Moodboard & References

    Silhouette & Thumbnail Sketches

    Fig. 3.2, Silhouette & Thumbnail sketches

    Outfit & Style Sketches

    Fig. 3.3, Outfit & style variations

    Fullbody Illustration (Anatomy Turnaround)

    Fig. 3.4, Fullbody Illustration

    Fullbody Illustration (Anatomy Turnaround) (Colored)

    Fig. 3.5, Colored illustration

    Dynamic Pose (Splash Art)

    For the pose, I made him stand infront of his weapon while holding the scabbard instead of the handle, since the way of him using his sword is unorthodox. Instead of swinging the sword, he dances around it, hitting the enemies as if it was a bludgeoning weapon.

    Fig. 3.5, Dynamic Pose

    Dynamic Pose (Splash Art) (Colored)

    Fig. 3.6, Dynamic Pose (Colored)

    Final Output


    Task 2: Digital Sculpting Basics: Skull & Body Mesh

    In this task, We need to start sculpting the basic anatomy for the character we made on the previous task. To begin with, I start with the blockout of the character.

    Fig. 3.7, Blockout details turnaround

    After the blockout was done, I begin the blocking stage by merging the shapes into one and sculpt into the desired body shape.

    Fig. 3.8, Blocking stage

    Finally, I added little adjustments to make him look more natural and fit my character's anatomy more.

    Fig. 3.9, Character turnaround


    Task 3: Outfit & Props Sculpting

    After finished working with the blockout, we were tasked to do the props and outfit for our character. However, before moving onto this stage, Mr. Tuan helped and showed me how to improve the anatomy of my character a little bit. 

    Boots

    I followed a Youtube tutorial on how to make the boots. For a beginner like me, it was pretty hard to sculpt it at first, however, Mr. Tuan guided me through the process. Firstly, I started by masking his legs for each part of the boots.

    Fig. 3.10., Boots render

    Pants & Belt

    For the pants, I followed the tutorial Mr. Tuan sent. Just like usual, I extracted parts of his legs and shape it into pants by adding wrinkles and folds.

    Fig. 3.11, Pants render

    Shirt

    The shirt is probably the easiest part since I don't need a tutorial for it. What I did is basically the same with the other clothes, except I need to really make the wrinkles by myself instead of following tutorials. I used Pinterest to look for references and this is what I made.

    Fig. 3.12, Shirt render

    Sword

    I used a 3d cube for the blade, and a bunch of cylinders for the scabbard and the handle. Then, I used knife tool to make the edges look chipped and the blade looked unusable.

    Fig. 3.13, Sword render

    Final Turnaround

    Task 4: Complete Character Sculpt & E-portfolio

    Pose

    The final task for this module is to pose the characters we have made, along with the compilation for the character. At first, I was confused whether i should follow the pose on the first character illustration, or make something more dynamic. I eventually ended up making a different pose.
    Since my character uses his weapon unconventionally, I tried to make him as if he is playing with it, something in the middle of dancing and air-guitaring.


    Fig. 3.14, Character posing

    Then, I began to make the clothes fit into the new pose. I did this by using move tool and drag the clothes until it matches and aligns with the body.

    Fig. 3.15, Fitting the clothes

    However, fitting the pants is quite the hassle, so I resculpt the pants by using an extraction from its legs.

    Fig. 3.16, Pants extraction

    After that, the rest is pretty simple, I copied the hair and accesories from the previous model, and I pasted it on the posed character.

    Fig. 3.17, Posed character

    Concept Art Illustration

    To begin, I started by somewhat distort my character on ZBrush to achieve more depth on the perspective view.

    Fig. 3.18, Character distortion

    By doing this, I can freely position my character's body part to make it seem more dynamic from one angle.

    Fig. 3.19, The result of distortion

    Concept Character Illustration

    After that, I started working on Photoshop to edit the background, compositioning, and text placement.

    Fig. 3.20, Illustration Process

    After done everything, Mr. Tuan required us to compile all of the task we have made into one PPT.

    REFLECTIONS

    Throughout this module, I have went through multiple anxieties and panic (lol) since I have never tried digital sculpting ever in my whole life. ZBrush felt so foreign, since every button have their own distinct function which makes the software very confusing. It feels like I'm working on a plane's cockpit. But, I guess after getting used to the software, looking at tutorials, and follor Mr. Tuan's instruction, I feel like I understand a little bit better on what I am doing. Eventually, I even find sculpting an enjoyable process.

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