Armour
Sword:
I created the sword from a primitive cube, manipulating the shape by extruding and shaping edges using the Zmodeler tool. The guard was the hardest to design, especially using the Zmodeler tool, as some of the shapes were quite fiddly. In future, I might look to create this type of object in Maya, as the hard surface modelling tools are better than what the Zmodeler can offer. Finally, the detailing was created by selecting a poly loop and shrinking it by a small amount using the inflate/deflate deformer.
Inspirations: I wanted Leona’s sword to have a large flat blade. For this, I have taken inspiration from media such as Berserk (Miura, 1989) and Bleach (Kubo, 2001), as both have characters similar personalities to Leona, and both carry large swords to reflect their large aspirations and inner strength. Additionally, I wanted the blade’s hilt to be slightly wider than the blade itself to reflect a cross shape indicative of Paladin orders (Marin and Boyd, 1996).Â
Shield:
I also created the shield from a primitive cube, the same as with the sword, using the Zmodeler tool. I found that creating the cross was very difficult and proved very time-consuming. Again, in future, I should look to create this type of object within Maya and then import it for the detailing. The topology that you will see later on the low-poly is the same topology I created using the Zmodeler tool. I then subdivided it and etched in the details, however, using a slightly different method this time: masking the areas using a hard-edged brush by hand (rather than by poly loop) with smoothing and then deflating them.Â
Inspirations: I wanted the design for Leona’s shield to have a large cross to reflect her devotion to the religion of Torm (Martin and Boyd, 1996). I also made the shield very large for her frame to reflect that she wants to protect her loved ones. Finally, I chose a nordic style etching for my whole armour set to reflect the pride that Nordic warriors took in their values; I used references from media such as Assasins Creed: Valhalla (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, 2020) and God of War (God of War, 2018).
Chest Plate:
The chest plate was created by extraction from the body model. I then used Zremesher to retopologise it and then the Zmodeler tool to manipulate the object. I used creased edges when subdividing to create the hard edges that you can see running across the chest and along every accented edge. Next, I used the same masking method as the shield to create the etched details: using a hard-edged masking brush with smoothing and deflating the selected areas.Â
The chest plate was one of the first components I made for the model and was subject to quite a lot of trial and error.
Inspirations: The inspiration for the chest plate closely follows my original concept designs, and I also looked at many of the female armour set references included in my original posts. I looked to my references for parts such as the layering seen at the chest plate’s base and the waistband. I looked at historical armour for reference to decide where to put the seams and creases.
Fur:
The Fur was one of the most time-consuming components of the model. I spent approximately 40 hours on this component alone, hand placing each strand of hair. I created the IMM hairbrush from scratch and used it to place the fur strands methodically. I’m pleased with the final look, although I would go for a more complicated base shape to make the silhouette more interesting if I could change one thing.
I do not think I would ever repeat the tedious process of creating stylised fur such as this. In future, I would use hair cards. Although hair cards would not look as stylised, this effect was not worth the time it required.
Inspirations: For the fur, I looked at media such as Game of Thrones (HBO, 2011) for inspiration. Knowing that Leona may traverse cold environments, I wanted her to be prepared for any situation. I tried to use a stylised approach for the fur, similar to artwork produced on Stylized Station (Smith, 2019).
Shoulder Plate:
Alongside the fur, this was another very time-consuming component; for the same reasons. Hand placing the lion’s fur using the IMM brush proved to be incredibly tedious. This part was challenging because I had to think about how each fur strand would sit atop each other from many different angles and go in different directions.
The Lion’s face was created from an initial Dynamesh sculpt and then Zremeshed. Next, I used the pinch brush and the Mech Cut brush to create the hard stylised lines. Finally, I polished the flat surfaces to give them a cast hard metal look.
Inspirations: For the shoulder plate, I specifically looked at the 7th Legion Paladin armour set from World of Warcraft, Blizzard (Blizzard, n.d.). I combined the lion’s head element from the 7th Legion Armour with the strong edges of the armour seen on the Northwatch Commander (Northwatch Commander, n.d.).Â
Bracers, Leg Guards, and Shoes:
Each component began as either an extraction or a cube and was manipulated while low-poly using the Zmodeller tool. Creases were then used to maintain hard edges while dynamically subdividing. Finally, the etched details were added using the mask and deflate method previously mentioned.
The leather straps were also created using a similar method. Again, starting from a 2x2x2 cube and then manipulating the shape using the Zmodeller tool. The only difference with the leather was that a smaller sized brush was used for the etching.
Inspirations: For the bracers, leg guards, and shoes, I continued using the theme from the Northwatch Commander (Northwatch Commander, n.d.) reference, combined with more etchings from my Nordic game references. I also looked back at my earlier mood board of female paladin images to shape each piece.
Shirt, Leggings, and Gloves:
Each of these components began as an extraction from the body model. I then smoothed and Zremeshed these extractions before beginning to create creases by hand. I used a combination of the standard brush, mech cut, pinch, and dam standard to create the creases. This was quite a lengthy process with plenty of trial and error before I was happy with how the creases looked.
Although I used many reference images while working on these, they look a lot stretchier and lycra-like than I intended. I originally wanted the material to be like cotton cloth. However, I am happy with the final look.Â
Inspirations: I looked at Overwatch (Overwatch, 2016) models for reference for softer undergarments, combined with looking at regular cotton cloth everyday garments. Though, I feel that looking at Overwatch for reference was a bad decision, as some of my garments have turned out to look more like lycra than cotton.
Capes:
The capes were surprisingly difficult to create. I had a difficult time getting the top of the cape to sit correctly under the chest plate, and the fabric ended up looking very uneven in this area. I also had a difficult time getting the back crease to sit correctly, which also impacted the final low-poly model also.Â
In retrospect, I wish I had sculpted tears and damage into the fabric, as it looks too pristine compared to other parts of the model.Â
I chose not to sculpt any creases into the capes as they will be animated later using Ncloth and I didn’t want creases to affect that process.
Inspirations: I looked back at a combination of my original mood boards and concepts for the capes. I remodelled the capes many times, and the design of them changed regularly as my model progressed. Hence, it is hard to pinpoint the specific inspirations for these as they were very much a combination of all of the material I was digesting.
Below are some of the extra references that I used while sculpting. I also performed various searches where I looked at images of clothing on websites such as ASOS (ASOS | Online Shopping for the Latest Clothes & Fashion, n.d.) and used these images as references while sculpting cloth elements. However, I’ve chosen not to add these here as I never stored the images and would often quickly switch from image to image, looking only for particular folds and creases.
References:
2020. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Ubisoft, Ubisoft San Francisco.
2018. God of War. Sony Interactive Entertainment.
ASOS. n.d. ASOS | Online Shopping for the Latest Clothes & Fashion. [online] Available at: <https://www.asos.com/> [Accessed 1 December 2020].
Blizzard, n.d. 7th Legion. [image] Available at: <https://ptr.wowhead.com/outfit=179484/7th-legion> [Accessed 1 December 2020].
FrankFamily, 2016. Paladin armor render. [image] Available at: <https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/images/588309> [Accessed 1 December 2020].
FrankFamily, 2018. Artifacts – The Breton Paladin. [image] Available at: <https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16199?tab=posts> [Accessed 1 December 2020].
HBO, 2011. Game of Thrones. .
Kubo, T., 2001. Bleach. Shueisha.
Martin, J. and Boyd, E., 1996. Faiths & Avatars.
Miura, K., 1989. Berserk. Hakusensha, Dark Horse Comics.
Modeler3D, 2018. Lion Head. [online] Modeler3D.com. Available at: <http://modeler3d.com/3d-modeli-zhivotnykh/%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D0%B4%D0%BB%D1%8F-3d-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0> [Accessed 1 December 2020].
Modeler3D, 2019. Lion Head. [online] Modeler3d.com. Available at: <http://modeler3d.com/3d-modeli-zhivotnykh/%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B2%D0%B0> [Accessed 1 December 2020].
n.d. Northwatch Commander. [image] Available at: <https://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/464309-northwatch-commander> [Accessed 1 December 2020].
Overwatch. 2016. [game] Developed by Blizzard Entertainment, Iron Galaxy.
Smith, T., 2019. Stylized Station. [online] Youtube. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/c/StylizedStation/featured> [Accessed December 2020].
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