Making Of 'Vampire'

Concept

This piece started with the idea of the mutation of a human turning into a vampire. I wanted to show him in the midst of transformation. After looking at some pictures of vampire bats and creatures by the artist Carlos Huante (Fig.01) I came up with a primary idea to develop my concept.

Fig. 01

Fig. 01

I tried to see how Carlos Huante mixed human and animal anatomy and using that as a base, I tried to do the same thing with my character. I did some research and created two different concepts. Then I chose one of them to start the 3D production (Fig.02 & Fig.03).

Fig. 02

Fig. 02

Fig. 03

Fig. 03

Modeling

I modeled the character in XSI. I used the Box Modeling technique, and created a base mesh with right loops in order to animate the character and create a setup (Fig.04).

Fig. 04

Fig. 04

After the base mesh was ready, I took the character into ZBrush where I added the fine details like wrinkles and veins. I also tried to highlight some anatomy deformations a little more, such as the hump, and give a better sense of the bone structure (Fig.05 - Fig.07).

Fig. 05

Fig. 05

Fig. 06

Fig. 06

Fig. 07

Fig. 07

Painting

After finished the modeling, I painted the character in ZBrush. In nature it is common that animals have a lighter belly then their backs. Perhaps because the sun shines more on their backs? Well, I tried to reference this in my painting by leaving a lighter belly and making the upper part darker, with a few spots (Fig.08 - Fig.10).

Fig. 08

Fig. 08

Fig. 09

Fig. 09

Fig. 10

Fig. 10

Maps

Fig. 11

Fig. 11

Shaders

I used the metal ray SSS Fast Skin shader. I attached the maps and managed their values until the results looked good (Fig.12 & Fig.13).

Fig. 12

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

Fig. 13

Setup

With the textured model I did a very basic setup of the character just to put it in pose (Fig.14). With a light, I tested some basic poses to see how the character was reacting. I wanted to see how the mesh and texture were behaving too. I also took the opportunity to add hair and fur to the model (Fig.15 - Fig.17).

Fig. 14

Fig. 14

Fig. 15_vampire_render_pose

Fig. 15_vampire_render_pose

Fig. 16_rendered_pose

Fig. 16_rendered_pose

Fig. 17_render_test

Fig. 17_render_test

Light

I had the help of my friend Rafael Lucien (www.flickr.com/photos/rafaellucien) for the lighting. We added two area lights to the front and a little to the bottom. And then we added other lights to make the back light stronger (Fig.18 - Fig.21).

Fig. 18_vampire_lighting_setup

Fig. 18_vampire_lighting_setup

Fig. 19_vampire_bump_texture

Fig. 19_vampire_bump_texture

Fig. 20_vampire_lighting_render

Fig. 20_vampire_lighting_render

Fig. 21_vampire_render

Fig. 21_vampire_render

Post-Production

To complete the picture, I took him into Photoshop where I did some color corrections and emphasized the lighting a little more (Fig.22). I painted out a floor, the spit and a kind of "cold breath" for him. I think those things help make him a little more disgusting (Fig.23).

Finally I played with blending modes and added these elements to the image. And here's how the final image looked (Fig.24).

Fig. 22_vampire_render

Fig. 22_vampire_render

Fig. 23_adding_fine_details

Fig. 23_adding_fine_details

Fig.24 - Final Render

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