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.
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).
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).
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).
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).
Maps
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).
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).
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).
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.24 - Final Render
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