Module 3 - Environmental Art Techniques Part 04

BWAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!

 

Module 3 - Environmental Art Techniques Part 03

 Bow to the almighty Quetzalcoatl!

Module 3 - Environmental Art Techniques Part 02

 I'm not as far along with this week as I should be, but have no fear, it'll come together in the end. I had planned to make an alpha or repeating texture for the scales, but I enjoy sculpting them by hand. It doesn't take too long and I would have to blend alphas in any way. I prefer rhythm and consistency with organic forms, so drawing the details/scales in feels natural. 

I'll probably only use the most simple feather mesh because it has the least amount of polys. 

The other meshes are the fangs, claws, and spikes.

New Ref Sheet

Module 3 - Environmental Art Techniques Part 01

 For 3D Art II, as a class, we are creating an awesome Aztec-themed room! We each have individual tasks. I will be creating the creature Queztalcoatl: the plumed serpent god. I am planning this creature more than I have any other so far. I am learning techniques to make the process easier in the long run. The technique is to sculpt the low res versions of certain pieces of the sculpture, such as the feathers, in Maya first, UV them, then bring them into Zbrush for the high res details. This is so that I do not have to retopo the feathers in Maya later, because it would be difficult to retopo so many of them and they are thin. Only the main body will be retopoed. Below is a feather/wing test using the new technique, as well as the proxy of the Quetzalcoatl with size comparison to Manny. The feather will be remade with about four or five different versions of size and shape.

Reference

Concept sketches