I've made significant progress on the Grandmaster since my last post (in addition to a ton of freelance work that I may post later, pending client-approval), so without further ado, here are some pics!
Front view of Grandmaster sculpt in Mudbox viewport.
Rear view of Grandmaster sculpt in Mudbox.
After getting the base sculpt for the character done, I decided to try my hand at doing some hand-painted texture work. Mudbox has a really neat feature that enables you to paint directly on the high-resolution model and then export the layers to Photoshop. I don't think there was a better way to tackle such a complex model... painting all those feathers in Photoshop would have been a nightmare!
After laying down the base textures, I exported everything back into 3DS Max and assembled the base textures utilizing Xoluil's DirectX 9 shader, which I can't recommend enough. (Find it here:http://www.laurenscorijn.com/viewportshader)
On to armor!
As part of the guidelines I made for myself for Grandmaster's character, I aimed to design a set of armor that was primarily functional, with little bits of ornamentation to indicate his status as a trainer of his tribe's warrior caste. I looked a lot at clothing designs for native peoples around the world, and was intrigued by the intricate wood-carving patterns of the Maori people of New Zealand.
I tried to emulate some of their motifs into the wooden parts of his breastplate.
Click both images for a closer look.
More updates incoming! Stay-tuned!
-Jas
