ALENA MEALY
THE DRUID
BREAKDOWN
"Little Gifts" by Manuel Castanon
CONCEPT
]This piece was created based off the original artwork of Manuel Castanon.
Something about this piece felt special, and I wanted to take on the challenge of multiple different styles of grooms within one shot!
Modeling and Texturing
I began this project knowing that I wanted to add an older male character to my reel. I started with a old man basemesh which I sculpted further and then took it all the way through the Mari workflow, creating my fine displacement using Texturing XYZ face maps along with hand-painting details.
My goal for his look was to keep things more or less stylized, yet on the cusp of realism. A sort of blend of both worlds!
GROOMING
I also chose this concept because how much grooming would be involved! Creating the look of the beard and and the wolf via Yeti, and relying on textures to sell the crow.
I knew a good portion of my time would be spent on the face and head, so creating a baseline for the fur was my first step for the body, legs arms and feet, then controlling the clumps with attribute painting. Then I would use that initial steam to then later build upon to get some breakup in direction and add some randomization.
GROOM DENSITY
RENDER
ENVIRONMENT AND LIGHTING
I chose to dress the scene as if he were resting in a pocket of light through the trees of a mystical and foreboding forest. Created with a mix of my own modeled assets as well as Megascans and speed tree for the logs.
