Archer Sculpt Work In Progress

I started the creation of my archer using zBrush. I used the zSheres to create the base mesh for the body, and then sculpted the basic muscle forms into it. A lot of the body wont actually be seen due to the clothes, so I kept the detail to a minimum for now.

I used the extraction method from the Pirate creation to pull out meshes for the clothes. Here I've given her a simple shirt, high rise trousers, a simple belt and some leather chaps. I will go into material detailing later on.

I continued extracting and sculpting until I had all the pieces laid out how I wanted them. I then went into more detail using the dam standard brush, among many custom brushes for cloth creases etc.

Here you can see I have focused a lot of detail on the torso, and the gloves. I used the custom 'Lace' brush in zBrush to create the lacing up the arm band and I cut the seams into the glove to give it a more lifelike look. The glove will be textured to look more leathery later on too, while the arm band will look like thick cloth.

The breastplate was particularly long winded and fiddly. I started to build up the scaled look across the main part by using a scale creation brush. I then used the Dynamesh tool to mesh them all together into one object. My main problem with this was finding a way to retopologise the breastplate without losing half of that detail again. In the end I used the original 'vest' without the scales to retopologise, then projected the detail down onto the clean mesh. This still lost some of the detail, but not so much that I couldn't resculpt the lost detail quite quickly.

I also used the extract tool to draw some Celtic knots around the base of the breastplate, to make her outfit look more 'Fantasy' and 'Elfin'. It was also a tricky process.

The armor pieces were the most fun for me, as they were something I'd never done before. I started by extracting the larger pieces out, then extracting the various straps that go with it, working out how they would attach to the armor pieces and how they would hold on the body. I tried to make the shoulder straps a part of the breastplate, yet still potentially be detachable so they could be removed should the archer get injured, or should the plates get damaged and stop her shooting.

Sculpt Turnround: 

Work In Progress 01