Workshops

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 In depth Freestyle character design

Photoshop & Z Brush COVER

FEATURE

FREESTYLE
CHARACTER DESIGN
Using virtual tools to conceive, traditional medium to refine, then digital
media to fully realise, Neville Page takes you through a rapid process of
generating a character for presentation…
ne of the challenges of get the idea across, but it’s often the case Bearing that in mind, my favourite

O working in a production
scenario is that you often
have to come up with not just
that the audience (a director, producer,
actor) needs to be sold on the idea, and a
sketch may be too vague. An image that
phrase and philosophy is to ‘keep it
honest’. By this I mean that if ‘it’ is
a concept, then it needs to be viable.
Neville Page
COUNTRY: US ideas, but also what appears to be final looks like a scene from a film or game A creature needs to look realistic and
CLIENTS: BMW, Fiat, art, fast. So how do you generate a good has a better chance of being realised (or plausible in terms of its biology and
Mattel, 20th Century
Fox, Warner Brothers,
concept based on a brief, and what’s the chosen) if it’s fully understood. morphology. If ‘it’ is a sketch of that
Universal Studios fastest way of creating an image based on There’s a downside to this approach, concept, the components and anatomy
the concept that looks fairly realistic? however, and that is that there’s no room need to work so that the animators can
Neville was
This workshop will hopefully give you for audience interpretation: you, the rig it, for example. Additionally, if ‘it’ is
born in
Manchester, some answers to these questions, and artist, have to fill in all the blanks. a perspective drawing of your character,
and moved to offer some insight into how I sometimes Sometimes a suggestion of an idea is it had better be correct in terms of the
the US in
approach a task. easier to sell because there’s room for construction so that what you get in the
1970. After graduating
from the Art Center This is a very specific scenario, where interpretation, but the danger here is that end (a maquette or digital model) looks
College of Design in the end result has to feel realistic. A lot the viewer may be filling in the blanks like the concept you ‘sold’ earlier in
Pasadena, California, in of the time I’m just generating quick differently to how you are, and the end sketch form. Keeping it honest will spare
1990 he set up a design
consultancy with friend sketches or even tight pencil drawings to result is a conflict of realisations. you a lot of grief at the back end.
Scott Roberston. He is
currently working as the
creature designer for
James Cameron’s next
movie, codenamed I’m a firm believer in the notion that a of the components that you’ll need later
Project 880. He’s also bad decision is better than no decision. on, such as the eyes and nose.
developing a product
line of artists’ tools
My parameters here are to use eels as an
www.innovationpage.com inspiration. They’re a desperately upset-
looking animal, and I figured that their
DVD Assets attitude would be useful in this creature.
The files you need
Traditionally, I would start with pencil
are on the DVD
FILES: Final Renders.tif and paper to generate the ideas, but, in
FOLDERS: Full light of the fact that this is to be an
screenshots exercise in efficacy, I will start with clay.
SOFTWARE:
Starting the concept The clay of choice today is digital, and
Photoshop CS2 (Demo);
download the ZBrush 2
1 For this exercise we’ll assume specifically ZBrush. Why this over oil-
demo from http:// that the brief is to design a swamp-like based materials, for example? I don’t
pixologic.com/order/
creature. It’s wide open other than that, believe that digital will replace traditional Massing out the forms
demoselect.html
and this in itself can be something of a tools entirely, it just lends itself better to 2 Although this is digital clay, I still
challenge. It may sound liberating to have the needs of this project. It’s like Sculpey approach it the way I would the real thing.
such freedom, but when you’re given vs Chavant (for you sculptors out there): Always work out the big forms first; don’t
parameters there’s less room to flounder both are fantastic, and both have their get distracted by details. With real clay I
about; this can help you to come up place. This is ZBrush’s place. would grab chunks and pile it on; here,
with a direction faster, and this is key to As when using real clay, the approach I pull on points to mass out large forms.
working efficiently. If the parameters are is to ‘find’ the design by exploration. I It may not look like much, but I’m starting
indistinct, start making up some solid start here by massing-out the form using to get a feel for the proportions, which is
ones for yourself. Even if they’re wrong, ZSpheres. This is where you establish all THE most important thing in design.

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 Workshops
Refinement of form
7 What I’m looking for here is to get
some ‘character’ into the creature. Adding
details to the eyes helps, and working the
subtleties of the mouth adds a little more
emotion. If you’re curious, I’m working on
Design Vellum paper (11x17) with a Faber
Castell black wax pencil that’s always
needle sharp; this gives me better control
of subtle, big shading as I hold the pencil
Sculpting the details approaching horizontal. I will also rub
5 My basic masses are in place now, the surface with my finger to spread the
and I can start to develop more specific value around a bit, and erase highlights.
forms, and also the ‘character’. This This approach is more about allowing me
creature needs to have that eel look, so to see the form through value than about
Stop and review PRO the brow is a focus. Once again I’m creating art.
3 Although I have a fairly good SECRETS looking for opportunities (sometimes
mental image of what I want from this called happy accidents), and these come
creature, it’s wise to stop and take in what Getting in tune from working loose and having many
with nature
you have at certain points throughout the To create characters ‘stop and review’ sessions. When
development process. What I’m looking that are plausible as developing any design it’s important to
living creatures, it’s
for here are opportunities that I did not have a consistent form language in mind.
imperative that you
anticipate: a shape may appear, a detail dedicate a generous This methodology comes from my
may be suggested – something like that. amount of time and experience as an industrial designer, but
When I pick up on something I’ll decide energy to anatomy and it’s just as critical in character and creature
zoology. You can’t be
whether or not to pursue it. Remember, creative without having design. The reason is obvious: we’re
you are the captain of the ship, but if an a good understanding of replicating nature, and nature is very
opportunistic wind blows… what nature has already efficient in her designs. For example, a
produced. And, quite
frankly, Mother Nature
shark has a very consistent form due to its
Refining the form harmony in the viscous environment it
4 You may notice in this image that
has taken all the really
good ideas already, lives in. Its morphology facilitates speed Final details
there’s a new purple area. The wind did making it very difficult
and über predation, and there’s nothing 8 I find that having a plan for my
for the rest of us to come
blow, and I saw an opportunity for an ear up with new and extra there for the purpose of aesthetics: details and textures makes for a quicker
detail. And, being a digital sculpt, I knew innovative ones! everything is there for a purpose. sculpting process; erasing pencil is easier
that I had to accommodate the new than erasing polygons (admittedly, I
feature with more polygonal resolution, could always Ctrl+Z). Anyhow, it’s
so I created this using ZBrush’s Edge Loop important to note that reference is a key
feature. Painless and easy, it enables me part of realism. Don’t, at first, try to make
to not only add more detail to areas ‘on stuff up. Study nature, and understand
the fly,’ but also to have more control over why things look the way they do. This will
the edge of that detail. For example, you empower you to create down the road.
may notice that the eyeball is starting to
look sharp at the eyelids. This is because
I isolated the eye from everything else
and ‘creased’ the edges; this enables me to
add crispness to an edge as I subdivide.
Additionally, I worked out separate
components, such as the jaw, and edge
looped them to give greater resolution
down the road. Lastly, I grouped different
components as separate polygroups for Step out of the pixels
faster selections. 6 For me a more efficient way to
‘think’ is on paper. Oddly, and perhaps Rework the design
this is my own deficiency, I can see things 9 I scan my drawing at this point,
a little better on paper, so I step out of and bring it into ZBrush as a template
ZBrush for a moment and develop the to work over. You can see that I’ve pulled
details and texture concepts on paper. the proportions to match the drawing.
I print out a screen grab of the side view, What I’m doing here is getting the sculpt
and do a quick trace. Since I’m content to match the drawing as perfectly as
with the overall shape, I stay fairly true to possible. I’m now pretty close to being
what I’ve done thus far, but if that wind done with the sculpt, and I’m ready to
blows again… start adding the textures.

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 In depth Freestyle character design

110 Texturing
As you probably already know,
there are many ways to texture Skinned an
d spheres
A key (Mac
something. Within ZBrush I like to
use the Projection Master to get most
In ZBrush,
back and fo
I
and PC)
often togg
le
112 Apply the map
I snapped the model to dead side
colour around the creature to help me
see it better in terms of colour and value.
rth betwee
of the smaller details. I’m not trying skinned ve n the
rsion and th
view (no perspective), switched to I added the gradation knowing that there
spheres to e
to get a perfect model here (remember, see what th Projection Master, and then imported the would be a sense of drop-off in depth,
changes ar e
the design may not be approved, so e. pattern document. Since it was created in and that this would affect certain colour
this is to be a fast, suggestive piece). the exact proportions, it lays over exactly and value choices too.
the way I rendered it. I made sure that it
111 Colour and graphics
Part of the allure of sea life is the
was double-sided, without fade, and then
applied the map. Fortunately, the graphics
amazing colours and graphics. I didn’t laid out acceptably for the view
want to have a typical monochrome green I was looking for. No clean-up needed at
beast, so to infuse a dash of creativity I all – how often does that happen?
thought it might be interesting to use a
tropical fish as an inspiration, and play
the effect down later. The fastest way for 13 Setting up the
illustration
me to do this was to paint the patterns in I spent a little bit of time working on the
Photoshop over an exported document. lighting, to try and get it to feel integrated
Make sure the pattern is the exact same
proportion (it does not have to be the
into a swamp scenario. Possibly not
enough time was spent, but I tend to play 114 Complete the design
I did envision only doing a head
exact same pixel size, just proportion). around a bit too much here, and as I’ve study, but it ended up feeling too much
I used references that felt right, and said, this is supposed to be a relatively like an eel, and not enough creature, so I
quickly roughed-in some colours and quick, yet tight, concept. Once the render quickly roughed-out a body design. The
patterns – nothing too tight, as I had a was completed I imported it into colour was chosen simply so that I could
sense of how moody the piece was to be. Photoshop. I immediately put a field of see the drawing, and the design is
Think Hollywood. Facades only. If you
don’t see it, don’t address it.

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 Workshops

loose because I know that it only needs to PRO

be an indication, as the head will still be SECRETS
the focal point, and the body will fade off
The laws of
into the murky water.
physics
I mentioned before that
17 Final details
The image looked a little too clean
adjustment. I often create two adjustment
layers for this, and ‘slider’ around until it
115 Integrate the body
I locked the body layer so that I
proportion is important.
Nature, once more,
at this point, so I added some particulates
to the water. This is a typical underwater
feels right. The last thing I’ll do is add film
grain, for two reasons: one is to make the
having worked at it for
could paint over it quickly to integrate a few million years, has photography phenomenon – a by-product image feel more ‘filmic’, and the second
it into the image. The head needed to refined her vocabulary. of strobe called backscatter. It’s a bad is to take out the crispness of the lack of
seamlessly transition into the body, and But she was confined to thing, but it helps to make the image feel detail. This, one last time, was intended
the same parameters
then the body needed to fit into the that you and I are, and more realistic (I hope). The next thing to to be a fast and realistic illustration of a
palette of the water. I faded (Gaussian that is universal physics. do is colour balancing and Levels creature concept. Nothing laboured.
blurred) the neck into the painted body, This is the stuff that
controls the outcome of
and then added massive amounts of all things, and their
‘atmospheric perspective’ to the body and resulting proportions.
tail. Lastly, I progressively blurred the It is the Golden Mean,
the Golden Rectangle,
body as it faded into the distance. 1.61, the Fibonacci
Sequence; some would

116 Environment
To get a sense of the cinematic
even say it is God. Take
some time to research
this side of nature and
moment, I added some environmental physics, and you’ll use
features. I roughed out some rock the parameters that
Mother Nature works
structures and blurred them, then added
with to create such
some rays of light and the resulting compelling results.
caustics on his back on a new layer set to
Colour Dodge mode – just enough to tie
him into the water.

78 September 2006

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