Block 1

Professional Practice 1

Week 1

Brief Introductions & Consideration:

In our introduction to 3rd year, we were presented with a plethora of briefs allocated to our specialisation - character had 8 in total. Broadly, they all focused on the production of a high quality character to some degree where the aims vary in terms of pandering to a studio with a style guide, or something more technical like element variants (clothing, accessories) and hair cards. While these were presented to us, we had to consider our current goals and aspirations to find the brief most suited to our needs.

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In order to kickstart our idea generation, we were prompted to complete a task of answering multiple questions that delve into what we strive to achieve this year, along with what we appreciated from the previous ones, and then what inspires us artistically (TV, games, artists) which can develop our vision for our identity.

In terms of our missing skills which we want to develop, I chose software such as Marmoset and Marvelous Designer which I know we will touch upon, especially for more in-depth costume creation and baking/rendering which intensifies the quality of our projects as we get closer to the industry's level. I also chose some elements in the workflow I strive to improve on that I believe I'm lacking in for my previous projects, such as lighting presentation, and areas I want to try like hair cards and manual rigging.

Finally, identifying the aspects of previous projects I enjoyed highlighted what I prefer to add to my routine workflow and style such as stylised sculpts with PBR texturing, and creaturistic elements.

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In weighing the options of the briefs, I was aware that the captain one was super appealing to virtually everyone; I can sense it's due to the creative liberty of choosing a style, genre, and studio to tailor the work to based on your own taste which presents the brief as a large expression of your artistic identity, epitomizing it as a visual showcase of you as an artist.

I already had a mood board quickly made that represents my ideal styles of stylised sculpts with high-res PBR textures and use of hair cards, mixing both realism and stylised together. The main games include Zelda Ocarina of Time remake and Twilight Princess, along with newer Final Fantasy and Kena Bridge of Spirits. Some honourable mentions include Overwatch and Dishonored II for their influences on my style so far.

My concluding thoughts on the Captain brief were that I'd love to tackle it and fully present my artistic identity but I believe it best to build up to it, warming up as it's rather ambitious as a full character project. Since we have the choice of recreating an artist's concept with their permission, I may need more time to contact them if I choose that route.

The other brief that struck me as ideal was the Hair Card Bust brief, which includes the sculpted head and shoulders of a character, and their hair created using hair cards.

This one felt less intense, while challenging us in other aspects such as exploring entirely new software like Maya, Xgen, and FibreShop, and tackling much more detailed hair.

I find it ideal as I can use the realistic requirements of the style to fully commit to studying the human face such as proportionate planes and structure, detailed pores and skin detail, subsurface scattering and colour zones to a comprehensive degree that will assure me in my knowledge before shifting to stylised so I'm thoroughly prepared with anatomical knowledge.

Exploring what pre-established concepts I could depict, I found the characters of Game of Thrones interesting candidates for their elaborate hairstyles- I've elected to be realistic and found references of their simpler styles, yet their elegance isn't diminished. This felt like a moderate challenge without overly ambitious requirements.

Overall, I've decided on the Hair Card Bust brief to pursue. I believe it provides moderate challenge that develops my skills in sculpting and texturing people to a realistic standard with observation of skin materials, along with anatomical knowledge and gauging likeness in sculpting an actress, and then new technical skills including use of multiple new software, and placing the hair with parting and separation consideration based on the thickness of the card itself. This final project of realistic people gives me a send off from this style and develops my skills which feature in the jump to stylised, like the hair cards seen in my mood board of game styles. Searching for reference should prove easy and thorough as I simply need to watch the show and capture the hairdo from every angle possible - the breadth of angles will help me in that aspect, where studio-lit photos of the actresses provide consistent reference for sculpting.

Project Specifications:

Significant Dates:

Start Date: 5th October (Week 1)
Formative Feedback: Week 5
Submission Date: 20th November (Week 7)

Bonus Info:

Head and hair must feature proportionate topology distribution.
Hair cards will utilise the range of thick, medium, thin density cards to produce a plausible hairdo.
UV spaces should be properly allocated for the hair texture.

Tri Budget:

Overall Budget: 45k Tri's.
Head: 15k Tri's.
Hair: 30k Tri's.

Texture Budget:

1x 4k Hair Texture (normal, alpha, AO, flow, unique, root, albedo)
1x 4k Head Texture (normal, AO, roughness, etc)
1x 2k Accessories

Teo's Feedback:

Being the first lecturer I spoke to since fully deciding on the brief and concept (Game of Thrones), Teo approved of this idea and especially the importance of capturing the likeness; mostly, she reinforced the idea of gathering further references including multiple angles of the actress' face, and consistent photos of the hairstyle in the show, which can be found like that or sometimes in interviews and behind the scenes. It's vital that I thoroughly cover the appearance of the hairstyle in reference format so I'm not left unsure when placing the hair cards.

In terms of the actress, I haven't chosen one yet but everyone except Daenerys' actress have directly characteristic faces that are easier to achieve the resemblance of which strengthen their candidacy whereas Daenerys is the strongest thematically with the draconic, fiery imagery. I haven't been discouraged from choosing her, but it certainly pulls me towards the others which helps as it eliminates one option (I'm very on the fence).

It might require a little more thought, but I do find myself most drawn towards Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) for her youthful and naive demeanor early on which I can capture with wide, doe eyes, the vivid ginger hair, and her visual association with wolves via her familial ties of House Stark. I do believe that if she is the final choice, I will need to conduct an analysis on her characteristics and distinctive features that set her apart - creating studies like drawings and these examinations can greatly assist in the production of her sculpt going forward.

A final point that was stressed was ensuring both sculpting the face/bust and creating the hairstyle with cards both have necessary time dedicated so that they both succeed visually and work together to fulfill a strong project.

Dev Log Evaluation:

For the first lesson, I wanted to decide on the brief I'd do and what I would do within the brief. I believe my choice of the Hair Card Bust brief provides moderate challenge with familiar elements like bust sculpting, and PBR texturing, where I delve into new techniques like producing hair cards for a slightly complex hairstyle. I am relatively certain I'll create Sansa Stark, and regardless of who I choose, I'm setting myself the task of producing some studies of their likeness through drawing, along with a written blog task on the analysis of their distinctive features that can help in the sculpt process, along with work towards the goal of gathering many references.

I will also look at previous students' work on this project to see how they tackled certain areas such as braids which I may do if I feel ambitious, along with consulting Will on how complex I should go for the hairdo. I would also like to create a schedule for week 1 - 7 to organise my tasks and deadlines, so time for each task is necessarily allocated including sculpting, retopologising, hair card creation and placement, texturing, and lighting/presenting.

Young Sansa (simpler clothing, simplish hair with braids)

Mid-show Sansa (very ambitious hairstyle, just had to include)

Queen Sansa (simpler hairstyle, complex clothing where fur and crown could be omitted)

Craig's Feedback:

I discussed with Craig how I was worried that her hairstyle would be too simple - I'd settled on the final Queen in the North scene as it holds the strongest thematic pull and cohesion, but her hair is just straight and down so I feared it wasn't enough. However, I was reassured that the main goal is to learn the workflow of hair cards and get the best result, being moderate and realistic as to allow ourselves time for error and ensuring it works technically. Therefore, the straightdown hair works best as it's in the more compelling scene for her character followed by a realistic goal.

I had already decided the fur was NOT happening, so the scene will include her beautiful face, the hair cards, and the clothing shouldn't be top priority but the inclusion of the collar and chestplate will be present. A stretch goal is also the crown! What I need to do now is fully gather references of Sophie Turner's face at multiple angles so I can start a consistent sculpt.

I also found this book online which could contain some info on Sansa's outfit in that final scene which could be good if I get the time to go in detail with her clothing. Craig told me it's in the library so it's a convenient resource to have!

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Another resource I felt worth looking into was artist's caricaturised depictions of Sansa - looking at multiple interpretations allows me to see her distinct features that others notice and exaggerate, which exemplify to me what must be retained in sculpting her realistically. To carry out a likeness study in realism, I will need to maintain proportionate accuracy while exaggerating slightly to further enhance the resemblance to Sophie Turner.

Through the three examples I found done by David Groves, Joe Corrao, and Alessandro Marques (credited in the bibliography) I was able to identify these noteworthy elements. To start, I found that the midface/cheeks were always enlarged to define her high and strong cheekbones which felt extra appropriate for the authorative role she takes as queen in the final season, along with generally upturned eyebrows that re-enforce her demeanor towards the end.

Another detail that I found to be relevant exclusively to her appearance was the puckering of her lips; Sophie Turner generally has a smaller mouth which doesn't meet the middle of the eyes at its ends, showing her unique facial proportions which are characteristically puckered in the drawings to enhance her fuller bottom lip and cupids bow at the top.

Finally, her jaw is more square and her hair retains that shape depending on the hairstyle, to show her steady and sensible nature in shape language, with pointed ears to sharpen the appearance and establish her unapologetic attitude by the show's end.

Overall, the vital features to carry over to the sculpt for likeness' sake are the high, wide cheekbones, her square jaw, her thin, angled brows, and her puckered lips. Once I begin sculpting in Zbrush, I will establish a head and bust with general anatomical correctness, and then build in these distinguished elements as I bring in the features.

Starting a Sculpt:

Returning to Zbrush after a long summer was certainly humbling, being rusty in my sculpting skills and especially because of the obligatory ugly stage at the beginning of a project. I was also delving into somewhat new territory via my sculpt being started from scratch - previously, I had used a base mesh for human projects (the alien was Zspheres) so beginning an organic sculpt from primitive shapes was a new challenge to overcome.

I began with a sphere that I warped in conjunction with the move tool to attain the oval head shape, using the clay buildup tool to carve out landmarks like the eyes, followed by inserting an angled cube for the nose.

With a super simple base complete, I was able to start sculpting in the forms and features such as the nose and lips, using dynamesh to merge these parts. I wasn't too focused on attaining likeness at this point, simply aiming to have a working head.

From here, I started working from my gathered references of Sansa and Sophie Turner at each angle to hone in on her likeness; taking notes from my caricature study, I worked on each feature accordingly.

Features Important to Sansa's Likeness:

Sophie Turner has a generally square-shaped jaw with wide cheekbones that frame her face with a strong outline.

Minor details of unique traits that add a lot to the resemblance include her chin dimple, puffiness under her lips with a strong planar change to the chin.

I added mesh eyebrows temporarily as this helps visualise her face better - a lack of eyebrows feels uncanny. They're also rather thin and pointed, which will be vital to remember in the hair card stage.

Her top eyelid is rather curved, whereas the bottom sits flatter, as if slightly squinting.

A collection of her features are quite pointed, including her brows, nose tip, and her ears which I must keep in mind when I sculpt those.

Current Progress:

After more sculpting, I reached this result by the end of the session; I used spheres and cylinders in conjunction with dynamesh to get a vague blockout of the shoulders, although they look super strange at this stage due to the bareness and much too tall neck, also the fact that it looks more like a museum bust with cutoff/carved stone rather than the shoulders and head of a full character. However. since no skin is shown in Sansa's outfit it won't be necessary to add details like the collarbones or sternum. The back is way too flat at the moment so I will thicken that in the next session.

Dev Log Evaluation:

For my second lesson, I'm glad I managed to achieve a moderate head sculpt with some vague resemblance to the actress - this leaves me plenty time in the sculpting stage to make mistakes and correct areas that are lacking, especially since I don't believe her likeness is fully achieved yet. I want to exaggerate the roundness of her lips a little more to achieve that subtly puckered look, and generally just progress it to a full-fledged realistic sculpt.

Since it's in a realistic style, I aim to utilise layers and alpha brushes to gain organic granular detail such as pores and skin creases. Clothing isn't a top priority but the blockout of it will help push the bust area along to check off that requirement, especially since the high collar of the shirt enhances the uptight, regal demeanour she exhibits at the end, being crowned Queen.

Gabriele Feedback:

For my feedback with Gabriele, I wanted to focus more on the technical aspect where my character-based concerns are allocated to other lecturers; the main point for me to discuss were the hard-surface elements, their creation, and budget. We agreed that the crown was important to include narratively, for the sake of establishing the atmosphere of a regal monarch, and that it needs necessary budget. Therefore, I'd go about it by individually sculpting the chained shapes as they're simple by themselves, and the wolves too. Retopping will also be elaborate since it's very clearly displayed in the scene so it needs the same level of detail and attention as the rest of the components.

This sort of process would be similar for the wrought iron chestplate, that which material is seen in elaborate fence/gate designs - this warrants the complex shapes of her armour. Gabriele approved of how I looked back to my previous Scarlet Witch project wherein I made a chestplate with multiple layers and holes using a hardsurface workflow of Zmodeller in Zbrush, seeing as I can use my gained knowledge and improve upon the skills earned. Not only will the process be similar to the crown, but I can also neglect details at the back since Sansa's hair is long and thick enough to fully obscure the back, which will save me some budget.

Blocking out Clothing:

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I started crafting her outfit with the collar made from a cylinder; grouping it by normals and then deleting the top, bottom, and vertical line's polygroups for a hollow cylinder which I then extruded.

Next, I scaled it down and fitted it to her neck, where I started using the move topology tool to wrap the collar around and fold it in, pulling out the foremost corner. This gave me a decent base made with Zmodeller to work from and add detail to.

(Reference from the Game of Thrones: Costumes book)

For a few reasons I elected to do the ears next - the brief is realism and therefore requires an accurate depiction of human body parts, and the fact that I managed to evade doing them for the final 2 blocks of third year. Essentially, I haven't done ears since the end of year 1... I definitely need to cover it so I'm thoroughly confident in all anatomical areas both in sculpting and retopology. I actually don't mind retopology, but ears were horrible so practice will hopefully ease the process.

I started with my block out blob with a flattened plane, carving in the main volumes and plane changes, followed by Zremeshing to a higher resolution for better detail, where I added the secondary grooves. Finally, I Zremeshed again and added more. It's super grotty and wobbly-looking, but I'm not sure if that's just because ears are strange by nature; however, this area is something I'll come back to because it will need polish regardless.

I blocked in some hair just to visualise her better, as with the brows, and I do believe I've captured her likeness effectively using the distinct characteristics like the cheekbones, puffy under-lips, and square jaw. I also tried turning on/off dynamic perspective just to see her without the enhanced camera I was working from.

(Dynamic Perspective on)

(Dynamic Perspective off)

This is how my sculpt looked by the third lesson and I believe it does achieve a moderate level of resemblance and basic anatomy, but I will consult Will tomorrow on how to bring her to full fruition with elaborate, believable anatomy and a thorough capture of likeness. Once I get Will's advice, I can take the sculpt further with extra realistic tertiary detail at a higher res with pore alphas on layers, and start to consider the hair card process.

Just a few development screenshots of the hair I did to picture Sansa better.. I also blocked in the crown via the same method as the collar, using polygroups and Zmodeller. It's especially helpful seeing as the framing of her face with the crown does affect the resemblance to the references, with the master reference being in the center.

Will's Feedback:

At this point in the session, I was feeling rather stuck and in retrospect, spiralling with a tunnel vision on realism and one-to-one likeness. This was causing the sculpt to lose its aesthetic quality as I aimed for the subtle plane changes and skin height variation, causing Sansa to appear older than she is; and in my aim to achieve thorough likeness I was overwhelmed with matching the features which lost it overall.

When Will came over, I explained this likeness limbo I was stuck in and I was told I did achieve the likeness, but I needed to smooth a lot of areas out - I believe that my focus on the realistic style and skin height is what caused the problems. With his recommendation of Zremeshing to a lower resolution and smoothing out the forms for a more youthful look, I was able to gain back control of shaping the features with ease.

We also discussed schedule as I'm trying to navigate independent time management in which I was told that hair card placement is the hardest part wherein you spend the most time typically. The rest of our skills should allow for more time on this new area, so we agreed upon the idea of my next goal being researching the hair cards process - starting with Hazel Brown's tutorials provided on Learning Zone. From here, I can delve into Maya/Xgen and begin the production of some hair cards to initiate this part of the project, especially since in the industry you will typically work on projects simultaneously.

Finally, the discussion topic of least current importance was the production of the clothing. My current plan is a cutoff bust rather than a full torso with arms so I can focus on the requirements most important to the brief, but I may do more if I have time. However, the chestplate has a perfect cutoff point with its curved design that essentially fits my current sculpt - and I can pursue this armour regardless of the length I take my bust; for its creation, we decided on geometry for the framing wires, and alphas for the finicky, thin design. Since it's fitted to Sansa's torso and follows her contour, the illusion of the alpha won't be exposed so I can simply texture it as normal and place it afterwards. The shirt/collar underneath isn't so complex and will simply involve some patterning. As discussed with Gabriele, I will individually place the crown's chain design as its a vital detail in the scene, and use Zspheres for the fused branches at the back.

Until the end of the session, I will focus on regaining likeness at this lower resolution where tertiary details won't interrupt.

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Dev Log Evaluation:

The screenshot shows the result of my sculpt by week 1's end, in which I worked upon the feedback Will gave me of working at a lower resolution for a cleaner result, wherein I brought back Sansa's distinctive features that were lost in the switch to low res via Zremesher. I brought her square jaw back in, the pronounced cheek bones and sublte hollowness in the cheeks.

I do believe this is a strong blockout for week 1 with some likeness and the addition of crude details like hair, and the crown, but as I'm aiming for thorough realism I must take the likeness much further for a palpable character depiction, along with an elaborate builup of the form to show the closeness to life.

I'm aware that the lecturers said that people have previously struggled with this project as they spent a lot of time taking care of sculpt details, trying to nail the likeness, to the detriment of the hair card component as insufficient time is allocated towards it. Therefore, I don't want to linger on this too long if it causes difficulty - especially since I can work on the two simultaneously and come back to the sculpt with fresh eyes another time. Essentially, I want to delve into the hair cards process next week so I have some progress built on both areas.

Week 2

Developing the Sculpt:

Returning to my sculpt for week 2, I knew that I wanted to get aesthetic and form-based feedback so that I can get out of the rut I found myself in last week with the sculpt and losing its distinction; knowing we had Teo scheduled for our lesson today, I aim to seek her advice and adapt the sculpt upon it so I'm satisfied enough to leave it and start on the introduction to hair cards. I want to give both components ample time and attention, so starting early on both is necessary, especially establishing my simultaneous development of both.

Teo's Feedback:

I wanted to get Teo's advice on gaining the likeness back since the end of week 1 had me stuck in a rut with bringing the resolution down for cleanliness' sake which lost the distinct features in the process - this was necessary so I could fulfill a pristine sculpt, and it will be evident once I do develop the sculpt to its previous resemblance but I hoped for some guidance on how to approach that in-between step. Teo weighed in on it by comparing with my references.

Start by pulling face down so the nose is longer and pull it out so its more pronounced. It also needs to be widened a little.
Lower eyelids need to go in more, not stop at the eye's inner corner.
Generally bigger eyes, lengthen them a little.
The face shape needs to be more square, it looks a little rectangular so bring the cheekbones in a little and pull the jaw down subtly.
Pronounce the top lip by defining the cupid's bow and those angular points. The bottom lip could jut out more so those plane changes are evident.
The distances in the mouth area are right, it's just the nose needs to be lower.

Followup Feedback:

Nose still needs lengthening a bit.
The bottom eyelids generally dont curve so much, and also Sophie Turner's are more straight anyway - make them straight.
Shoulders should be two faces long, one face from the middle on each side and its a little flat, too sloped too.
Try overlaying images of sculpt and the master ref to see what's different structurally.

Jesse's Feedback:

When Jesse came over, they were assessing with a more technical mindset and was intrigued on my process of doing the crown; luckily, he had just spoken to Carolina who had found an incredible tool within Zbrush called MicroPoly. This is a tool within the geometry tab that allows you to take primitive shapes and modify them to form something more complex, editing the base shape with secondary details to build up swiftly without any finicky, particular placement.

It's been highly recommended I use this tool, and I'm super eager as it seems a great, efficient way to build this crown so I'm very excited to test it out at some point. I decided on alphas for the chestplate's branchy design, but I can also see about crafting it with MicroPoly too, for a different kind of result.

Micropoly Shortcut: Geometry -> Dynamic Subdiv -> Micropoly

Thank you Carolina for showing me!!!

After a while of sculpt work, Teo came back round and told me that she could see the changes made, and that she envisions Sansa now! Adapting the feedback I was given has brought the character to fruition, and I'm super satisfied. I think there is still more to do for the sculpt, but getting Teo's approval has been my sign to move onto the hair cards like I planned.

Entering Maya - Hair Card Creation:

Now that I felt satisfied enough to leave my sculpt, I opened Maya so I could begin exploring how to create hair cards and making some base cards to work from. I will need a baseline of one main, dense card that fills up the base, a few medium and thin density cards for variety adding to the base, and some flyaways/strands. I also want to create a short, bunched up one for the sideburns.

To start, I converted a plane into a curved rectangle using soft selection. This is where the hair will stem from.

Next, I used the "Create Interactive Groom Splines" tool with 10 density and a low CV count (similar to polys) for easy initial control. This is the crazy result.

Using the comb tool, I was able to brush it straight down.

I then used the taper slider at around 0.7 to spread out the ends more naturally.

Since I'd gained a very basic, unstyled hair card, I wanted to look back at my references of Sansa so I properly understood what I was aiming for in creating the cards. I gathered photos of her natural hair that showed to be long and wavy, though on the straighter end rather than properly curly - almost as if it's been kept in braids.

Next, I doodled some plans for the hair's structure by colour coding its major partings, such as the green area which makes up the scalp and roots, the yellow that represents where leads to the sideburns, the red as the front partings, and the pink as the bulk of the hair at the back. I also used white pen to mark how the hair falls directionally, drawing the contour and flow.

I may change the yellow to sit atop the ears as it's tucked, as the sideburns will be a separate, thinner hair card anyway.

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Style Analysis Study - God of War Ragnarok (2022):

Going into a brief with a style expectation of realism, I wanted to conduct a study on a game with a strong, realistic style so I can extract their distinctive features and strong points, adapting them to my project. This is especially important as I haven't done a project in fully fleshed-out realism before.

In weighing my options for a game to analyse, I considered the ones with incredible realism with nordic or medieval influence for their visual overlap with Game of Thrones and the northern house of Sansa Stark. The thematic relevance to my character will allow not only the gain of knowledge on the sculpt style/texturing, but also the presentation of nordic clothing like leather accessories and clothing tailored for warmth. Smaller details that also overlap include ginger hair made with cards, and metal embellishments.

I'm beginning this study by looking at the characters stripped back - no texturing, special effects, or environmental presentation. Observing the sculpt exclusively can show me what result I'm aiming for while I'm still in the Zbrush stage. Unlike my study of Dishonored 2's sculpts, Lead Character Artist Eric Valdes showcases close-to-life realism without any semblance of stylised exaggeration in proportion or facial features. Each character has a unique visage, and yet they stick to standard proportions. Since I'm conducting a likeness study with Sansa Stark, I need to subtly exaggerate features to establish that resemblance but otherwise, I must keep it realistic. I can see texture within the sculpt of skin pores and height variation, so I will use skin brushes/alphas in moderation since Sansa is a young character.

Moving onto the texturing, I checked out Senior Character Artist Angela Rico's artstation as she textured a multitude of significant characters in the game. Texturing main characters who frequently appear ingame means that they require extra care and polish, which prove these to be great examples to study from. Immediately, I recognise the use of PBR texturing baked at a likely very high resolution - since these characters predate the modern day, they are slightly unkempt. Living in the 9th century with log cabins as luxury, the dirt buildup is evident in implying their habitation among wilderness.

The character Freya felt relevant for me to look at, being a woman in this early age - despite the time setting, she still has makeup in the form of eyeshadow. The same will go for Sansa, as a noblewoman she likely has access to pigments used for subtle makeup. I do believe she's older than Sansa by ~10 years so age on her face is shown via subtle pore work and wrinkles likely built onto the sculpt via height maps. Since Sansa is younger and lives in a more stable setting (that of her castle, not the people she endured) she likely won't have such evident stress on her face.

Angela Rico's texturing of the character Heimdall display a younger character with a cleaner countenance. This portrays to me how a character in this realistic style looks without the common dirt buildup/age which aligns better with Sansa. Granular detail is still visible although less so, including pores and stubble in this case - but overall his face is cleaner, which clears way for viewing of small technicalities like the colour zones which feel elaborately placed around the face which bring the skin to life. Lip grooves are also visible which are necessary for my sculpt, since Sophie Turner has very characteristic puckered lips that have volume built with lip grooves, likely using height maps along with sculpting.

Shoutout to Thor for his striking ginger hair that coincides with Sansa's hair tone entirely; what I find interesting is the colour variation in this style. It isn't a flat orange, but has deeper red hues, lighter yellows, and some brown for realism.

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Finally, it was necessary to mention the hair; the realistic style overlaps with hair cards of course, and God of War does use them. This style for Faye done by Senior Character Artist Amanda Irani definitely has most similarity to Sansa with the longer, ginger hair with waves. Sansa's isn't so complex, and this style has more shaggy loose ends, but it's still great to see how long ginger hair looks in such a well achieved realistic style.

In retrospect looking on the God of War style, I find the major takeaway to be honing in on my references; this is obligatory in art already, but I believe it's very important to collate sufficient references and thoroughly understand the materials I'm depicting. If I want to achieve bespoke materials and plausible textures, references will be mandatory for this.

In terms of PBR texturing, I used roughness/noise maps in Substance Painter to produce the right texture I was seeking. However, if I want to truly step up my game and have a fully flourished texture, I may need to invest time in the Zbrush sculpt having texture via alphas and brushes. This will give me a strong base to work upon in Painter. This goes for skin, which I believe pore-work in Zbrush will be beneficial rather than doing it in Painter, as I can utilise layers to modify how heavy it is especially since Sansa is young.

After lots of experimentation, I had the result for my first hair card; this dense card was to be seen as the bulk, making up the thicker strands that are built upon with thinner strands. Using cut with a noise map on the mask gave me a soft transition on the ends, with a noise modifier for the slight waviness, and a mix of the clump and grab tool in conjunction with freeze masks to build a more freeform shape.

The second card I created was planned to be a little thinner, but not by a lot, in comparison to the initial bulk card. This one would act as a medium-density card. I repeated all the same steps of sculpting with the grab and freeze brush, adding noise and clump modifiers, but this time when I made the spline initially, I input 8 density instead of 10.

After finishing my card, I added a density mask via the painting option on the hair base mask; I painted in an oval shape while avoiding corners for a more natural feel to this card's stem, which will be better for transitions whereas the main one doesn't need it since it's bulking up the scalp primarily, creating a base.

Pixel Toys Industry Visit - Exclusive Feedback from Denzil Forde:

During today's session, we had a visit from two DMU graduates working at Pixel Toys game studio; they enlightened us with their experience of the hiring process, portfolios and applications but after this presentation, we got one-on-one feedback tailored to our projects. Denzil Forde is the representative character artist for Pixel Toys, so he was the one to administer feedback.

Based on my current progress in the project and my confidence in each area, I decided to ask for guidance in sculpting. Hair cards aren't a worry currently as I'm still creating them, but I'm really aiming for a bespoke sculpt set in realism, so that's what I asked help for.

The first tip I got was that of using the "see-through" tool in Zbrush, which allows you to overlay images via opacity in Zbrush so you can check the likeness in realtime and adjust it without having to cross-check two screens.
Using this method, Denzil indicated how the profile needed pulling out so the nose projected a little stronger, while pulling the eyes down. This in turn helped pronounce the browline more, giving Sansa that natural resting stern face.
He also demonstrated the placement of facial fat pads, as a large part of realism is the nuances of the face and the buildup of its form. Knowing the anatomy of the bone structure, layered up with the connecting muscles and fat groups help to establish a plausible face.
Overall he really helped in bringing the aspect of realism further, which is best demonstrated in the nose; the nuanced form, plane changes, and the curves of the nostrils are much more elaborate than mine which was very non-descript and vague. The transition from semi-stylised to fully fledged realism is certainly a challenge for me, but it was super informative watching a professional work in the moment, a great experience overall and I've learnt a lot!!

Further Hair Cards Development:

Gabriele's Feedback:

My main point for Gabriele today was to inquire on the GS Curve tool in Maya seeing as it's super helpful for the placement part of the workflow, but from what I could find, it inevitably costs money; he checked if the download's nodes were computer locked preventing sharing, but it seems they're free from locks so if I were to buy the £20 individual license, I could share it with classmates. Since this is kinda sketchy, I'm checking with previous years for how they went about it, if they shared one file or all chipped into a license for multiple people.
I overheard him saying that xNormal can't run on DMU computers, so I asked if it'll run alright on my laptop. He said it won't, meaning I may have to bake the cards at home. So I'll bake at home, hopefully with no issues, and get feedback from Will tomorrow for approval, and then move back to sculpting.

In creating the next set of hair cards, I realised they needed to be longer to prevent stretched textures. I just used the grab tool, lengthened them, and worked detail back into them that was lost in the stretching. These covered the main bulk card, a slightly thinner variation, and the medium density cards.

lalala

Since I finished the thick-medium density cards, I moved onto the thin flyaways. I generated these with a lower density and width, using the density brush to manually remove more strands for the right amount, using noise at a larger magnitude for a more noticable wave in the strands, since these flyaways are more chaotic.

I only mention the low density cards' workflows as they're distinct from the thicker ones, where I'm working with less strands and making flyaways that look plausible. I repeated this process, lowering the density each time until I had essentially singular cards.

A good way for me to mix up the strands without much manual work was to use the correlation slider; it acts similar to random seeds when you generate maps in Designer/Painter. I would slide it until I got a result with good bunching and separation, preventing any finicky movement.

While I was still in the hair cards mindset, I made some cards for sideburns, following the same process of starting with a thick, bulky card decreasing to the thinnest one. Since the set is complete, I will talk to Will and get his thoughts on them - if any texture needs to change, or if I need any additional cards. Then, I can focus on baking using xNormal. When the baking is complete, I will pivot back to the sculpt and finish that overall. This will be helpful as I can then start retopology since that should be quick anyway.

Will's Feedback:

I decided to enquire on the chestplate since my plan for the accessories were clear for all but the chestplate's armour pannelling - the framing I knew I'd do via geometry, but I was unsure about the thinner plating, especially given its complex design. Will suggested I go about it by sculpting all the shapes and normal info in Zbrush, then retopping over it with step build in max, gaining the shapes but keeping it flat like an alpha. Next, I'd take it to Painter and bake the sculpt onto the alpha and texture as normal!

With that clarity, I returned to sculpting, adapting the feedback from Denzil Forde, and placing in those facial fat pads which already helped elaborate the form more.

lalala

Next, I started to work on the collar that I'd already made with help from the Zmodeller tool. It was very low in topology, so I amped it up via Zremesh for better flexibility in sculpting its forms.

With that higher detail, I merged the polygroups and dynameshed the collar/shirt so I could soften the transitions like weaved clothing, and soften the edges to appear more like cloth.
Next, I planned out how I'd approach the chestplate due to its complex design, breaking it up into the framing first. I found that the best way to produce its shapes was using the curve tube tool, with the depth set to continous Z which allows me to draw along the surface of the bust so it follows the form accordingly.

Week 3

Teo's Feedback:

In assessing my sculpt, Teo observed that it does look like Sansa which is a big success! Applying the feedback I'd been given previously, even the very small changes, made a big difference. Given that, I still wasn't completely there.

The form of the eyelids needed developing, bringing the lower bags to the inner corner as they stop there after the corner, rather than around the tear ducts. The upper lid's fold needed pulling out further as it looks as though it stops rather abruptly; while it does fade out subtly, it doesn't completely disappear.
Sophie Turner's eyes exhibit something of a feline shape in how they turn upwards, so I should shift that part upwards.
The lip line is a little too exaggerated, it should be straighter. Nuance in the form causes those characteristic curves which can be kept at a much subtler rate. The overarching shape is straight.

In applying this feedback, I finally feel satisfied with the sculpt! It looks plausible and has gauged a sense of likeness - therefore, I'm going to pivot back to the hair cards to prep for baking.

Baking Preparation:

Predating the baking prep, I spoke to Jesse about hair cards in relation to eyebrows and eyelashes, given that I'm familiar with placing them as alphas, but as cards I'd have to go back and make more. Looking at my desired style of God of War, it appears they mix both cards and hand-painting, but since I'm making an alpha sheet for lashes anyway, I can just add eyebrows to that. Jesse also provided the xNormal program so I didn't have to faff about getting it at home!

Beginning the baking prep, I converted my hair cards to geometry so I could select it in Maya's default workspace, not just Xgen. I then started creating the planes that I'd bake the hair onto, unwrapping the first one so the rest, duplicated from it, won't need unwrapping. Once I'd aligned these all with each hair clump, I lined them up and shrunk them down onto what would be the texture sheet. I kept them to the biggest size possible for the best baking quality, stretching them as they will get stretched in placement anyway.

lalala

Following that set of planes which act as the low poly for the hair cards, I created a new set which would represent the height. For these, I placed them around halfway through the cards to capture the height properly, tilting them where necessary in case some cards didn't sit fully straight. After that, I took the hair cards' geometry and normalized it on the UV editor which straightens it out, allowing shaders to work correctly with it, similar to how anistropic shaders work with sculpted hair UVs being rectangles.

I also used the extrude tool to add thickness to the geometry as when I get to using Marmoset, I don't want single-sided geometry since the software doesn't agree with it.

I managed to bake the Alpha channel successfully in xNormal!! It went surprisingly swimmingly but the UVs were flipped..

It wasn't a big deal though, rebaking was simple as I knew what to do and all I had to do to flip the UVs was flip it on the Y axis in Maya's UV editor.

Since the first bake succeeded, I moved back to Zbrush to create the chestplate using the numbered plan I previously made; I also used the curve tube tool with depth set to continuous Z to draw on the surface, creating the framing of the armour.

Cleaned it up a little..

For the plating of the armour, I used a mask with the extract tool to draw out the shapes and pull them from the chest, starting with the basic shape and flow, followed by the branches which I thinned down for the angular detail.

With all plating extracted, I went over the whole thing with the smooth brush, for slightly softer edges that appear more like welded metal. I further leant into this material imitation with a hammered metal brush that crumpled the surface slightly.

Experimenting with the MicroPoly tool was intriguing, but I felt it wasn't appropriate for this project. I want the crown to be done manually as such a vital asset to the scene.

I had some topology issues involving diamonding in the eyelids which would prove difficult and unchangeable in higher subdivs, meaning we had to troubleshoot and Zremesh a duplicated mesh for cleaner topology, followed by projecting the details of the high poly mesh onto this so I didn't lose details.

Next, I entered Zbrush to make the base shape of the crown.

I added dynamic subdivisions to the geometry, smoothing its shape, ready to be used later.

Dev Log Evaluation:

I spent most of the week 3 Friday session troubleshooting and fighting ZRemesher to clean up the topology which stalled my progress a little.. overall, I've finished the chestplate, the head, and the ears. I'll be receiving feedback from Ioannis too, which will help me reach a proper point of satisfaction in this sculpt - I want to focus on the hair cards primarily for the remaining weeks.

For next week, I'll apply Ioannis' feedback and get a second look from Teo on Monday, so I can assuredly move on from sculpting the head. That way, I can spend Tuesday baking the rest of the hair cards and beginning placement. It's important that I spend the necessary time on placement as the largest part of the brief, so this will likely go into week 5 (formative feedback) too. Retopping and unwrapping shouldn't take too long as familiar processes in our workflow, and it would be great if I could start texturing in week 5, but week 6 could work too. I want enough time to create a powerful presentation with effective lighting, as a weakness of mine. I will be creating a schedule soon so I can properly visualise my tasks and remaining project time.

Feedback Session with Ioannis:

To conclude week 3, I had a feedback session with Ioannis relating to my sculpt; since I didn't export the right file, we did this through a paintover in Photoshop - once I apply these edits in week 4, we will have another session in Zbrush to see if it's improved my sculpt. This session was super enlightening to me in properly visualising where I needed to bridge the gap from a decent likeness study to a fully flourished, realistic likeness study. While there were many different points made, they won't take long to adapt and my followup session will confirm their helpfulness!

Move the sides in, the head is too big while the main face is condensed.
Bring the jaw in.
Widen the chin.
Nose is a little bulbous, Sophie Turner's is more angular and planar - bring that shapely form back.
Less arch to the brow bone, they're straighter.
Paint the irises, lips, and lashes for value and to better visualise features.
Bring the eyes' inner corner up a little to elongate the inner corner's shape in general, create more volume for a stronger highlight on the inner corner's skin. Remove some volume from the lower lid's midsection for consistency in planes.
Use the move tool back on the lids to fit rounder on the eyeballs, the corners pulling further back and the eyes themselves forward so the eyelids aren't so thick.
A later on point, but the left lid is more drooped than the right, showcasing asymmetry.
Enlarge the centre of the face just slightly, this will help the first problem of the head being too big for the condensed facial features.
Enlarge the nose, the lower face, and spread the brows further apart - all these come together for a more natural look.
Maybe soften the cheek volume.
Cupids bow's apex further out, curl the upper lip's outer edge more, and the folds.
Give the nasolabial folds a little more depth.
Project the tip of the nose a little lower.
The hairline matters to likeness too - the forehead is very rounded and slighty bulbous, strengthen the brow bone with this for a stronger highlight.
Neck is a little too curvy.
Extra volume to the cheekbone.
Additionally, I was advised against doing eyebrows via hair cards which was a big relief as I'd unconsciously set my mind against it anyway..

Week 4

Move the sides in, the head is too big while the main face is condensed.
Bring the jaw in.
Widen the chin.
Nose is a little bulbous, Sophie Turner's is more angular and planar - bring that shapely form back.
Less arch to the brow bone, they're straighter.
Paint the irises, lips, and lashes for value and to better visualise features.
Bring the eyes' inner corner up al ittle to elongate the inner corner's shape in general, create more volume for a stronger highlight on the inner corner's skin. Remove some volume from the lower lid's midsection for consistency in planes.
Use the move tool back on the lids to fit rounder on the eyeballs, the corners pulling further back and the eyes themselves forward so the eyelids aren't so thick.
A later on point, but the left lid is more drooped than the right, showcasing asymmetry.
Enlarge the centre of the face just slightly, this will help the first problem of the head being too big for the condensed facial features.
Enlarge the nose, the lower face, and spread the brows further apart - all these come together for a more natural look.
Maybe soften the cheek volume.
Cupids bow's apex further out, curl the upper lip's outer edge more, and the folds.
Give the nasolabial folds a little more depth.
Project the tip of the nose a little lower.
The hairline matters to likeness too - the forehead is very rounded and slighty bulbous, strengthen the brow bone with this for a stronger highlight.
Neck is a little too curvy.
Extra volume to the cheekbone.
Additionally, I was advised against doing eyebrows via hair cards which was a big relief as I'd unconsciously set my mind against it anyway..

LITTLE BIT of teo feedback, pulled tear ducts in so less long, nose birdge out anddd irises are a lil small but thats a texturing thing YAAY

i think iwas meant to bake in 8k not 4k lets redo it

theyre looking funky. i asked jesse for advice cus i did it in xnormal and he gave me marmoset toolbag so i can follow the tutorials better hopefully it work cus this is inconsistent.

BOOM!!!!!!

thibk dats all. when will gives us gs curve then we can do some placements

separate the polygroups of collar so i can move those individually for cleaner look

priority list:

hair looking amazinggg
solid sculpt with likeness
brows and lashes
collar and shirt
crown
chestplate
mouth bag

hardsurface armour: CONTROL LOOPS!

Bibliography

Waleed Abid (2019) Sansa Stark_likeness study. Available at ArtStation - Sansa Stark _likeness study , accessed October 2026.

David Groves (2019) House Stark. Available at House Stark | GROVES CARICATURES , accessed October 2026.

Alessandro Marques (2018) SANSA STARK - Caricature. Available at ArtStation - SANSA STARK - Caricature , accessed October 2026.

Joe Corrao (201-) A2 CARICATURES. Available at Joe Corrao's Caricatures: Search results for sansa , accessed October 2026.

Eric Valdes (2022). Available at ArtStation - GOW Ragnarok - Freya, Eric Valdes , accessed October 2026.

Angela Rico (2022). Available at ArtStation - God of War Ragnarök - Freya, Angela Rico , accessed October 2026.

Angela Rico (2022). Available at ArtStation - God of War Ragnarök - Heimdall, Angela Rico , accessed October 2026.

Angela Rico (2022). Available at ArtStation - God of War Ragnarök - Thor, Angela Rico , accessed October 2026.

Amanda Irani (2022). Available at ArtStation - God of War Ragnarök - Faye Groom , accessed October 2026.

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