Hi there!
My name is Kike Santamaría and I am the 3D artist of Snowpeak Studio.
This week I want to briefly show you the stuff I’ve been working on.
My job is to design the characters of the game. We are a small team and because of that I am taking care of the whole character design process (2D & 3D), this includes the initial sketch, concept art, modelling, and texturing. This is a long and complex process, in which we have technical limitations and very little time to and because of that, we have had to learn to adapt. It is not easy and we can not always reach the level of detail we would like in many cases but we’ll achieve that later down the line.
It is a very rewarding process, but we always have to take into account the responsibilities we have, the pace of work of the rest of the team will depend on us since we are the first in the workflow. Also, it is a responsibility because we are the ones in charge to give a virtual body for the players.
Every time we start to design a character we try to find the personality of it first, his physical and psychology characteristics that make them different from the rest of characters. We try to find a great variety when it comes to choosing a character, and we try to make sure the user can feel identified with the one that best suits their style of play.
Sketching:
We try to create a lot of fast ideas about the new class we have been working on, this is one of the most important phases because the next phases that come depend on that. A lot of times this is a hard process because not only the process to find the aesthetic characteristics, we also have to keep in mind the technical limitations.
Concept art:
When we have the initial sketch ready, we go to clean that and mark well the different part and details of the body, armour and clothes, after that, we give them colour. We take off the turnaround and we are ready for modelling.
Modelling and Retopology:
Starting from the turnaround, we start to model and use retopology to create our character, a lot of work goes into this process, which makes things much easier for Cristian. After considering the polygonal limitations we are ready for the character to take the next step.
UVS, Texturing and Baking Maps:
Lastly, when we have a good topology we are ready to start UV unwrapping, We work meticulously with the UVS to make sure we have a perfect texture in the next step. When the UV is ready we start the process of painting the character. We reference lore and psychological characteristics of any characters and based on that we add specific colours and forms to paint the different elements of the character. When the texture is finished we begin to bake and export the maps.
Once this process is done the character is ready for Cristian to take over and add his amazing animations.
We also have something for fans of BloodAncestors... A Wallpaper!
