“Exiled Wizard” Anatomy Study

This is something I have been wanting to do for a while because of the size of the challenge it posed.  I used the base mesh from the Exiled wizard model that was in my modelling showreel.  I used mudbox for all the sculpting, it was in the standard “T” pose to begin with and after a short time of adjusting the everything that needed adjusting.  I can see where I modelled things wrong when I first modelled the Wizard in early June of 2008, every body part was re-shaped so it would look correct.  I then exported the base model into zbrush where I posed it using the transpose tool and then I imported the posed base mesh back into mudbox where I then continued sculpting.

I found that a huge amount of research was needed. I used google images to search for pictures of anatomy charts and pictures of elderly body-builders. I also used 3d.sk to gather a huge amount of reference. I put all these reference pictures into a folder and I would look at them constantly as I would sculpt in mudbox.

I wanted the pose to look dynamic and strong, the most important component of a fine art drawing or sculpture is the gesture, because the gesture is what determines how the muscles will look, how the skin will look and will convey the overall emotion of the piece. For instance the muscles will be stretched out or contracted depending on the pose and the skin will also change its shape around these areas. As humans age the skin looses its elasticity so there are more wrinkles and areas where the skin sags. The muscles will also be much weaker and smaller than a person 20 years younger, it’s important to keep that in the back of your mind as you sculpt because I looked at a lot of reference of people who were younger and anatomy charts and drawings of younger people and I kept having to remind myself that an elderly man wont have so much definition.

Once I had almost completed sculpting the body I imported his clothing and magic stick. It was very interesting to sculpt cloth as I have never even attempted to do that before. I think its pretty good for a first try, it was not too complicated since the amount of cloth is small and the pose is relatively simple. His magic stick did not take me too long to detail, I used one of mudbox’s stamps to get a wood texture and I did a google search for “rune symbols” and I sculpted similar markings into his stick. The object at the end of his stick is supposed to be some kind of magic crystal/meteorite.

Once I had finished sculpting everything in mudbox I then Exported it to zbrush where I made turntable movies and used its wonderful shaders to show off all the details in the pictures above. By far the hardest thing to do was to not over define everything.  Subtlety is very important when sculpting something such as this. Its very easy to get carried away and overly define all the muscles and tendons and veins etc, but it doesn’t look real and nobody’s muscles are contracted or tensed up all the time and in every pose.

I was trying to go for subtle emotions for the face. I wanted to give him the look of contempt for the thing he is cursing and give him a look like he is chanting in his head. I also wanted to try and capture the look people get in the middle of strenuous movements. I’m not sure it comes through when its a picture of the head alone though. I also wasn’t concerned about putting in such high frequency details as skin pores, the exercise wasn’t about that kind of detail, it was more about communicating the emotion of the character through his gesture.

I had tremendous fun sculpting this and I learned so much as a result. I hope you guys like it.

Below are some turntable movies of the models.