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Miss Seagull by Julien Kaspar

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I got a notification from my ArtStation account the other day, "Julien Kasper has published new artwork Miss Seagull".

As usual I am always eager to see his new work, and disappointed I was not!

FinalImage

Miss Seagull is an original concept by Mario Manzanares Link. Mario Manzanares quotes "I didn't expect anyone to make a 3D version of my sketch! Woah, you really nailed her expression and spirit smiley So happy to see this!"

Here is a quick Q&A dedicated for you, our dear reader:

I understand you were inspired by Mario Manzanares' concept-art. With so many great art out there, how do you choose your inspiration?

I spend a LOT of time on sites like ArtStation, Pinterest etc. constantly looking for great art, sucking in as much inspiration into my brain as I can find! I often use them for as references for my work. Sometimes I find something very beautiful, inspiring or something that fits with how I feel at that moment (Like a grumpy ice cream on a way too hot summer day) and pick those artworks for modeling.

mario-manzanares-exploration-001

What was your process to creating this image?

First it's best to really look closely at the artwork you want to model. Sometimes certain elements on a sketch can be pretty vague or misinterpreted. At first I tried to imagine how it would look in 3D and searched for some references for anatomy and overall additional inspiration.

Then I moved on to sculpting the basic shapes, starting with simple spheres and get the proportions right. Afterwards I usually sculpt everything with Dyntopo but certain elements like separate hair strands were modeled with the skin modifier.

I also retopologised the hair to get more high res detail with the multi resolution modifier and a cleaner mesh. Then I posed the model and camera and broke the symmetry more to make it more interesting. Following that I painted the vertex colors and looked at the model in full color. Then some things that seem off can be more obvious and I made some tweaks to the sculpt.

I set up some lights until I was happy with the overall lighting and rendered out separate passes like diffuse Direct, AO, Shadows and combined them back in Photoshop. Then I have more control over the different lights and style of the render. Some compositing after that and the image was done.

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How long did it take you to complete it, from start to render?

Modeling, Texturing and rendering in Blender took me about 5 to 7 hours. The compositing in Photoshop took me an additional 3 to 4 hours of experimenting and trying out different styles.

As a fellow character artist I am aware that exaggerated forms are not that simple to pull off. Did you find any difficulties working on Miss Seagull, maybe her wide jaw? If so, how did you overcome it?

The exaggerated forms were not that big of a problem for this character but I did spend a lot of time on her eyes, just trying to get the expression and emotions right. She either looked too angry or too tired and by the time I got it right I kinda felt that way too. :D

I have to say, this render style reminded me of Paperman by Disney, was that intentional?

It was not exactly intentional but Paperman is such a fantastic piece of art that it has permanently etched itself into my head! I love this 2D looking 3D style and I try to get that into most of my artworks to some degree!

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Would you like to add anything else for the reader on this Image?

I hear people say that I am a great sculptor and that they also want to get that good. But I feel like my way of sculpting is still rather chaotic and involves a lot of trial and error. Even if the result looks great, for a long time of making the artwork it did not so much. My top tip for anyone is always "Just keep trying and eventually you'll get it right" and by not giving up on trying you'll learn how to do it better!

This concludes it for the Q&A, was there any other questions you would have liked to ask? If so leave a comment below, and don't forget to share! Link

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