Baron Vladimir Harkonnen Recreated With ZBrush & Marvelous Designer

Introduction

First of all, thank you for your interest in my work. My name is Srijan Maharjan. I am a Character Artist at Quantic Dream, and I am currently working on Star Wars Eclipse. 

After a bachelor's degree in architecture, I took a gap year in 2019 and started doing commissioned work as a freelance 2D artist. In 2020, I joined the Game Art program at Isart DIGITAL, entering directly into the third year of the bachelor's program, where I learned 3D from scratch.

As I began my master's degree, I decided to focus on 3D character design and creation. I had the opportunity to start a professional training contract at Quantic Dream as a Junior Character Artist.

The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen Project

Lately, I wanted to level up my artistic skills in realistic character creation. This Baron Vladimir Harkonnen project initially started as a likeness exercise after I watched Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two. It eventually turned into a full character project, completed in my spare time during the evenings and weekends.

It was a good anatomy exercise, working on a heavy body type, and I also learned more about Marvelous Designer. To begin this project, I gathered as many references as I could find online, including shots from the films, behind-the-scenes screenshots, and interviews with the actor playing the Baron, Stellan Skarsgård.

Modeling

I started working on the sculpt from a base mesh that already had good topology and UVs, allowing me to focus more on the artistic aspects and less on the technical details. I aimed to match the references as closely as possible, but when I encountered difficulties, I sought feedback from Hyun-Soo Kim, a Senior Character Artist.

I then moved on to the body and refined specific areas such as the hands and the scars on the back.

Texturing

The texturing was done in Substance 3D Painter using basic noise masks. I also used scanned textures, such as those from Texturing XYZ, to help with the face.

I made a second version for the bath turntable. Here, I mainly focused on the bust, as I knew the lower part would be submerged.

The cloth was simulated in Marvelous Designer and detailed in ZBrush by adding memory folds and seams.

Final Setup

While I was creating the body and the outfit, I was also testing poses and rendering shots that could be interesting. During those tests, I needed to produce a few additional props, such as the smoking pipe, the top part of a couch, a texture for the bath, and the rings that the Baron wears.

During this project, I did a lot of iterations at every step, including the thumbnail of the post.

I did a lot of back and forth and took paint-over notes on areas that I could improve.

The rendering was done in Marmoset Toolbag 4. It was the first time I used ray tracing in a render, and Camille Rousset, an Environment Artist, was a great help to me. I tried to match the movie filter with a simple exposure tint and achieve a cinematic look with a narrow field of view.

Conclusion

It is quite hard to define how much time I spent on this project as I could only work on it during my spare time in the evenings and on weekends. I am also constantly jumping from one project to another. However, this one started in April and finished in June.

My advice for beginner artists would be to specialize in a specific field such as 3D character modeling, 3D environment creation, VFX, etc. Being a generalist can be helpful initially to find internships or short-term missions. But if your goal is to work for big studios, you need to focus on specific skills.

For beginner character artists, I would suggest learning the basics like anatomy, clothing, likeness, posing, etc. Understanding rigging and skinning is a plus. And of course, work hard and stay curious. There are plenty of resources online that can be helpful outside of school, such as tutorials, portfolio tips, and interviews with artists already working in the industry.

Srijan Maharjan, Character Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine