Bloody 3D Woman Inspired by Traditional Shamanic Rituals

Introduction

Hello there! My name is Nick, I am a 3D Character Artist based in the Netherlands and a recent graduate of Saxion University. I have had the opportunity to work as an intern in the industry at ArtKing and ImproVive, as well as freelance work.

I started creating 3D art around 4 years ago, right before beginning my studies at Saxion University. Before that, I mainly focused on 2D art since my original dream was to become a concept artist. I have also always been mesmerised by video games and their art, especially splash arts and character design sheets. I’ve always admired characters with strong and interesting designs, the kind where you can immediately feel their personality, background, or story just from their appearance alone. 

Personal projects have always been an extremely important aspect of my development as an artist, as I always try to pick something new to learn and get out of my comfort zone. Also, as a primarily self-taught artist, I developed my skills and fundamentals through independent research and tutorials.

Serpent Rite: Consecration

For this project, I wanted to create something that felt both sacred and unsettling, a character suspended between ritual and fantasy. I’ve always been drawn to creating abstract, highly detailed pieces that use artistic freedom to evoke emotion and leave viewers with a certain feeling rather than a direct explanation. Inspired partly by real shamanic rituals and cinematic storytelling, I wanted the piece to feel as if this character had been captured in the middle of an ancient ritual, frozen in a quiet but haunting moment, almost like a still frame taken from a dark fantasy film, where the viewer is left questioning whether they are witnessing a coronation, a sacrifice, or something far more symbolic. 

Before getting into the sculpting process, I spent quite some time gathering references and researching artistic photography, real shamanic rituals, ceremonial fashion, and dark fantasy imagery. I like pulling small elements from completely different sources and blending them to create something original, not directly inspired by one thing, but shaped by many subtle influences working together. 

Sculpting

The entire sculpture was created using ZBrush. Starting with the head, I used a simple base mesh I created in the past that already has the correct topology in place. Then, I looked for a real-life model/actress to convey the likeness; in my case, it was Saoirse Ronan. I think finding a real-life model for a head is very important because you are no longer relying purely on imagination to create the head, but on actual anatomy, specific features, and proportions that naturally make a character feel more believable and human.  

Later, I used a brush pack I had in my library to add the pores, with some manual tweaks in areas like the lips and small wrinkles.

The face and body paint was created manually, using the paintbrush inside ZBrush. I also created alphas inside Photoshop to have a cleaner result for the body paint.

For the radial design behind the character, I used the ArrayMesh feature in ZBrush because it made it much easier to create a symmetrical shape while still giving me a lot of flexibility for adjustments and experimentation. I also used the same technique to build the rose flower elements in the crown, which helped keep the overall design consistent and easier to refine throughout the process.

All the ornaments used on the crown and in the background were created separately first. After that, I converted them into an IMM (Insert Multi Mesh) brush, which allowed me to place and adjust each piece individually. 

For many of the pieces on the crown, I used a workflow of masking, extracting, remeshing, and then sculpting the forms further by hand. Once I had the overall shape I wanted, I applied different alphas to create ornamental patterns and surface detail, followed by manual adjustments to make everything feel more natural and unique rather than perfectly procedural. 

Body & Clothing

For the body anatomy, I used a lot of real-life references, but I wanted the overall shape to feel natural and slightly sculptural rather than overly detailed or exaggerated. I took a lot of inspiration from classical Greek female sculptures because of how elegant and balanced they feel. I really liked the softness in the anatomy and the calm posture they often have, which helped give the character a more grounded and timeless look despite the surreal and fantasy-inspired design. All the hair is created using FiberMesh.

Getting a good base for the dress, I used Cloth Simulation inside ZBrush, with the lowest subdivision level to create the correct amount of folds. Using higher levels of subdivision will make the cloth look a lot finer and silkier, which in this case is not what I wanted. As for the brushes, I used the Standard, DamStandard, and Pinch, with a couple of lazy mouse modifications to achieve smoother strokes.

For the clothing, I went for a woven natural plant fiber/straw pattern for the top, and for the dress, I scaled it down so it gives the illusion of it being more fine. Using Surface Noise, I added the patterns onto the mesh, but I would not apply it to the mesh as I would be losing quality, and as I was using KeyShot to render, I could keep the pattern from the surface noise without adding more polygons to compensate, which also saves render time, so a win-win situation.

Materials & Shading

For the materials, I imported the model into KeyShot using the bridge feature from ZBrush located under the Render menu, in the External Renderer submenu. I checked Groups by Materials because otherwise KeyShot would create materials for each subtool in the project; this way, I can assign different materials in ZBrush based on what materials I want in KeyShot.

In total, I used four materials: clothing, hands, crown, and skin with hair. The material setup is pretty simple, and they all use the same formula, with slight modifications depending on the part. I used a plastic main material with a granite alpha texture to give the color and roughness some variation, along with a curvature texture for some slight highlight.

Just a couple of important settings for the curvature to work properly:

• The curvature Cutoff should be around 300 and Radius 2px;
• The Color Composite connected to the Curvature should have the Blend Mode set to ‘’Screen’’.

Rendering

Once the materials looked right, I moved on to the lighting. The setup was very simple: a studio HDRI with a fully black background to keep the focus on the character. I lowered the HDRI brightness and increased the contrast to make the details and textures pop. I then added two main lights, one from above and one from behind the character, to create a stronger silhouette and give the piece a more sinister and mysterious look.

For the composition, I tried to follow the 10-30-60 color rule to keep the piece from feeling too chaotic or overwhelming. It helped create a clearer visual hierarchy and guided the viewer’s eye toward the most important areas of the image, especially the face, crown, and red accents. 

Post-Production

In post-production, I only made a few adjustments in Photoshop, mainly focusing on color balance and sharpness. Even small changes at this stage can improve the final render a lot and help bring out the details and mood of the piece, so I always think it’s worth spending some time refining the final image before calling it finished.

Some good tips when adjusting a final render are experimenting with the color balance, especially in the midtones and shadows. I found that slightly pushing the midtones toward blue and adding a subtle amount of red into the shadows helped make the colors feel more harmonious and visually pleasing, while also enhancing the darker atmosphere of the piece. 

To bring out the details even more, I like to add a subtle High Pass layer set to Overlay with a low opacity. It adds a slight sharpness to the render and helps enhance the smaller details without making the image look overly processed. 

When making modifications in post, less is usually better, so every change needs to be made in small amounts.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was finding the right balance between detail and readability. Since the design is very ornament-heavy, it was easy for the piece to start feeling too chaotic or visually overwhelming. A lot of the process was simplifying shapes, adjusting the composition, and controlling the lighting so the viewer’s eye would still focus on the character first.

Another challenge was making the character feel unsettling while still elegant and believable. I wanted the design to feel dark and cinematic without losing the human element.

Conclusion

The whole piece took me a few weeks to finish, mainly because I spent a lot of time experimenting and refining the smaller details in the sculpting stage. I did a lot of tests trying different backgrounds, materials, and lights, different camera angles, and lots of renders. Going back and forth between these stages and constantly making small adjustments can feel chaotic and time-consuming at times, but it’s one of the best ways to achieve a strong final result. Getting the model into the render engine as early as possible also helps a lot, since seeing the piece under proper lighting and materials can immediately reveal what is working and what still needs improvement, making the overall workflow much more efficient.

My advice to beginners would be to stay patient and keep creating, even when progress feels slow. Don’t be afraid to experiment, make mistakes, and try ideas that seem impossible at first; that's where growth really happens. Most importantly, create work that excites you personally.

Thank you for your stay!

Nick Girnet, 3D Character Artist

Interview conducted by Stephanie Almogabar