Creating a 3D Fan Art of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc

Introduction

My name is Sergey, and I have been working in the game development industry for over 8 years as a 2D Artist. During this time, I've contributed to projects such as World of Warships, World of Warships Legends, World of Tanks, and Sky Combat 2.

For all the projects I've worked on, basic 3D skills were essential. I needed to assemble scenes using pre-made vehicle models, set up lighting and materials, and create renders. These renders would then serve as a foundation for matte painting, where I would overpaint them to produce the final artwork.

Recently, I've started diving deeper into 3D modeling to enhance my artistic skills. Since I primarily work in a realistic style, 3D has become an invaluable tool for me, providing a solid technical base for my creative vision.

Chainsaw Man Fan Art

Strangely enough, I was inspired by the movie Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. I really wanted to create a confrontation scene between the two characters, just like in the film, but in a realistic style. Since I already had experience reimagining anime characters realistically (for example, my Fullmetal Alchemist piece), I quickly realized that I could pull this off in a similar manner.

From the start, I planned to create two separate artworks. I wanted one to be a dynamic action scene between the characters, and the other to be in a poster style, the kind of thing you might see displayed at the entrance of a cinema. Working with references was fairly straightforward because the character designs are so iconic and translated well into 3D models.

Additionally, since their faces are hidden in their demon forms, it simplified the process. It's usually quite challenging to create a recognizable, realistic face for a hand-drawn character. Since these are humanoid characters, I used a base human mesh with a pre-existing rig to avoid spending too much time on the basics. From there, I moved on to modeling and sculpting the clothing.

To save time, I used a specific technique: I duplicated parts of the base mesh and used them as the foundation for the clothing pieces. By doing this, I was able to preserve the vertex weights of the original base mesh. This meant I didn't have to paint skin weights manually from scratch, which is a huge time saver. This trick works particularly well for tight-fitting fabrics and soft materials.

After that, I modeled the rest of the objects, such as the footwear, heads, chainsaws, and other specific details. In some cases, I used base models from Sketchfab as a starting point, refining them by altering their shapes and adding more polygons or bevels to suit the scene. I then parented these objects to specific bones of the rig so they would move correctly with the rest of the character model.

Once the models were ready, I posed them according to my composition and further sculpted specific areas to refine the details. Most of the effort went into the clothing, as I needed to create a significant number of realistic folds to match the tension of the poses.

I don't do retopology because these aren't production-ready 3D models for games or similar pipelines. Since the model is intended for 2D overpainting, I focus strictly on what the camera sees. For example, I don't detail or sculpt any part of the model that will be hidden from the viewer's perspective. This allows me to keep the scene optimized and focus my time on the visible elements. Here is how the scene looks:

Texturing

For texturing, I create a simple UV layout before moving on to the high-poly stage. My method involves unwrapping the low-poly base mesh using Blender's standard tools and then adding the Multires modifier to increase the polygon count for sculpting. This way, the model retains its UV coordinates even after heavy detailing.

This approach allows me to add fine details to the model without breaking the existing UV map. It maintains a clean relationship between the texture and the geometry, even as the mesh density increases during the sculpting process.

After setting up the UVs, I apply materials to the mesh and configure the nodes. Often, the node graph looks quite chaotic and complex, as I tweak various parameters to achieve the specific textures and surface responses I need for the final render.

Rendering

Everything starts with the render. Once I've finalized the lighting and the arrangement of objects in the scene, I proceed to rendering and creating render passes. Passes are a crucial part of the process because they allow me to better emphasize volume, materials, and details during post-processing.

After rendering, the artistic overpainting begins. This is where I add various effects like fire, explosions, and dust. I also incorporate volumetric lighting, increase contrast, and refine many other elements. You can see the full breakdown of this process in the "making-of" section of my ArtStation post.

I always try to document the creation process for every piece I publish. Overpainting the raw character render is a vital stage. It significantly elevates the quality of the final image. The "before and after" comparison really demonstrates how much life this stage adds to the work.

This overpainting stage is particularly noticeable on the shirt. While the 3D provides the base for the folds and shadows, the 2D refinement allows me to push the realism of the fabric, adjust the micro-details, and make the lighting feel more integrated with the overall atmosphere.

I use this overpainting technique to go over the entire piece, adding various details and refining every element until it reaches the desired quality. It allows me to polish the image in a way that would be much more time-consuming to achieve purely in 3D.

Conclusion

It took me about two weeks to finish both pieces. The action scene required more time because, besides the characters, there were many environmental and atmospheric elements to render and paint. I didn't face any major technical hurdles, as I have extensive experience in this realistic style.

Currently, I am focused on continuously improving all aspects of my workflow, from 3D modeling to composition and presentation. I personally enjoyed working on the poster art more. It was the second piece in the series, so I was able to avoid the minor mistakes I made in the first one. As a result, the process was much smoother and more relaxed. I also personally prefer the poses I chose for the poster.

I can't recommend one specific tutorial, as my learning process involved gathering bits of information from many different sources. I haven't taken any formal courses, but I recently came across a video by an artist who builds characters in Blender using a very similar principle. I think it's quite useful:

My overall advice is to break down the creation process into stages, like sculpting and matte painting, and upgrade each skill individually based on your needs. I hope this insight into my workflow was helpful and inspires you to create your own art. Thank you!

Sergey Semenovykh, 2D Artist

Interview conducted by Amber Rutherford