Making Stylized League of Legends Character More Realistic

Introduction

Hello, my name is Denian. I first encountered 3D modeling when I was a graphic designer 11 years ago. For a few years, I studied on my own, researching different subjects on the internet, receiving tips from friends through 3D groups on Facebook and participating in online workshops and in-person traditional sculpture classes which helped me evolve a lot.

I had the opportunity to work in many different areas, which helped me acquire problem-solving skills in various situations. These areas include advertising, archviz, teaching ZBrush, collectible statues, miniatures, and environments. In recent years, I have been working with the game Fortnite as a character artist.

The Katarina Project

Despite not having much time to play, I always liked the look of Katarina from League of Legends and had been planning to do something for some time. However, after watching some cinematic videos, I was inspired to start this project. So, I began to capture different references from other 2D/3D artists, cosplays, etc.

I didn't focus on a specific person for the character's face. I just gathered photos of some women that I found interesting in terms of expression, the shape of the nose, mouth, and eyes and tried to balance this during the modeling process until it was to my liking.

To start the process, I used a base mesh from the 3D Scan Store, where I also obtained high-resolution normal and roughness maps with micro details.

I ended up using eyes from MetaHuman, which gives a wide range of adjustments and possibilities.

I used the base mesh texture from the 3D Scan Store for the skin. However, I made color adjustments and painted more details within Substance 3D Painter. Then, I created material in Unreal Engine, plugging in my textures and making roughness, SSS, and Specular adjustments.

The scar was made the simplest way possible, using Standard, DamStandard, Inflate, and other brushes.

I used XGen in Maya for the hair. As she would be walking, I thought it would be interesting to make her hair fly to bring more impact to the movement and enhance the silhouette.

For the body, I followed the same process as the face, using a base mesh, and from then on, I continued adding features that I found interesting. I wanted Katarina to have a realistic look but with some stylized characteristics in relation to proportion, for example. Therefore, I made the legs longer, the waist very thin compared to the hips, etc. For the clothes, I usually use Marvelous Design to create a base and then continue detailing in ZBrush, but this time, I chose to have everything sculpted within ZBrush.

For the weapons and metal parts in general, I started blocking in DynaMesh, then made a more organized topology with ZRemesh and ZModeler and subdivided it to add details.

I used the default base mesh topology for the body, and for clothes and accessories, I tried to organize them as best I could using ZRemesh and ZModeler.

I used Maya to unwrap everything and separate it by UDIM to obtain more resolution in the texturing process.

Texturing

The texturing process was the turning point in this project. I chose to do it under the guidance of the great professional Gustavo Groppo, who gave me valuable tips from this stage onwards.

We approach the construction of each material based on how it looks in the real world. For leather, for example, we made a base layer with a rougher and lighter material, added another top layer with leather material, and revealed the lower layer using procedural masks and hand painting, trying to get away from that automatically generated worn look on all edges. We followed this same process for all the materials in the model. We analyzed real references, focused on the general aspect, and then narrowed our field of observation until we reached the micro details.

Rendering

I chose Unreal Engine 5 for rendering because I had never used this powerful tool for personal projects before.

I tested several plugins for the lighting stage but I chose to do everything from scratch and have more control over how each light should act in the scene. I wanted the scene to have a contrast of warm and cold tones.

I used a blue area light for the main light and points of cooler light in the background arches. For the general background lighting, I used a warmer directional light that brought a good contrast to the final image.

For post-production, I used the Post Process Volume within Unreal Engine to add a slight chromatic aberration, bloom effect, and vignette, nothing more.

I usually follow this process to light my projects: I choose references with the look I want to achieve and make sure that no light causes my model to lose volume and have a flat appearance without shadows. After all, we are working with a 3D model, so each object mustn't lose its three-dimensional appearance due to very strong or poorly positioned light. It's essential to know how to use shadows to your advantage and draw attention to what you want to show in your work.

Conclusion

I usually schedule my personal projects to be completed within 2 months. However, I didn't have much time to dedicate myself exclusively to this project, so it took much longer than expected.

The major challenges I encountered along the way were finding the right elements to compose the scene and configuring the lights to achieve the right mood. I had to do a lot of testing on where to place each element, how to use the right lights to highlight what really matters, etc.

Here are some tips for those starting in this area: despite all the facilities that technology provides us nowadays, automating some parts of the process, I still think it's very important to dedicate yourself to learning things like retopology, unwrapping UVs, etc.

Avoid comparing yourself to other artists. Everyone is living a specific moment in their life, and this comparison will never be fair and will still do you a lot of harm. If you are really dedicated to improving your work, the results will inevitably come.

I hope all of you guys enjoy this breakdown! Thank you!

Denian Lopes, Character Artist

Interview conducted by Theodore McKenzie