See How You Can Create Mysterious Snake Dancer in 3D

Introduction 

Hello everyone! My name is Park Kyu Seock, and I worked as a fine artist for four years before transitioning to become a 3D character modeler about a year and a half ago.

I began studying 3D art in 2023. After graduating in 2019, I spent nearly four years working in the field of fine art. However, over time, I began to seek a more intuitive and visually impactful form of expression. I wanted my work to be more engaging and enjoyable for others.

That’s when I discovered the world of 3D art. I was fascinated by its vibrancy and technical depth, which eventually led me to make a full career switch.

Since then, I’ve been learning through various online courses and studying directly with professionals currently working in the industry.

Snakes Dancer

When I first started this project, I wanted to create a character that felt dark, with shadows slowly creeping in – a provocative and charismatic presence. That was my initial vision. Then, I came across the concept art that inspired the current design.

From there, I began thinking about the character's story: someone endlessly waiting for a loved one in a cave or temple, eventually transforming due to a tragic event.

How could I express that feeling? I tried to convey it through the character’s face, clothing, color palette, movement, and expression. To transform storytelling into visual elements, I drew inspiration from other talented artists. I always find my inspiration in classical paintings. 

I am a fan of Jonas Burgert, and I have drawn great inspiration from his work, particularly his painterly elements, use of color, composition, dramatic staging, and the way he guides the viewer’s gaze. I often reflect on how I can reinterpret that intense visual and emotional impact into my own language and translate it into 3D.

Once I define the story, the mood I want to convey through color, and the character's personality, I begin collecting references. For the face, I focused on finding imagery that could represent both innocence and hidden malice. Since the character is meant to be visually captivating, I also gathered as many luxurious and ornate accessories as possible to enhance that impression.

The most intriguing experiment in this project centered on how color appears in texture. In oil painting, even when new layers of paint are added, the underlying colors still influence the final look. I believe this is a core element that gives oil painting its rich depth and beautiful complexity.

This led me to explore whether such a feeling could be recreated within texturing and shaders in 3D. While I was able to simulate some of that effect using layer blending and numerical adjustments, I wanted to go further – to create a deeper, more immersive expression of color.

Modeling

I created the model using ZBrush and Substance 3D Painter. The face was sculpted starting from a basic sphere in ZBrush. For the snake's body, I decided not to sculpt every individual scale, as it would be inefficient and time-consuming. Instead, I used displacement maps to represent the surface detail effectively.

For the body, I applied tiling textures and enhanced the scale pattern using ZBrush’s masking, cavity, and curvature features to add additional definition and realism.

Texturing

Texturing is my favorite part of the process because it allows me to create the exact colors I want.

The snake’s patterns and colors were all hand-painted using brushes. I started by painting the base colors, then added subtle shadows and highlights between the scales using cavity and ambient occlusion maps to give it more depth.

For the mouth, I referenced existing human mouth texture colors and then adjusted the hues and contrast to better fit the character.

I usually invest a lot of time in the base color – about 70% of the texturing process is focused on it. I keep Marmoset Toolbag open and continuously go back and forth between painting and previewing, gradually refining the colors to a higher level of quality.

In painting, you have to think about light, shadow, and saturation all at once. But the most appealing part of 3D is that you can separate and control these elements individually.

I start by working on the lighting and shading aspects first, and then proceed in the following order: color, roughness, and finally metalness.

Lighting

I often use the three-point lighting setup. I place the key light as the main source of illumination. It casts the kind of shadows I like and helps set the character's mood. I usually go for Rembrandt lighting, as it adds a sense of depth.

The rim light is positioned behind the character, helping to separate the silhouette from the background. It adds a nice visual effect.

The fill light supports the key light. It prevents shadows from becoming too harsh and helps bring out the character’s volume and form. In addition to that, I use HDRI-based sky lighting to change the shape and feel of shadows depending on the background.

Conclusion

This project took four months to complete. My main goal was to create a result that surpassed my previous work, with a focus on refining details like the clothing and snake patterns.

There were many failures along the way, but I overcame them one by one and eventually brought the project to completion.

For my next piece, I plan to improve on the areas that were lacking in this one and continue to challenge myself!

To everyone out there: don’t be afraid to keep pushing forward with your ideas. In painting, there’s no undo button, but in 3D, you can always go back to the moment you regret and redo your work. Enjoy that process!

Kyu Seock Park, 3D Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine