Stylized 3D Portrait Of A Grumpy Old Man With Character

Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Razor, and I'm from Xi'an, China, a city rich in history and culture. Since childhood, I've loved video games, starting from the classic red-white console to FPS shooters, and eventually Overwatch when it became a global hit. I began drawing game characters, imagining them coming to life in my sketchbook, and I couldn't get enough of it.

So, I studied art. Then, by chance, I saw World of Warcraft’s cinematic trailer and became fascinated with CG art. I discovered many talented artists and decided to learn from them, vowing to master this field myself. I started searching for tutorials on social media, initially focusing on ZBrush, sculpting monster heads, and modeling small props like guns in Maya.

During university, I dedicated myself to daily specialized training. When I discovered ArtStation, I was amazed by the incredible work of top artists and their exceptional design skills. I began studying my favorite artists, imitating their works and absorbing their strengths. However, I eventually realized I was stagnating until I met BBS and my mentor, Bobby, who guided me in creating higher-quality, more refined works. As a current university student seeking employment, I haven't worked full-time yet, but I participated in internships for projects like Top Out and CDD, which taught me a lot and were valuable experiences.

The Ding Ding Uncle Project

The Tío Salamanca ("Ding Ding Uncle") project started a month ago, inspired by Mark Margolis' portrayal in Breaking Bad: his gaze, the bell, and his body language captivated me. I wanted to capture a similar essence to the old man in Love, Death & Robots S3E7, Mason's Rats, striving for the highest possible fidelity.

Workflow

During the high-poly modeling phase, I spent a long time on the concept, exaggerating features like his ears, nose, eye bags, and elongated skull to enhance expressiveness. These subtle adjustments required a keen artistic sense and rigorous refinement. Only through repeated practice and challenging my own perceptions could I achieve the desired result.

For the textures, I used ZWrap to project details, then manually adjusted inconsistencies and added missing elements. The hair was created using ZBrush's FiberMesh, retopologized in another software, extruded in Maya, and finally sculpted for natural folds. Though labor-intensive, this method was efficient and saved time.

For retopology, since this was a personal bust project (not for production), I kept it simple: using ZBrush's lowest subdivision, unwrapping UVs in Maya, and enhancing textures with Substance 3D Painter to avoid detail loss and add richness.

In texturing, most facial details were baked from the high-poly model, then layered with additional textures for depth. Clothing textures were adjusted in Substance 3D, using AO and curvature maps for color variation. The biggest challenge was balancing color harmony, texture diversity, and density, requiring constant tweaks and render tests to match my reference.

For rendering, I used Marmoset Toolbag 4 with a three-point light setup (backlight, top light, and side key light), adding fill lights where needed. Post-processing included ray tracing, vignetting, and focus effects.

The toughest challenge was making the high-poly model feel alive, avoiding a stiff, lifeless look. Through this project, I deepened my understanding of subtle forms and texture variation. Now, I hope more people will see my work, discuss it with me, and grow together.

剃须刀, 3D Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine