ZBrush Character Design - Fantasy Shaman

Kaoime Malloy

This was my final project from my ZBrush class at the Cinema Makeup School. For the assignment we were required to: create the bust/design from a clay ball, place it on a pedestal, add spheres for eyes, use the mask tool, extract shapes from the main object (such as jewelry), add hair or feathers, create a facial expression and then paint and texture the final design.

My goal for this project was to create a fantasy shaman, a character connected to nature, perhaps from another world. Color choices reflected the elements of air and water as well as the moon, which controls the tides. I wanted to incorporate a sense of movement, so I ‘combed’ and positioned the hair fibers, here rendered thick and colored to resemble the feathers of an exotic bird, as if they were being rustled and moved about by the wind surrounding the character. Her face is angular and finely boned, and she bears a pair of horns, incorporating a Celtic idea of ‘growing horns’ to signify when a Druid had finished their training or come into their power, and the horns are formed in stylized spirals, a universal symbol for energy and nature. An analogous color scheme ties the design together, providing unity. Coral-like structures and a shell shaped collar with fluted patterns add additional water elements.