This project was a great way to push my character modeling skills by focusing on tactile, "toy-like" textures. I wanted to see how far I could balance contrasting materials, like the glossy, ceramic finish of the pumpkin head against the soft, matte feel of the fabric ruffles. After sculpting the forms in ZBrush and retopologizing in Maya, I used Substance Painter to blend hand-painted details with procedural layers, aiming for a stylized character that feels solid and physically real.
This stylized low-poly bust, inspired by SaintOcean, balances elegance with subtle horror. I translated the painterly concept into a game-ready 3D model by sculpting in ZBrush and retopologizing in Maya for animation-friendly flow. Hand-painted textures in Substance Painter utilize soft gradients and a strict value hierarchy to keep the delicate facial features as the focal point. The included expression sheet demonstrates how the simplified topology holds up during blendshape deformation.
