Aquatic Character

A character model inspired by aquatic slugs.

Year: 2022
Kind: Characters
Made with: Blender, Substance

Three views of the aquatic character's head and shoulders on black: dark reddish-brown skin, a frilled orange nudibranch-like mantle on the head, knobbly leech-like growths across the chest and a tendril trailing down the back.

Interactive 3D model of the aquatic character, a humanoid with nudibranch-like frills and glowing nodules, swimming.

A sculpt I made with reference from aquatic slugs. I was out ice fishing on a mountain and saw the fish had leeches on them. Then I got the idea to make a humanoid with a semi-symbiotic relationship to leeches. The idea is that the creatures wear the leeches as a socioeconomic status symbol. The leeches tear away at the body of their host, creating unique yet beautiful patterns on their body. The closer to death, the more beautiful.

Bust of the aquatic character in three views: dark glossy skin, a frilled orange-red mantle draped over the head like a nudibranch, bumpy leech-like growths spreading over the shoulders and chest, and a long tendril hanging down the back.

Front and back T-pose renders of the aquatic creature with and without subsurface scattering: with it, warm red-orange light glows through the thin membranes of the arms; without it, the body reads as flat blue-teal. (Without) — To make the creature look like it belongs in the water I made use of subsurface scattering (sss).

Looking at most fish and sea creatures, they are very colourful when brought out of the water. But with the sss and the interaction with the diffusion of the water, they blend into the environment when in the water.

Reference: three nudibranch photographs, a black sea slug with neon-green spots, a bright blue one with black stripes and an orange frilled one carrying a striped shell. — Nudibranchs I used for shape language
Reference photographs, not my work

Combining these ideas we end up with a creature that looks like it belongs in the water.

The finished creature swimming away from the camera underwater, arms spread, its dark skin traced with glowing cyan nodules, beneath a rippling blue surface with caustics on the sand below.