Sketchbook: Melomad

Melomad · Apr 2024

Hello, I'm Arzel from France! I've been lurking the forum and decided to get my stuff out there.

Right now, I'm building my portfolio and I'm trying to get good enough at what I do to lend me a job. I do 3D and 2D art, I'm contributing to the Beyond Skyrim: Morrowind mod and the amazing people there really helped me

Here's a set of temple bells I did for the mod, I'm quite proud of it! However, I am and always will be open to critique. Huzzah!

Melomad · Apr 2024

I started a horse project: firstly because I love horses, secondly because they can be a challenge to get right, and thirdly because I've seen one too many fucked up horse in a game.

I chose to represent a local breed, the Breton horse (specifically the 'postier' subtype), as I haven't seen a lot of working horses in games / online. Horses are hard to get right because they bear the selective breeding curse which makes a lot of them fucked up, like pugs. In the case of the Breton horse, the 'trait' subtype has long ceased to be bred for manual labor and is instead bread dumb and heavy to maximize meat production.

With my postier, I hope to create a cute horse with good conformations and train my anatomy at the same time

Below are (some) references I gathered, my blockout and the first sculpt pass. I will refine the anatomy as I go, but if a horse-savvy person comes by, I'll be more than happy to get feedback on it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/dq/4lyjqwsoa0an.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/52/me654flh3uq3.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/z5/4hgaddj1vo74.jpg

Fabi_G · Apr 2024

Hi! That's a cool bell. A critique I'd make, is that it could use some impression of thickness at the opening. Maybe a bevel at that edge in the normal map would suffice.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/nr/fv3il508viwy.png

On the horse I'd say it currently feels too front-heavy in terms of weight/proportions.

Keep it up

Melomad · Apr 2024

Hey Fabi! Thank you so much for the pointers! I haven't thought about a bevel, it'll look so much better. I'll get on that asap.

And yes, gosh, I need to figure out the rump area. Just like hips on a human, I feel like it's one of the most complex piece of anatomy. There's so much going on...

It's really nice having new eyes on my work! Thank you for taking the time to comment

Melomad · Jun 2024

Long time no see!

Lost the mojo for a while, but I completed my horse sculpt. It was easier than I first expected it to be! I changed a bit of the proportions of the base sculpt and the rest was just filling in some details. The legs and hooves where thougher to get right, especially at the joints and the whole under-hoof-to-leg connection. I also sculpted in the genitalia because why not, my goal was to make an accurate horse model after all.

I'm debating wether or not I should go insane and sculpt things like protruding veins/hooves ridges/skin bumps. I like this version as is, but I could come back to it if the texturing needs a little more hoomph.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/dg/wv78vc8gca9q.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/rh/hdfpuzek5ss5.jpg

Melomad · Sep 2024

Once again I forgot to update this thread. A lot has been done!

The retopo went smoothly, I used to struggle on quadrupeds around, well, their legs. I studied other models and managed to find solutions that fitted my needs. Some of the parts I'm not too sure about are the hooves and the ears--I feel like they are too high density for the shape.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/7e/5x7p5szl0jj4.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/r6/k9sowuaamn2t.jpg

I usually use xNormals for baking my stuff but this time Blender gave me an almost perfect result in one go. I love you Blender...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/pa/cniru2u1akn4.png

Then the part I slaved over: the diffuse map. I could be smart and learn some texturing software, but I'm impatient and photobashing and painting over horse pics in CSP is much more intuative. Painting the details such as skin rolls and veins was insanely satisfying... It ties the whole thing together...

I made it in black and white as I wasn't sure about which coat to choose for her, ended up going with a darker chestnut.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/n0/iqeaxdj81ck2.jpg

Behold my very first time managing to use the Hair Tool addon! I always had a problem making hair in general, I just couldn't manage to make it look good. This time something in my head just clicked, and even though it's far from being the most impressive groom, it's the first one I managed to finish one thus it's a great victory in my book. Went with a long, straight bangs/mane look to honor all the shetlands of the world.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/1i/xjhnfo5cvteh.jpg

And right now I'm painting the coat! Still a wip ofc, happy with how it's turning out so far. Coloring from a grayscale underpaint can be tricky sometimes. After finishing the coat, I want to add feathers to her legs

Thank you for reading!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/h4/88md5t2ldu21.jpg

Melomad · Sep 2024

It's finished! 25k triangles total, 6k for the body and 15k for the hair. I have no idea if that's insane or average for today's standards. Will compile everything and upload the project to my artstation, I'll have to figure out how to upload stuff to sketchfab. I learned a lot from this project, namely my first groom and good topology for quadrupeds. In the future I want to be less depressed and complete projects faster, learn how to better use substance instead of photobashing/painting everything by hand and make renders in unreal to prove I'm a good boy who makes good game ready asset.

In the meantime, let's gaze into the eyes of this bowl-cut horsie...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ow/bo7unodmzpjl.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/jv/jd4iaq3l4567.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/wy/nnid3gatqs3j.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/8x/u0z6y82y4z2b.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/im/hhynvh37gg44.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/hj/9zpbyjozune2.png

Melomad · Sep 20 2025

Good evening, I have finally started learning zbrush and made my elf guy OC that I love dearly (refs below). Obviously still WIP, I'll be putting it in my portfolio to hopefully get into a fancy public and reputable video game Master in Angoulême. My plan with that is to get on that profesionnal level and also buy myself some time until the industry gets a tiny bit better... Not fond of lifting heavy metal fences as a living to fend off Macron's spawns from stripping my rights.

Thank you!

Melomad · Oct 4 2025

Worked on the face some more, learned a bit more about the whole zbrush sculpting workflow. It's getting there! I think the side profiles looks a bit goofy.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/08/ym2p4p7ubql5.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ku/t4ttlhnl4ss6.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ng/nxdp6495bnyk.png

I took a break from sculpting to block out the clothes. I used one of zbrush's female base mesh, scrapped the breasts, tweaked the proportions and got to work. Back when I designed this character, I wanted to have a costume with antique gaelic feels, while having early italian renaissance details. I got The Chronicle of Western Costume by John Peacock recently and had a field trip looking at all the illustrations. I wish it was organized on a per country basis, cause italian and german trends are miles apart. Here are my sketchs of the ouftit:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/7y/eta91uy5bwqd.png

Pretty complex for my second or third time modeling a full character, but hey, I've been thinking about this elf since 2020.

Anyway, I was keen on modeling these funny sleeves that lets the undergarnment pokes through.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/az/w4xesoz1robt.png

What I was less keen on, however, was getting the shape of the irish great kilt 'Earasaid' right. I got it there, almost. Can't wait to figure out how to rig or simulate it lol

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/78/lzedj1zeudgu.png

All very rough for now, and that's okay. I'm taking things bit by bit because I tend to get lost in the technical side of stuff, panic, and loose my mojo.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading!

Melomad · Oct 29 2025

I got distracted by life once more!! I graduated from lifting heavy metal fences to cleaning toilets. Not the most fancy but my employers actually treats me like a human being, provides adequate cleaning supplies and gives me enough time to complete the job. I shouldn't be getting so happy with the bare minimum, but after getting hate-crimed by my former boss, any drop of respect feels like a oasis.

Anyway, I completed the block-out! Most of the sculpting after that will be fun, expect for the coat which scares me. But it's okay because I'll be brave and face my fears.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/3d/olntw6rwqhj4.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/n5/xpmrymwubdfb.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/3a/wwajqx5r4ybo.png

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ud/hbtq89itzdwd.png

As always feedbacks are more than welcome o7

I'm already satisfied from my progress on this project. A few months ago I would not have made it this far! Having a glimmer of hope does wonder on the mind.

zetheros · Oct 29 2025

I would keep working on the face, the lip seems feline, unless that was intentional. Keep sculpting the flesh around the eyes. Eyebrows could be bigger. Steady progress is solid progress, good luck Melomad

Melomad · 9:59AM

Yep that was the goal! I wanted to make an elf design a bit more interesting than just a guy with pointy ears. I admit the slit going up the nose makes the whole area a bit awkward to work with. I should look at people with a cleft lip and work out how the whole area gets affected.

Could you elaborate a bit on what could be worked on around the eyes? I tend to stop sculpting when I get the general shape done, but I really want to fight it and push the sculpt further.

Thank you for your message and encouragements o7

zetheros · 12:03PM

ooof hard to describe; I've just recently learned how to make faces that cross the uncanny valley and that took me months of grueling work. A lot of it has to do with proportions; faces are so exacting that even a millimeter of change can trigger the instinct of, "that doesn't look right."

I think a good place to start is to imagine the skull under all the layers of skin, fat, sinew and muscle, and how all of that hangs by gravity and is bound together. You can also try adding basic colours; add in some placeholder skin colour and especially colour the pupils and eye area, the pupils are a 'landmark' and the more landmarks you can identify, the faster you can pull together accurate proportions. The concept of your sculpt is stylized, but stylized art still conforms to a number of IRL rules.

Try to get a copy of Anatomy for Sculptors, that helped me a lot

Celosia · 12:20PM

I think probably he meant there isn't enough variation and definition around the eyes. The upper and lower eyelids wrap around it evenly almost like a circle without much hint of fat or tendons causing variations, but at the same time the eyelids aren't quite wrapped over the eyeballs shape, they're sitting around it.

The eyebrow arch could also use some variation, for a more extreme example of hollow inner corner and regular outer corner look up Jessica Chastain without makeup.

It depends a lot for what amount of stylization and shading you're going for, but I think you style lends itself well to this kind of anatomical detailing. You could also sharpen the ear structure, areas with cartilage or bone like the transition of the nose bridge and it'd look very good. It'd also be a small step ahead than a lot of character art out there because people tend to overlook this kind of sharper x rounder rhythm. Think about Disney's guidelines of curves and lines, it's the same spirit but instead of silhouettes you're thinking about planes. Done with intent this is also stylization.

You're doing a really good job of translating from 2D to 3D by the way, and your style is lovely! "The Chronicle of Western Costume" is staring at me from my desk, so I'm also greatly enjoying the costume. 😄

Edit: I took so long to type this up he answered too and I 100% agree about layering and attention to details!

Melomad · 1:06PM

zetheros said:

ooof hard to describe; I've just recently learned how to make faces that cross the uncanny valley and that took me months of grueling work. A lot of it has to do with proportions; faces are so exacting that even a millimeter of change can trigger the instinct of, "that doesn't look right."

I think a good place to start is to imagine the skull under all the layers of skin, fat, sinew and muscle, and how all of that hangs by gravity and is bound together. You can also try adding basic colours; add in some placeholder skin colour and especially colour the pupils and eye area, the pupils are a 'landmark' and the more landmarks you can identify, the faster you can pull together accurate proportions. The concept of your sculpt is stylized, but stylized art still conforms to a number of IRL rules.

Try to get a copy of Anatomy for Sculptors, that helped me a lot

I'll do that! Yeah, even though it's stylized, I really want to bring some realism back in. I'm aiming the overall look towards this piece. The proportions are less extreme in this example, but the texture work is what I envision.

zetheros · 1:20PM

polygroups really help with sculpting eyelids, they give a lot of fine-tuned control over tiny areas of geometry by selecting and masking loops and using the move brush. I think I must have spent 2 months just trying to get eyes looking right. Another thing that really pushed faces to the next level was remembering I was sculpting in 3d, so making sure the eyelids, lips, chin, were curved not only from the front but from top and bottom

Image: https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/093/189/894/large/sheng-zhong-curves.jpg?1761830424

Melomad · 1:31PM

Celosia said:

I think probably he meant there isn't enough variation and definition around the eyes. The upper and lower eyelids wrap around it evenly almost like a circle without much hint of fat or tendons causing variations, but at the same time the eyelids aren't quite wrapped over the eyeballs shape, they're sitting around it.

The eyebrow arch could also use some variation, for a more extreme example of hollow inner corner and regular outer corner look up Jessica Chastain without makeup.

It depends a lot for what amount of stylization and shading you're going for, but I think you style lends itself well to this kind of anatomical detailing. You could also sharpen the ear structure, areas with cartilage or bone like the transition of the nose bridge and it'd look very good. It'd also be a small step ahead than a lot of character art out there because people tend to overlook this kind of sharper x rounder rhythm. Think about Disney's guidelines of curves and lines, it's the same spirit but instead of silhouettes you're thinking about planes. Done with intent this is also stylization.

You're doing a really good job of translating from 2D to 3D by the way, and your style is lovely! "The Chronicle of Western Costume" is staring at me from my desk, so I'm also greatly enjoying the costume. 😄

Woaw thanks for all the pointers!! I totally see what is missing now that you mention it, I'll try to implement that as best as I can. And yes I really want to incorporate those little anatomical details; some of my inspirations are from Pathologic 2. Since the characters are extremely close to the camera, you get to see details such as irregularities, asymetries, skin defects and such. I think it's a great and subtle storytelling device

And thank you ;__; this means the world to me! I was doubtful in my ability at making it work in 3D, so I'm really glad I'm headed in the right direction.

Sketchbook: Melomad

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