Isadora the Faun
Isadora! More like Is-ADORABLE! Isadora is apart of a larger set of characters I created for an original story. Set in a YA fantasy world, Isadora is a faunling who has lost her parents and must overcome her grief to save the day. But on a personal note, she has been my muse in 2D and 3D.
"Heir to the Throne" Concept Art
"Heir to the Throne" is a cast of characters I created to be used within a 2D space. I wanted to utilize a mix between high-fantasy and YA literature. Drawing from inspirations such as The Dragon Prince, The Lord of the Rings, and The Cruel Prince. I loved each of these characters, but Isadora (whom I affectionately call Izzy) became my focus and muse for a variety of projects.
The next step in the process was to take each of my characters and draw a turnaround. Here is Isadora's. This is where I got a better idea of her proportions, clothing, and human-to-faun ratio. I wanted her legs to have visible tufts of fur even though deer have fairly coarse and thick fur.
Maquette
After creating the turnaround for Isadora, I wanted to build her maquette. I created her bust, and through this process, I gained a stronger sense of her facial features in 3D. I wanted her to have a fairly prominent nose as well as full cheeks to accentuate her cute and innocent look.
3D Model
Next, I modeled Izzy using Autodesk Maya. I wanted to challenge myself by doing a character completely in Maya. I focused on getting the correct topology initially, instead of retopologizing down the road. Throughout this process, I was forced to think about the separation between her human and faun elements to make the transition to look as natural as possible.
Look Development
Finally, I textured her in Substance Painter and applied xGen Fur Simulation before rendering her in Arnold. I wanted to texture her entirely using hand-painted techniques to fit with the storybook and fantasy stylization that references her original concept. 100% of her textures were painted by hand. It was a lot of fun getting the right amount of detail while still keeping the brush strokes visible. Generating her fur to keep with the stylized look was a challenge. I wanted the fur to have visible strands, but still blend with the overall fur group.
