Game Art - Final Compilation & Reflection
23/9/2025 - 25/12/2025 / Week 1 - Week 14
Tay Yue Chern / 0373215
Game Art / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Projects
TABLE OF CONTENT
1.
INSTRUCTIONS
6.
REFLECTION
INSTRUCTIONS
1. EXERCISE
CHARACTER DESIGN CONCEPT
For this exercise, we are to create a complete original character concept for
a 3D game, including character sheets, accessories, and turnarounds. Focus on
anatomy, proportion, silhouette, shape language, color, and visual
storytelling. Ensure the character fits a chosen game genre, shows
personality, and is presented professionally. Options include humanoid,
stylised, hero, or creature designs.
For the character, Mr Luqman suggested that we try a humanoid character, so I
chose to design a mermaid. The initial concept is a long-haired mermaid. Based
on my personal preference, I decided to combine shark elements into the
design, creating a shark-inspired mermaid.
|
| Fig 1.1 Character Moodboard |
Based on my concept, I started with rough sketches to explore and define the
overall look I wanted to achieve.
|
| Fig 1.2 Rough Sketches |
|
| Fig 1.3 Character Turnaround - Line Work |
For the colour scheme, I preferred a blue–purple palette, with blue as the
main tone and purple as an accent, combined with gold accessories. For the
skin tone, instead of using a normal human skin colour, I chose a pale blue
tone to enhance the character’s non-human appearance.
|
| Fig 1.4 Colour Scheme |
|
| Fig 1.5 Coloured Character Turnaround |
|
| Fig 1.6 Character Concept Illustration |
Fig 1.7 Exercise Final Compilation - PDF
2. PROJECT 1
COMPLETE HIGH POLY CHARACTER GAME DEVELOPMENT
We are required to sculpt a character mesh starting from primitive forms
(spheres, cylinders, etc.) and gradually refining into detailed structures.
This exercise emphasises blocking, proportion, and anatomy before moving into
finer details. We also must complete the sculpting and modelling the outfit
for the character including props if necessary.
For sculpting, I started with a rough blockout and then gradually refined the
details based on references.
|
| Fig 2.1 Rough Blockout |
|
|
Fig 2.2 Blocking Details - Upper Body |
|
| Fig 2.3 Blocking Details - Full Body |
I spent quite a long time on the anatomy stage because I am not very
confident in sculpting the human body in 3D. In addition, many online
references include personal interpretations and are not always anatomically
accurate. Because of this, I collected and broke down many references,
watched more tutorial videos, and asked Mr Luqman for feedback. Through this
process, I gradually improved my anatomy sculpt.
|
| Fig 2.3 Zbrush Working Progress |
I originally planned to create more stylised, flat hair strands. However,
after considering the overall style, I felt it was not suitable. In the end,
I chose to use Fibermesh for the hair to achieve a more realistic result.
|
| Fig 2.4 Character Detailing - Upper Body |
|
|
|
Fig 2.6 Project 1 Final Compilation - PDF
3. PROJECT 2
RETOPOLOGY, UV MAPPING & BAKING
In this stage, we will continue developing the character from Project 1 by
preparing it for use in a real-time game engine. This process involves
creating a clean retopologized low-poly model, generating optimized UV maps,
and producing baked texture maps from the high-poly sculpt. These steps are
essential in the game art pipeline to ensure that the character maintains high
visual fidelity while being optimised for performance in real-time rendering.
We need to convert our high-poly sculpt into a low-poly mesh through
retopology, design efficient and logically organised UV maps, and perform
texture baking to capture high-poly details such as normal maps, ambient
occlusion, curvature, and other supporting maps.
Since we were not familiar with the retopology, UV mapping, and baking
workflows, and also inexperienced with Maya, Mr Luqman guided us step by step
through the entire process.
|
| Fig 3.1 Retopology Progress |
We started retopology from the face, then added edge loops around the joints
in the limbs and body. Mr Luqman repeatedly emphasised this as a key step to
ensure that we wouldn’t create too many faces later, keeping the mesh
manageable and organised throughout the process.
|
| Fig 3.2 Retopology Progress - Body |
|
| Fig 3.3 Retopology Progress - Full Body |
During the process, my character’s nails were originally part of the main
body mesh. Based on Mr Luqman’s suggestion, I went back to ZBrush and
separated them into a different subtool to make retopology easier.
|
| Fig 3.4 Nails separated from body mesh |
I also faced a significant challenge with the retopology of my character’s
ears. Mr Luqman suggested that I go back to ZBrush to add more thickness, as
the ears were too thin and the edges were too sharp, which made them
difficult to work with.
|
| Fig 3.5 Retopology - 4 views |
Next, we moved on to UV mapping. At this stage, the process was mostly
smooth. However, it was only then that I truly understood why Mr Luqman had
repeatedly emphasised the importance of having logical edge flow earlier,
and what “logical” edge flow really means.
|
| Fig 3.6 UV Mapping Progress |
The main difficulty I faced was at the connection between the shoulder and
the arm, where the edge flow was not ideal. I could not simply cut a loop
because the edges did not align properly. I considered going back to adjust
the retopology, but realised that fixing it would be very troublesome and
would likely require redoing a large portion of the mesh. Instead, I tried
to carefully cut the UVs, and fortunately, it worked in the end.
|
| Fig 3.7 UV Mapping |
Personally, I feel that it is difficult to fully understand how to do
retopology correctly in the early stages, until you actually start cutting
UVs and discover problems that were not obvious before. Because of this
experience, I believe my next retopology process will be much smoother.
Fig 3.8 UV Turntable
Fig 3.9 UV Turntable - Custom UV
Fig 3.10 Character Colour Concept
Fig 3.11 Project 2 Final Compilation - PDF
4. FINAL PROJECT
BAKING, TEXTURING & RENDERING FOR FINAL PRESENT
This final project requires us to complete a game-ready 3D asset by finishing
texture baking, texturing, rendering, and professional presentation using
real-time tools. The focus is on applying correct baking workflows, creating
PBR-standard textures, understanding the full game art pipeline, and
presenting the asset at portfolio quality, supported by reflective
documentation.
At this stage, we exported both the high-poly and low-poly meshes from Maya
and moved into Substance Painter for baking. For me, this process went quite
smoothly, mainly because there were no major issues with the earlier
retopology and UV mapping, which helped the baking process run without
problems.
|
| Fig 4.1 Baking in Adobe Substance Painter |
After that, I started colouring and applying textures in Substance Painter
based on my initial concept design. However, I did not follow it exactly. I
made some subjective adjustments to improve certain design elements, making
the overall look more harmonious and creating a clearer visual hierarchy.
|
| Fig 4.2 Texturing in Adobe Substance Painter |
After texturing, I exported the texture files and prepared to move into
Marmoset Toolbag for the final render and presentation, as suggested by Mr
Luqman.
|
| Fig 4.3 Marmoset Toolbag |
I imported all the texture files accordingly and then started adjusting the
lighting. After everything was set up, I rendered the final images and a
turntable with the character posed in an “A” pose.
|
| Fig 4.4 Rendering Progress |
My character’s original concept included hair, but due to time constraints, I tested adding hair and found that the result was not very ideal. After discussing this with Mr Luqman, I decided to keep the final design without hair.
 |
| Fig 4.5 Character with hair |
After completing the A-pose render, I went back to Maya and used simple
rigging to create a character pose. I then re-imported the model into
Marmoset for the final posed render. At this stage, the work was mainly
focused on final touch-ups and presentation, but it was the most
time-consuming part of the process.
|
| Fig 4.6 Character Pose |
Fig 4.7 Final Presentation Video
Fig 4.8 Final Project Compilation - PDF
REFLECTION
This module helped me understand the full game art workflow, from character concept and sculpting to retopology, UV mapping, texturing, and final presentation. At the beginning, many of the processes were unfamiliar to me, especially technical workflows.
One of the biggest challenges was anatomy and retopology. I struggled at first because it was hard to judge what was anatomically correct and how to create clean, logical edge flow. Through repeated practice, studying references, watching tutorials, and receiving feedback from Mr Luqman, I slowly improved my understanding and skills.
This module also made me realise how important early decisions are. Proper retopology and UV mapping made later stages like baking and texturing much smoother. I also learned that tools such as Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, and Marmoset are connected, and mistakes in one stage can affect the next.
Overall, this module strengthened both my technical skills and patience. It gave me a clearer understanding of the game art pipeline and more confidence to approach future 3D character projects with better planning and workflow awareness.
Comments
Post a Comment