This tutorial is best suited for those who like to see a rough

model from the start and then refine into detail as you go.

Introduction
Hi, my name is Rishi and I am a 3d Character artist. In this
article I am going to take you through the making of Tidus .,
my inspirational character. This tutorial is best suited for those
who like to see a rough model from the start and then refine
into detail as you go. Im not gona cover every step of the
creation process of this image. I assume you have some basic
knowledge of Maya and Zbrush.

Inspiration
Usually I always like to put my own concept or story for
character but this is something I always wanted to do. I am
always impressed by the quality of Final Fantasy Characters.
So I thought to give it a try but in a different way. This is not
my concept .I am making Tidus which is from Dissidia Final
Fantasy.

Modeling
For modeling, I have used Maya for base mesh and Zbrush for
detailing. Before starting the model in Maya i always do some
research and collect as many reference as i can.
I usually model my characters from a cube. Its a quick and
very effective way of modeling. Some people prefer edge
extrusion method which is also very good but a little bit time
taking.
I uploaded a simple line drawing of a character in Maya and
quickly blocking out the basic shape. Right now am not
concentrating on the face details. I will correct the shape and
details in Zbrush.

I start with a cube and through edge extrusion and split faces,
i block the model to match it roughly with the image. I am not

concentrating on the line flow for the body since this model is
not being animated.

Adding more lines and rounding of the shape

I always model palm, foot and head separate because it gives

me more freedom to add lines wherever i want.
I add some more lines and shape it accordingly.

A very basic palm modeling in Maya

I am not modeling the foot because I plan to suit him with

boots.
Before starting the face i thoroughly search the net for anime
and manga references. I have taken references from the final
fantasy game also. So always spend some time in research
before starting any character. I have taken human references
too for the expressions.
I am starting the face also with a cube.

Similar things also apply to face too. I have front and side
references loaded into Maya and start to model the face
beginning by a cube.
Distinct lines are made and important land mark places like
mouth, eyes, nose and ears are taken care of by proper line
flow so that we get nice and smooth facial expressions.

After working on it a bit more, I got the shape am looking for.

Adding more lines, am fleshing out the face .Did some

topology adjustments too on the neck to match it with the
topology of the face. No need to merge the palm because we
are going to make that in gloves later.

So, i have a basic body in Maya. Now its time for the cloth
and props. Below is the image used for reference.

Again am going with a similar approach, am taking a plane

and thro edge extrusion am building the base for the cloth
and accessories. Below are a few images of the building of
cloth n accessories.

This is one of the accessories that is on the hand of Tidus.

Here, I have taken a sphere and selected alternative columns
of faces.

The faces being selected, they are deleted to get something

like the picture below.

The faces being selected, they are deleted to get something

like the picture below.

Duplicate the twisted object and again apply the twist

deformer, but in the opposite direction. Now move the
vertices of the objects in the places of the intersection such
that they are interwoven.

Modeling all the accessories in similar ways, we get basic

accessories that need to be worked on later in Zbrush.

Below is a image of the sword of Tidus.

So, finally all the acce

sories and the cloth of Tidus are ready for detailing in Zbrush.

As the below image shows, I have imported everything

including body as different subtools in Zbrush

For the body sculpting, we hide all the other subtools (in
cluding the palms) that have been imported into Zbrush except
the body. Most of the body is covered with cloth so I dont

need to work on the full body, just hands, legs and face.

Lets start adding some forms to the body. I have used stand
rd brush with combination of clay and smooth brush for ad
ding muscles. Firstly, subdivided the body. Then start sculp
ting and molding it according to the references u have collecte
d. Please make sure u fully utilize the extra polygons resulted

by subdivision.

I think it is sufficient for now and will add some more

details and tweak some more muscles when we pose the charact
er. So

Posing
I have taken the pose from the game poster.
Now to go about the exact method of posing. Firstly, I mask
all the areas that dont need the effect of transpose. Then
using the transpose tool, I pose the character in Zbrush.

One after another, each part that need posing is selected and
transpose used on it to get the below pose. After posing i
have done some muscle correction on the body and scaled
down the neck because it was looking a bit long.

Now that the body is posed, cloth is also posed in a similar

fashion.
Heres the final posing with cloths on, and all the accessories

imported including the sword.

CLOTH DETAILING

First am going to shape the shirt according to the reference i

have taken. I am using move brush here with the combination
of standard (with gravity on), slash 2, pinch and smooth
brushes. I have subdivided the mesh. Will do the detailing in
each level one by one.

Here are some images of progresses on each level:

After detailing the small props and cloth, this is what I got.

I have saved a rendered image of the character in Zbrush.

Importing this image into Photoshop, I give it some nice

colour effects and some hair too. You could experiment with
different styles and effects in Photoshop until you are satisfied
with the output.
So, here we are with the finished image.

Some suggestions from my

experience that I would like to
share with you guys.
When youre sculpting, dont try to subdivide it to high level
right after you put it in Zbrush, always try to get maximum
details in low level, when youll be quite happy with that, then
just move to another level and add more fine details.

Dont worry about the shape of the model in the beginning, u

can always change it later.
Always add some gravity when you are dealing with cloth
wrinkles.
Knowledge of anatomy is important but dont let this restrict
you to experiment the different characters you want to
portray because you can always change the anatomy details
to make it more visually enhanced. Thats the beauty of
working in 3d.

Hope you enjoyed this making as much as I did while making

it. Happy sculpting.