I started this project at the end of February 2016 for my senior project. I knew I wanted to work on a character or creature sculpt because I wanted to improve my organic modeling skills. After a brief search for inspiration I stumbled across the following concept art by Bobby Chiu.  I decided to use this piece for inspiration for the character placement and lighting of my scene.

Since this was my second ever sculpt in Zbrush I knew from the beginning that I would only model one character. This led to the decision to use a tree with a lantern in it as the light source. With that in mind I started my sculpt from very basic models in Maya. I imported these base meshes into Zbrush and started sculpting. My initial attempt to model the mountains in Maya proved to be frustrating. I decided to start the base model of the mountains in Zbrush. After some progress modeling the base mesh for a lantern in Maya I decided it did not fit well with the aesthetic of the scene. I scrapped my original design and went back to reference for inspiration. After some searching I happened across a “fairy” lantern. The organic leaf style fit perfectly with the overall aesthetic. I again modeled a base mesh in Maya and brought it into Zbrush.

I focused for awhile on the lantern and mountains, then began sculpting the lizard. I constantly referred back to reference photos. As I progressed I built a reference library for different elements of the models.