Project Description:
The project was to model and texture a 3D character. The character was to be scuplted in Zbrush and textured using polypaint. Furthermore, it needed to accurately represent period imagery found online and have geometry that represented good geometric flow. This flow allows for accurate deformation of the characters limbs while animated. We were given the option to create any model we would like.
Book Research:
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christain Andersen was based off siren mythology. The siren mythology depicts the creatures who lure sailors to their deaths as half bird half women who use their voices or harps to enchant sailors. Popular culture often confuses mermaids with sirens.
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In the original book that Disney's The Little Mermaid was based off of, at one point of the story the women who was depicted as Ariel has the choice to kill the prince. She ends up not being able to do it and dies, turning into seafoam. I wanted to combine the siren mythology and the classic book. An alternate form where she takes the princes life instead, following siren mythology.
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"They were six beautiful children; but the youngest was the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea; but, like all the others, she had no feet, and her body ended in a fish’s tail."
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Like the tale I want to make her beautiful but combine a more aquatic feel to her. Since the ocean is known for having lost treasures the jewelry I want to have on her will be ancient around Roman times.
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"We sometimes live to three hundred years, but when we cease to exist here we only become the foam on the surface of the water, and we have not even a grave down here of those we love."
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Since mermaids live for long amounts of time they have lived through more time periods than humans so their jewelry and weapons resemble older periods.
Online Reference Imagery:
Images are found online and I looked into roman jewelry and mythological takes on mermaids and sirens.
Mermaid Reference
Ship Reference
Fin Reference
Other References
Color Palette
When designing the different scenes for my Siren I decided on the design where it is peaking out of the water to look at a sailor because it shows the transformation the Siren goes through to lure the sailor's to their death. Above the surface the sailor sees the Siren as a beautiful woman he desires but below the water it is ready to kill him. I believe it conveys the most out of all the scenes.
Rough Sketches
Thumbnail Sketches
Computer Roughs
Companion Roughs
Model Process
Final Model
