Melvin Okoronkwo is a 3D character artist specialising in realistic humans and detailed hair. He enjoys bringing characters to life from concept illustrations using the best 3D modelling software. Below, he explains the inspiration and process behind the strikingly realistic 3D model, Lady Kököchin.
“The main inspiration for this piece was the TV show Marco Polo on Netflix, as I quickly fell in love with the Mongolian nomadic culture. I find the traditional Mongolian clothing interesting, especially the ceremonial ones. My Lady Kököchin piece pays homage to the real-life princess of the Bayaut tribe of Mongolia.
“My goal was to make a beautiful Mongolian woman wearing an elaborate and colourful costume to capture the essence of what she could have looked like coming from that region. I took inspiration from supposed images of Queen Genepil and combined ideas from traditional Mongolian wedding attire. The challenges were sourcing accurate references for the headdress and jewellery.
"In some cases, I had to improvise, such as how the wings are fastened at the back of the headdress. The body was generated using MetaHuman, as was the head, which was also taken into ZBrush for sculpting. The texturing was done using VFace as a base in Substance 3D Painter.”
Visit Mortar Studios for more of Melvin's modelling work.
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