Like the jacket, the trousers need to be baggy, a lot like the trousers worn by modern firefighters, but I plan for them to be made from similar fabrics to the jacket (i.e. treated canvas with many layers of insulating lining).
Boots #1:
Append > Cube > Dynamesh, 512 > Clay Build-up Brush + Mask/3D Gizmo + Move Brush
The boots should be bulky and sturdy-looking, and neither too much like lean, authoritarian soldier's boots or like 25kg diving boots as seen in the Standard Diving Dress of the time (1910s-20s). They should fit comfortably in the middle ground, and be appropriate for heavy duty protection and shielding from the heat of fire, but not retard the wearer's mobility.
Progress Report #1:
He's starting to match the silhouette and basic form of my concept sketch, but of course currently lacks any dynamic contours or becoming form. The boots and trousers are very shapeless and undefined. However, I think the lip of the jacket above the belt and the way the belt currently works to deform the jacket is on the way to being a realistic sculpt of bulky and stiff jacket underneath a belt.
Helmet #1:
Append > Sphere > Mask/3D Gizmo
Starting with a basic sphere and manipulating it into the right shape using masking with the 3D Gizmo, I've crafted the basic shape of the helmet. The rim needs to be bowed lower at the back and front while being sloped upward at the sides before it achieves the iconic firefighter helmet shape.
Collar #1:
The collar should be a heavy-duty, tough and hefty one that looks like it belongs to the rest of the equally fire-appropriate jacket. Beginning with a cube, I extruded one of the ends around the base-model's neck, applied dyna-mesh, and set to flaring out the lower hem and once again extruding the model to add the inner fold where it meets the base of the jacket's neck area.
Helmet Name Plate and Cowl #1:
Append > Cube/Sphere > Dynamesh, 512 > Clay Build-up Brush
The crowning element of his silhouette, I aimed for my firefighter captain's name plate (a.k.a shield) to be an elegant shape but not an overblown one as seen on helmets from the 19th century and some areas of America in the early 20th century. I want the shield to remain somewhat humble to differentiate it from already existing designing from the 1910-20s and make it more of a squat shape - more practically sized to suit the more vaguely soldier-like sensibilities I imagine this alternate timeline having for its firefighters.
Progress Report #2:
The collar and the fastening flap at the front are starting to resemble those of my concept sketch, but the helmet currently in need of more basic shape alterations before I jump into adding any finer details like the classic ridges seen on the classic firefighter helmet designs from 20th century America and Britain.
Sleeves #1:
Append > Cylinder > Dynamesh, 256 > Clay Build-up Brush + Move Brush
To make sure I get the sleeves to the state I originally envisioned them, I'm temporarily lowering the base-model's arms to its sides, so I can more accurately copy the silhouette, rough creasing pattern etc.
Gloves #1:
Append > Cube > Dynamesh, 512 > Smooth Brush + Clay Build-up Brush
Starting again with a basic cube, I applied dynamesh and set to carving out the rough shape of a glove palm (using the clay build-up brush and smoothing brush) while referencing both my concept sketch (for what overall appearance I want for the gloves) and a reference section I compiled in my pinterest board specifically for worn, burned gloves with styles/fittings similar to my desired outcome.
Before progressing further, I checked the proportions of my own hands and few reference images, and quickly realised that the base of my had was too long, as were the fingers. I rectified this by selectively transforming the base-model's hand using masking and the 3D Gizmo.
I also edited the basic proportions/length of the thumb in relation to its neighbouring digits, as it felt stretched in its middle joint and the tip was an odd shape.
Another tweak I made was enlarging the hands slightly. In comparison to the base-model's head, they were a bit too small to span his face (a life drawing artist's rule of thumb I try to live by). Since his hands are going to be losing some of their girth later on, I think it's doubly important to get their size right early on, so they don't look doubly small once finished.
Getting closer to achieving the look of a burned away glove that I originally wanted the Firefighter to have has been very rewarding, doubly so since using such exhaustive reference has definitely contributed to a much more authentic sculpt, in my opinion.
Boots #2:
Append > Cylinder > Dynamesh, 512 > Clay Build-up Brush + Move Tool + Move Gizmo
I want the boots to be made of a sturdy, thick leather, and I want to make this evident through the size and character of the folds and wrinkles in their exterior. After collating some initial reference, leather boots seem to billow and buckle the most dramatically around the ankle, with apparent wear folds and wrinkles at the toe joint.
To begin blocking out the steel caps on the toes of the boots (which I'm not entirely sure I'll keep as part of the design), I masked the tips of their sculpt, duplicated then separated the region as its own object. I then closed the hole in the cross-section using the 'close holes' feature in ZBrush's mesh integrity drawer.
Tackling the Adornments and Apparatus - Breathing Tube #1:
I was stuck at first on what method to use to create the basic shape of the breathing tube. I initially tried a z-sphere, because I thought that a non-polygon-based shape that I could control individual areas of before committing to a polygon-based shape would be appropriate and practical, but I found it difficult to be precise with keep each joint of the z-sphere the exact same size, and the interface was a little un-wieldy to me. After experimenting with a simple cylinder shape and extruding its cross-section using the z-modeler tool, I decided to commit to my second method in favour of the more stream-lined workflow.
Apparatus Straps #1:
Beginning with a basic cube and extruding segments to go over the shoulders and hug the chest, I crafted the basic structure of the straps of his breathing apparatus harness. Roughing out the general shape and tension in the straps has made me realize the girth of the fabric there was disappearing underneath the sleeves and making his chest seem tiny, when in fact it should be forced around them. So before progressing further with the harness, I want to make an adjustment to the sides of the jacket torso.
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| ^ The adjustment mentioned above ^ |
Skeletal Hands:
Before becoming too engrossed in detailing the clothing further, I want to make a start on the firefighter's burned away hands. Since they're one of the focal points of his character concept, I want to begin roughing them out now rather than later.
Finding the right reference that exhibited enough detail to work from took some time and effort but was absolutely worth it. I found an excellent
website that had logs of hand anatomy, specifically the tendons of the fingers, with images of non-plastinated and skinned hands. This web page has proved to be a gold mine of reference for my firefighter's burned hands: using its images as well as reference of burned skin and flesh will help me sculpt a more realistic and true-to-life traumatically burned pair of hands.
To begin the burned, skeletal hands, I duplicated the base-model's hands and used the clay build-up brush to take away girth from the fingers. I also referred to the original base-model hands (using the transparency feature of ZBrush) to ensure that the new skeletal ones do not exceed the original outer boundary of flesh.
Wedding Ring - Crucial Detail:
It occurred to me while sculpting the hands that he would be wearing a wedding ring. A small detail like this should elevate him being a firefighter with no personal history to clearly having a connection with another person (that in his case transcends beyond normal limits).
After an hour or so of research into the materials that wedding rings were made of in the 1910s and 1920s, and only finding over-complicated answers involving platinum engagement rings, I eventually learned that most people's wedding rings (as I assumed they've always been) were simple gold bands.
I started with a cylinder, dyna-meshing it and sculpting/pulling it
into a melted shape. After researching the melting point of gold (1,064°C) and cross-referencing that with the average temperature of a forest fire (between 800°C and 1,200°C), I think that the ring could have melted to the point of substantial deformation, but not become runny enough to drip off his finger.
While I could always explain some details away by citing creative license (e.g. I could suggest that the ring was spared in the fiery embrace due to its significance to the couple hugging), I prefer to research the problem anyway so I'm aware of how far out of realism I'd be pushing an aspect of a design.
Breathing Tube #2:
A word about re-designing the arrangement of breathing apparatus regarding realism and the heart of the character design:
While discussing the concept sketch I created (found in the final entry in my Part 0 blog post), with one of my tutor's he pointed out that a tube insert right in the 'spine' of the oxygen tank would likely cause an integrity issue in the tank's structure. In response to this apt feedback, I'm altering the breathing tube and the tank to resemble a more realistic design.
I had originally referenced this photograph of firefighters with the 1910s-20s 'Proto' breathing apparatus, which have tube inserts only in the rounded ends of the oxygen tanks, but I'd previously avoided copying it exactly for two reasons: the first being that I was concerned about the tube obstructing my Firefighter Captain's arm movement, and the second reason was my over-zealous attempt to distance my design from being a complete copy of the genuine article. I thought at the time of working on the concept that it did look strange, but after discussing the concept with my tutor, I embraced the decision to bring the design back to its more realistic and accurate roots.
I original idea (though not evident in my concept sketch) was for the straps holding the oxygen tank to the firefighter's back to be burned through by his wife's embrace, leaving the tank jostling around at his waist (still suspended by the second half of its straps attaching it to the harness belt). The breathing tube will also be burned through, resulting in one half dangling out the tank and the other dangling over his shoulder.
Trousers #2: The Hardest Reference to Find:
I found it very difficult to find the appropriate reference for sculpting the creases and overall form of the trousers. My original concept was for them to be made of tough canvas like the jacket, and lined with similar materials, but no such trousers actually exist from what I gathered in my research: the closest I found were unlined work/cargo pants that were either regular or slim fits. Even real firefighter trousers didn't prove all that useful as they don't drape in the way I want mine to, and the materials they're made from would always behave differently to how canvas would crease and deform.
In the end, I resorted to photographing my own tracksuit trousers and using them as main crease and deformation reference, while also referencing canvas clothing and ultimately splitting the difference. I chose the tracksuit trousers because they possess that recognizable bowing below the knee from many times of bending my legs, which is something that I think my firefighter would've been doing a lot (i.e. crawling through burning and collapsed buildings) before the event in the forest fire.
I also made a habit of zooming out and assessing the whole sculpt, to check if they match the definition and 3-dimensional contrast that I sculpted into the sleeves. Like with the sleeves, I planned ahead for this part of the model and sculpted all this on a layer, so I can lessen or exaggerate the definition of the creases non-destructively and en-mass.I think the trousers are finally starting to display some weight realistic shape (both on the macro and micro scale). They're beginning to look like the trousers I wanted my firefighter captain to be wearing, and so far, I believe they suit the rest of his overall aesthetic.
Finally - The Face:
[Duplicate > Dynamesh 2048 > Clay Build-up brush with block square/soft circle alphas]
I know that I want to tackle the head using the same technique I employed for the hands: chiselling away at a duplicate of the base-model head, with the model of a skull underneath, and ultimately creating form in the middle of skin and bone by splitting the difference.
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| Skull/Head Reference |
To give myself a head-start on the skull, I decided to duplicate the cranial dome, brows and cheeks (basically everything above the beginning of the ears) of the base-model's head - since those are the areas of the human head where the bone is nearest to the skin's surface. I then set to adding some mass to the underside of the new skull to then fashion into the nose and upper jaw.
The reference I've been using so far is a combination of Googled skull images (front view, side view etc), plastinated faces/heads, face muscle diagrams, explosion victim special effects from media as well as photos of my own teeth, for more specific angles of human dental arrangements. I of course used the skull images to construct the base of my Captain's head, the plastinations and muscle diagrams for reference when sculpting the facial muscles, and special effects work like Gustavo Fring's explosion trauma from the TV series 'Breaking Bad', among others for inspiration for how to damage the face authentically.
While more exact reference of a face this eviscerated sadly (or thankfully) does not exist, I've found that using ALL this reference in a collage really helped me figure my way through the areas of the face - what I'd like that area to look like, having the reference guide how to achieve that (i.e. what details would be there for that level and type of trauma), and ultimately using extensive research pave the way to my ideal result.
Making a final decision on the eye/s - balancing his remaining humanity with realistic trauma:
Up until now since the sculpting process began, I'd been wondering exactly what I was going to do with his eyes - or lack there of, and was just intending to sculpt one empty socket on the more burned side and a less burned (but still lacking an eye) opening on the other. However I'm not reconsidering this plan.
Him lacking any eye at all makes him a little too monstrous and in-human for liking. Originally I envisioned him not having eyes at all, and having only burned out eye sockets. However after considering it a while, I think having only sockets make it look like whatever burned him was hostile and intentionally gouged them out. So to keep a bit of him humanity intact and make sure the burned embrace seems un-hostile, I've chosen to add one eye to the less burned side of his traumatized visage.
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^ Opening up the mouth [adding gnarl to the snarl] ^
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I want the teeth to be rather exposed, as I want to further add asymmetry to the damage his face has suffered, but also to avoid the mouth looking silly or small. Within reasonable limits, I think that the more eviscerated his face is, the more visually striking it becomes.
After some quick trial-and-error attempts, I settled on a solution to balance the face's aesthetics and its realism: I first duplicated and separated the less empty eye socket (originally situated on his right side), and flipped the mesh to fit the left socket. As for the original right socket, I disabled the layer which housed the damaged eye socket to replace it with the less damaged eyelid. In effect, I chose to change the current 'moderately damaged' right and 'severely damaged' left with a 'somewhat damaged' right and 'moderately damaged' left.
Finished to a Standard of Sufficiency:
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| Finished Sculpt |
Before progressing further, I checked the proportions of my own hands and few reference images, and quickly realised that the base of my had was too long, as were the fingers. I rectified this by selectively transforming the base-model's hand using masking and the 3D Gizmo. 
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