Daydreamer

For a long time now I`ve had an itch. This lingering feeling at the back of my mind to do something different, to work on the type of illustration I have wanted to create for a long time.

I`ve always loved the distinctive styles of Escher, Salvador Dali and Tim Burton. These twisted works have struck a chord with me since I was young, but the problem has always been should I take a risk, open this door in my imagination and appease my inner demons or stick to what I am best known for?

Finally I decided it was time, time to push aside the cartoony characters and busty pinups of my past and scratch this darker, more surreal itch. The result is an image I have thoroughly enjoyed creating and should hopefully divide opinion as to whether my experiment has worked or not.

With this illustration it wasn`t all about experimenting with a different subject. This time around I also wanted to dive into Autodesk`s latest version of Maya while also pushing my usual subdivision surface modelling skills further with the help of ZBrush.

With that in mind this tutorial featured in issue 196 of 3D World magazine wouldn`t be your standard step by step tutorial. Instead think of it more of a walkthrough, where I discuss my process along with explaining the decisions I made along the way.