3D Character Artist Shares Workflow for Princess of a Lost Planet Design

Seori Nam, a 3D character artist based in South Korea, has shared an in-depth breakdown of her workflow for creating Princess of a Lost Planet, a personal character project that blends medieval fantasy, post-apocalyptic, and science-fiction aesthetics.

Nam began her career at a 3D printing company before moving into VR and metaverse content. She has since worked as a game character artist on MMORPG projects and continues developing her skills through personal work.

For Princess of a Lost Planet, Nam set out to explore multiple material types within a single character. She drew inspiration from Dune and Mad Max, crafting a princess who travels dangerous worlds in search of a stolen ancient treasure to restore her fallen planet. The design balances royal dignity with the weathered appearance of someone who has endured harsh journeys, achieved through careful iteration on facial features and the addition of worn fabrics, aged leather, damage, and dirt to her outfit.

Nam gathered extensive visual references for the face, clothing, materials, hair, and equipment before modeling began. She started the face using an existing base mesh, modifying its forms in ZBrush and using AI-generated variations to explore additional directions rather than as exact blueprints. She refined facial proportions and contours through several iterations to convey both refinement and resilience.

For skin details, Nam used TexturingXYZ data and added further sculpted detail in ZBrush with alpha maps. She employed Marmoset Toolbag's Parallax feature for the iris to create depth. The hair began as a blockout mesh in ZBrush to establish volume and flow, then transitioned to hair card placement in 3ds Max, with some cards created using Ornatrix and others placed manually for precise control. Braids received a braided base mesh followed by additional hair cards and loose strands for a natural appearance.

Garments including the cloak, top, and pants were initially blocked out in Marvelous Designer before being refined in ZBrush for volume, folds, and surface details. Torn fabric edges combined direct sculpting with alpha brushes. Fur around the shoulders used hair cards, while feather decorations on the chest employed four different alpha variations, each altered in shape, scale, and direction to avoid repetition.

Hard-surface elements such as armor and weapons were constructed in 3ds Max, then refined in ZBrush with surface damage and smaller details. Nam used mirrored base cards for inner hair and fur layers, then added cards with different lengths and directions to reduce symmetrical appearance. Small decorative elements like bones, beads, and feathers were created from base assets and reused across different areas with varying scale, proportions, and angles.

Nam handled retopology primarily in TopoGun, building new low-poly meshes for high-poly garments while preserving silhouette and major folds. Hard-surface elements used cleaned and optimized topology from 3ds Max as final low-poly models. UVs were created in RizomUV across four texture sets: upper body, lower body, accessories, and weapons. Nam prioritized UV space based on importance and detail requirements, assigning higher texel density to the upper body due to its proximity to the face and frequent appearance in close-ups.

Baking and texturing took place in Marmoset Toolbag and Substance 3D Painter respectively. Nam began with base materials for each part, then built up color and roughness variations along with surface damage and dirt. She frequently brought textures into Marmoset Toolbag to evaluate them under different lighting conditions, repeatedly adjusting colors and roughness to prevent materials from appearing overly glossy or flat. Fabric texturing started with fabric materials in Substance 3D Painter and added woven patterns and subtle surface variation.