Reference vs Designing

In this project, I want to explore the effects of different workflows and how they affect the speed of production, the quality of the model and the amount of detail present.

In the past, I have mostly modelled from reference so I will attempt to design some of my own and document how each method differs. I have chosen to create some representations of the 20 Rings of Power from Tolkien's Middle Earth, my favourite fantasy universe.

The Rings

The One Ring and the 3 Elven Rings all have plenty of reference imagery and descriptive texts to work from so I will be heavily influenced by that.

The 7 Dwarf-rings have little descriptive texts and even less imagery so I have quite a lot of creative freedom when creating these.

The 9 Rings of Mortal Men were given no description in the books and have only one reference image of the prop used in Peter Jackson's adaptation. For this reason, I will be designing my own based on references of the characters who initially bore them and my knowledge of this world and the 'race of men' within it.

Case Studies: Shadow of Mordor/War

I will be closely studying the work of Phil Liu who modelled the artefacts for Monolith's Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. These artefacts were based on Steve Firchow's concept art for the game.

Smaller objects, such as a ring, would usually be deprived of large amounts of detail due to their in-game size and needing to efficiently direct game engine capabilities elsewhere. The collectable artefacts within the game present a unique situation where these smaller but more intricate objects can be displayed and observed with all the detail of an artist's initial vision.