Ghost In The Shell's Protagonist Reimagined In Stunning 3D Oil Painting Style

Introduction

Hello, everyone. I'm Entei Ryu, an illustrator, sculptor, and concept artist in the film and games industry, primarily based in Tokyo. 

It's been three years since my last interview with 80 Level. During those years, due to the pandemic, I worked remotely on various global projects, with a focus on my digital CG works. In the last two years, after the pandemic, I've been more concentrated on a few long-term projects within the studio as an artist at Kojima Productions.

In my personal art practice, I held two solo exhibitions, spent time creating oil paintings and physical sculptures, and explored the boundaries of my art through digital tools. This year, I also published my first art book, Entei Ryu ART WORKS CHIMERA, which includes over 100 pieces of artwork, including Lovers, previously featured on 80 Level.

Getting Started

Like many artists born in the '80s and '90s, I grew up on iconic sci-fi anime like Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Patlabor. The city I live in even occasionally screens these classics, and each time I rewatch them, I gain new insights and inspiration to create. Earlier this year, for example, I sculpted a character from Angel's Egg. Reinterpreting classic characters in my style feels like a cross-time dialogue and creates a unique kind of chemistry.

When I started this project, my first focus was on pose and composition. I wanted to merge the mechanical elements and human character seamlessly within a unified composition. As I progressed with the design, I had to choose between various versions of Motoko and Tachikoma across different anime/comic versions. In the end, I didn't stick strictly to any specific version; instead, I reimagined the details based on my own impressions and style.

Sculpting

I usually start with rough sketches in Photoshop or Procreate to define the composition and main elements. At this stage, I avoid adding details to keep room for creativity and flexibility during the process.

Then, I move into ZBrush to block out the forms based on the sketch, establishing balance in the composition. Here, I focus on the character's posture and anatomical accuracy, like joint placements.

I start with the head, as it defines the character's personality and mood, guiding the design as I add detail. The eyes, especially, are the character's soul. I happened to be traveling in Europe during this month, with eight flights in two weeks. This travel time encouraged me to incorporate the iPad version of ZBrush into my workflow, and I sculpted the entire head on the iPad. Since both PC and iPad use ZBrush, transferring ZTL files between devices was seamless.

Texturing

I did the material painting and rendering in Substance 3D Painter. Initially, I loosely decided on the color scheme and textures to convey the look I wanted without exact settings. I enjoy using Substance 3D Painter's pre-built materials and resources from the online library, experimenting with layering and blending until I find the desired vision.

Rendering

After finishing the materials in Substance 3D Painter, I exported the model to Blender. I set an HDRI as environmental lighting, dimmed it for a subtle effect, and placed two main lights above and near the face to highlight the character. I also added a rim light from behind for ambiance and applied a 0.03 concentration of fog to blend the overall color scheme. For the camera, I used both telephoto and wide-angle settings for full views and close-ups.

In Photoshop, I did some brush-up adjustments, mainly on the face, as lighting from different angles can sometimes cause slight distortions. I refined the facial lines, eye colors, and highlights.

Conclusion

For this project, I didn't add too many complex details, like shoes or weapons, I kept a loose approach to emphasize the main character and overall style.

I believe the key to a captivating piece is maintaining stylistic consistency, focusing on the core expression, and simplifying parts of secondary and tertiary details instead of adding unnecessary realism. In larger team projects, the challenge is achieving a unified vision and clear consensus on style.

As for this project's challenges, I didn't encounter many production difficulties. In the future, I plan to make a physical sculpture of this work for limited sale, where I expect challenges in 3D printing and assembly of complex elements like pipes.

As my advice for beginners: After mastering the basics, beginners often get stuck over-polishing details. I recommend regular quick sketching to strengthen your sense of form and composition. Learn to simplify instead of endlessly adding. Relax, keep practicing, and you'll definitely find your own rhythm and style!

Entei Ryu, Concept Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine