Week 1 - Pumpkin

After reading the brief for the pumpkin project, I had a vague idea of what I wanted it to look like, or at least the vibe I wanted it to give. I knew most Halloween pumpkin carvings are scary-looking and I did want to preserve that feeling, but I also wanted to add something: a cartoony, cute childish vibe that makes things that are supposed to be scary even more unsettling. Like children in horror movies. Or Tim Burton's animations. 

So I went digging for reference.

I plan placing a candle inside the pumpkin and using a particle system in UE4 in order to light the inside of the pumpkin, so I gathered reference for the candle too. I then made a quick sketch to cement my idea: 

My friend even told me it gives Tim Burton movie vibes, so I guess that's a win.

I then went into Zbrush to model my pumpkin. 

I gave it a tear drop-like shape because I wanted it to have a more unique silhouette. I think it gives it that kind of cute, dumb and pityful look that combined with elements like the stitched mouth make it look kind of unsettling. Also, even though I knew It would make my job a bit harder later on with retoping, I didn't want to keep the symmetry, since I believe it would have made the design a little boring. 

This is the final model in Zbrush:

I believe I achieved the cute-creepy look I was striving for. Though I must admit, sometimes the controls of Zbrush give me the creeps more than any Halloween pumpkin 😅.