For Saint Friday's sculpt I had to start from scratch as her body type as well as her posture, were too different from the base sculpt I used for the hero, so it would have taken as much work, if not more, to try to modify that one.
I started with some basic, blobby shapes, and worked fast without worrying about details for now. At first, I modelled her with her back straight, thinking of changing her posture later while posing her, but taking into consideration that she isn't supposed to do any exaggerated poses, I figured sculpting her with her back bent from the get go would save me some time. After all, she would never show up in-game with her posture straight.
I then started to sculpt the face, placing a big, continuous and slightly unsettling smile on her face. Her eyes are barely visible and her face is always frozen in a smile as she interacts with the player. In some way, I think Saint Friday resembles the Happy Mask Salesman from "The Legend of Zelda" franchise, both because of the smile and the heavy backpack they carry, although this wasn't originally intended and these are just some similarities I noticed.
This is when I started to think that in the context of a game, Saint Friday would be more than a mentor and adviser, but also the merchant character that provides the player with the opportunity to buy and sale items, showing up randomly during the story, much like the Merchant from "Resident Evil".
Like the Happy Mask Salesman and the Merchant, I wanted Saint Friday to be an eerie and mysterious character. At first glance, she is going to look like a kind and harmless grandma, but as the player starts taking in the details (the things she carries in her backpack, her unnerving frozen smile) they will realize that there is more to the gentle granny than it seems.
After setting up the big shapes, I started defining her features and the muscles of her arms and neck. I didn't go into detail on the torso and leg area, as they won't be visible anyway because of the dress.
I made her clothes in Marvelous Designer, then brought them into Zbrush and simplified the shapes.
After struggling for a while to tie the material into a bow in Marvelous Designer, I decided to sculpt it separately and attach it to the headscarf. I gave the edge of the scarf some thickness using the Inflate Brush, which I think helped define the shape more. I also made the skirt more puffy by dragging the shapes with the Move brush.
For the hands, I copied the hands from the hero and brought them into this file, attached them, then elongated the fingers. I then used the Inflate brush to inflate the joints of the fingers to make them look more bony and crooked.
I then added the apron-like cloth and some of the beads on her neck and started sculpting the folds on her headscarf and clothes. I used Orb Cracks and Clay Buildup as well as the Smooth brush for it.
I sculpted the rest of the beads and the coin necklace around her neck, as well as added more wrinkles to her face and cleaning up the shapes. I'm quite proud with how the wrinkles look and overall the shape of the face and her features.
Lastly, I made her shoes, which are what common people used to wear in Romania in the past. They are called "opinci" and are made of leather sewn together with thick thread and were usually worn with wool socks, especially during winter.
I added some wear and tear to the leather, as it would be worn out due to walking around so much as a "merchant".
For the backpack, I first blocked it out in 3ds Max to make sure that it will fit on granny's back and to experiment with the silhouette.
I kept the objects simple, so, besides the wooden chest at the top, it didn't take long to finish the sculpt. Some things, such as the bones and bird skull and the severed fingers, I had to sculpt separately and bring them in as they weren't part of the original block-out I used as a base.
On the small box on the left, at the top of the backpack, I used the same tree pattern as on the girl's chest plate as a little Easter egg. Who knows, maybe inside there would be an item that Saint Friday gifts the Hero when they need it most, before the final battle.
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