Bianca Roux is Drop Bear Bytes’ Lead Character Artist, a role that covers 3D modeling all the people, creatures and a good few buildings and props in the world of Broken Roads. This week, our Narrative Director, Leanne Taylor-Giles, spoke to Bianca about her work, her inspirations, the differences between working on films and games, and her penchant for True Crime Podcasts. Enjoy!

How do you decide on what face to give a character? Sometimes the concept will just have a blank oval - what kind of references do you use, and how to do you find them?

Narrative will usually have an idea of who the character is based on, whether that be a celebrity or photo references on the internet. I’ll usually head over to pinterest and grab a few photos that interest me which would suit that particular character description. For Reverend Nate Blacke for example, I instantly thought of kind eyes, it was important for me to portray that. For Scary, I would look for references of body builders and people who look tough, his scars in particular would portray that he has been in fights. Each character tells a story with their facial expression, wrinkles, smile or frown, and it really helps to find reference images to base a face on.

What are some of the little details you're most proud of, on these or other characters?

Definitely the cloth work. I have really loved exploring the style for this game. There is a detailed, yet stylistic hard-edged approach which was a challenge to master when I started at Drop Bear Bytes, however practice has achieved some great rewards and I really love how the cloth work brings out details from an isometric perspective.

What’s your favourite part of modelling a character? Getting started, adding fine details, somewhere in between?

The best part is adding detail and seeing the character come to life. In the initial stage of sculpting there is a lot of figuring out and proportion checking, adding detail is when we get to the fun stuff. It makes me really excited!

Is there a particular tool or process you find yourself using more often than others? If so, what is it, and what makes it the mainstay of your workflow?

The Orb-brushes by Michael Vicente is what I swear by. These brushes lend well particularly to this project because of the hard-edged style. I highly recommend purchasing these brushes if you’re wanting to achieve a look and feel similar to the characters in Broken Roads.

Do you listen to anything in particular while sculpting? If so, do you find that it changes by character, or by in-game location, or more by mood?

I have to embarrassingly admit that I listen to a lot of True Crime. My personal favourite is Dateline :D
It might be quite fitting for the mood considering that this is a post-apocolyptic game haha.

How do you get into a ‘flow state’? Writers often talk about getting over or past writer’s block, but other disciplines have the same struggles. What are some of your tricks for getting yourself motivated on low-energy days?

Funny enough this does relate to the previous question. Most people would think that music might inspire them artistically, for me it’s getting into a serious mindset and listening to podcasts. If I were to listen to music I might get distracted and start dancing :) Coffee is also a favourite go-to.

Your models are beautifully detailled. How do you retain that detail when you retopologise to a lower-poly version?

I use Normal, Ambient Occlusion and Curvature Maps on the models. The High-Resolution detail is baked onto a low topology version and from that, these maps are extracted.

How different is it working on a game to working on a film? Are models for film optimised in the same way? How do you feel about the optimisation/de-rezzing process in general?

Models for film and games are optimised very differently. With film there is the luxury of pre-rendering the frames, whereas in gaming it is mostly real-time rendering. The Models have to be optimised so that it doesn’t put too much strain on a players computer or console. Therefore the Models have to have far less polygons than a Model for film.

Regarding the question about my feelings about optimisation in general, for each project I adapt and tune into the project’s needs, so I have no qualms either way. :)

If you could share one piece of advice with up-and-coming character or creature modellers, what would it be?

Practice and Resilience. It is a tough industry to break into, especially when you are starting out. You will be comparing yourself to industry experts, which you shouldn’t do. Rather strive to be as skilled as them one day and practice every day at bettering your craft. Keep your mind thirsty and constantly be seeking out tutorials, feed back and advice from more experienced artists.

Follow Bianca on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BiancaRoux4, and visit her Artstation here: https://www.artstation.com/missbee

Sculpting the Characters in Broken Roads

Drop Bear Bytes would like to acknowledge the Wadawurrung people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which this game is made, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.