Warlord Arianthus

Warlord Arianthus by @lilax

I heard there was a fanart contest for Splinterlands going on, and I wanted to enter. Here's my entry, Warlord Arianthus! I wanted him to look like he is in his early state, where he didn't have all those wrinkles yet. This is what I envisioned him to look like before he started wandering around space in his spaceship looking for entertainment in battle. This is ideally from the era before his "supposed" retirement.

About the entry:
I wanted him to look menacing, ominous, but most importantly, oddly omnipotent. Hence, the choice of lighting and how you can't see much of his face.

Process:
I used Maya for this, so I first modelled the tube and head. The head didn't really need to be that detailed since I planned to use just his silhouette for the final product.

Modelled the background, which is supposedly his ship. Then, I added a space HDRI.

His Original art had skulls on the top of the lid, almost forgot to add them actually.

At first I thought of just making a platform for him, but then added a walking contraption since I think that's what's in his original art.

Time for some material and texturing! Used a lot of Arnold Standard Surface materials here:

After that, I set the materials on the objects, added some Arnold Lights, and positioned the camera. Now, he's ready for rendering!

Final Render Using Maya's Arnold Renderer:

Honestly, that was very fun! I love Lord Arianthus, one of the cards that helped me through silver.