Himalayan Treasures: Yama Mask - Jasmijn Decuyper

Jas

Name: Jasmijn Decuyper
Country: Belgium
I have read the terms and conditions and and am eligible for prizes

For this challenge I had a good ol' reference browse session and among so many gorgeous and colourful relics the masks immediately stood out to me. I've always loved masks, and just the decorations and colours look so cool. Also I've been meaning to sculpt something fun again so this is perfect. The mask I chose is of Yama - the Hindu god of death and justice. There are many versions of Yama masks, but the one that stood out to me has Yak hair, which will be a fun challenge.

First step will be a blockout, get the measurements and big elements proportioned. I have limited images of the mask I chose so I will have to tryout a bit to see what works. I'm excited to get started!

Jas

Despite being really excited about this challenge I've not had a lot of time yet to work on it. I had a few hours in which I managed to make a quick blockout of all the elements except for the hair, and I got started on the main part of the mask in Zbrush. I only have the two reference images and 1 measurement, using those I managed to get what I think is a good base for the mask. I used the texture tool in Zbrush as an overlay to get the proportions as close as possible. It needs a bit of finetuning still, especially the snoot, and then I can get started on sculpting the details. The parts like the tongue, 3 eyes, crown, skull jewel and horns are currently basic shaped subtools and will be added later.

I'm super excited to be sculpting more over the following days, I'd like to have most if not all of the sculpting done by the end of the week(end). Stay tuned!

Jas

So, due to importantish life things happing and interfering with plans, I didn't manage to make as much progress as I wanted. But at least some progress was made! After finetuning the base shape a bit more I started on some details. Using Affinity Designer I drew the fire eyebrows and ... fire drool? To keep the hand-made vibe I kept the alphas pretty simple, not adding any depth or details. I copied the head and using the drawings as masks I extracted them from the head, so the shapes would fit on the head. I then I deformed them and added some basic details.

Next I put in place the subtools for the rest of the elements - headband, skull, horns, tongue, etc - and gave them a basic pass. Not done yet but happy with where it's going. Next will be drawing the skull medaillions and the hird eyebrow. Should have an update soon!

Jas

So.. Despite my sincere excitement for this challenge life just got in the way. I won't be finishing this prop in time bit I will finish it for myself.

A few days ago I happened to stumble upon high res versions of my references and a view from the right side. These really helped with some details on the decorations which I couldn't really see before.

I'm practically done with the sculpt I think, safe from a few details. I gave the snoot a bit more length and added the last of the decorations. I'll add the microdetails in the texturing phase. I also redid the flames for the mouth and eyebrows, as the new references showed more detail and the shape was a bit thinner than I originally had.

In the meantime I've started the low poly which is nearly done so baking and texturing can commence soon. I'm super gutted this won't be finished in time but still excited to finish it soon!