Hi everyone,
My name is Clement Neca (Neka) and I'm participating in the 2024 Reallusion 3D Character Contest, with the main character of my game  "Introspection".
I obviously made my own concept, since it's for a game, and here is what she will look like:

Here is a more detailed version of the head, and some other test I made before reaching this final one.
The final version will be the top left one (I also like the bottom left one):

So, here it is for the concept, now about the 3D, I did some test for the art direction, I like the one on the right, but the cards might create some penetration issues when the character change expression, or simply move, so I might stay on the first one for now. I'll see if I have time to try things at the end.

Now that we have our concept, and art direction setup, let's work on the character, I started with the face and here is where the process:
I started from my concept in black and white, painted it on the face directly in ZBrush, I made the UVs, exported a map of this paint, imported the map in Photoshop to bring a base of colors, imported the new map back in ZBrush to project texture into my polypaint, and finally I painted the details:


We have now our face, let's work on the body! Here is where CC4 shine.
I had to learn it but it's very easy to understand and use so it wasn't very long before I have my basemesh ready and exported from CC4.
Here is a timelapse of the basemesh creation, nothing crazy, but I was surprise how quick that was.


Anyway, I now have a painted face, and a basemesh, I'll merge them together and refine the body in ZBrush, here is the steps and the final topology:



Ok, I have now a good topology, a finished face, I just need top sculpt and paint the body and we will wrap this post.
I did a lot of research to create a good anatomy reference of the color zones on the body because I couldn't find any good references on this.
I'll spare you the details, but it was long, anyway, I learned a lot and I'm ready to paint the body.
Here is the final body:


That's about it ! 
I made a more complete breakdown on Artstation, this post here is a short version of everything I posted on Artstation, I hope it's still clear and understandable.
Artstation Blog Posts

Thanks you for taking the time to watch all of this, take care, and see you soon for the clothes and the final post!

Hi @Clem02370,
Welcome to the contest and Reallusion forum!
Looking great and good luck with your final submission