Hey everyone, 

This is my WIP post for Reallusion's 2024 character contest. I'm trying to create an Espada character inspired by "Bleach anime.
I'm uploading this late here, since I made another post in my artstation. I'll keep it updated.

This concept has been inspired by the Arrancar and Espada characters from the Bleach anime, of which I'm a big fan. I started by gathering references using PureRef, and here is what I found on the web.

I started by downloading the free CC character bases provided by Reallusion which can be downloaded from here: FREE FULLY-RIGGED 3D Character Base

Actually, I spent a lot of time exploring these amazing characters because I had so many ideas and couldn't settle on just one XD. Eventually, I ended up sticking with the 'Toon Neutral_F' base character.

I imported the 'Toon Neutral_F' base character into Character Creator 4 using the 'Create Character' button and started making basic adjustments to the body and face.

Then I exported it into ZBrush using the amazing new GoZ Plus plugin with one simple click. You can check it out here Character Creator GoZ Plus for ZBrush

Then it quickly showed in my ZBrush and I started masking to create a skull similar to the reference pics.

Then I decided to make it with a sphere and used the 'SnakeHook' Brush to shape it as the picture below

Here I started masking areas for eyes and horns using the 'MaskLasso'

Then I made a cut to those areas and moved them up the skull, added two spheres for the eyes, and tested some horns

Then I worked more on it

Afterwards, I updated it with the GoZ plugin and exported it to Adobe Substance Painter using the built-in plugin in Character Creator
Then, I decided to change the horns, but my ZBrush trial ended XD, so this time I used Blender instead. With the help of the Blender Addon, I was able to transfer my character easily and update the morphs. You can learn more about the Blender Addon here Blender Character Pipeline

Then, I took it back to CC4 and repeated the previous step to export it into Substance Painter. Here’s the result of the texture: I added some scars, burns, and details to define my Espada character

Next, I did some poses in iClone and exported them to Style3D Atelier which is a free alternative for Marvelous Designer.

You can make your own clothes and simulate them inside Style3D Atelier.

I recorded the cloth simulation and exported it as an Alembic file .abc for iClone.

Added the tails from the default contents and exported it into Nvidia Machinima for rendering.