Before sculpting can really begin, I need to have a clear image and idea about what I want to create. To do this, I compiled some moodboards together to try and find a design that I liked.
Here is the first moodboard I created. I decided that since I had to create a dangerous, alien plant, I would find an actual dangerous plant to draw inspiration from. I chose Deadly Nightshade, which has these beautiful purple flowers that reminded me a lot of the Demogorgon from Stranger Things, which gave me inspiration for the alien aspect of the plant.
I also brought in some images of the flowers from the animated version of Alice in Wonderland, which I wanted to draw inspiration from as well. I also included the plant from Little Shop of Horrors, which was part of the main inspiration for this project in the first place.
I made sure to get pictures of leaves so that I can see the textures they have. The bright, folded leaves are birch leaves, which I remembered to be spiky at the edges, which is something associated with danger, and I wanted to implement this into my design. I also wanted the plant to have thorns, which, in the picture, greatly contrast with the rest of the stem and plant. This means I could get creative with the colours of the thorns, and instead have them be purple to acid green, which would make the plant look poisonous.
I also needed more examples of textures so that I can sculpt everything as accurately as possible. I looked into leaf textures, which have clear ridges and lines, which will become dificult to draw and maintain when sculpting. A way these could be saved is by making a high-poly version of the plant and using it as a normal map over a lower-res model.
I also looked into petal textures, which are far different than leaf textures. The changes in depth on a petal very subtle and minute, which will make this a challenge to mimmick perfectly. I also found an image of a flower bud, which was important for me to find in order to know how to model the back of the flower, which is usually left out of pictures. With this reference, it will be far easier for me to sculpt the back of the flower.
I also quickly went back and looked at nightshade berries, which is something I wanted to try and model. I found that they were semi-round and shiny, which reminded me a lot of eyes. I decided that I wanted to integrate these into my design somehow.
Here are some thumbnails and quick sketches of my ideas. I started out by trying to think of different ways to present the plant in a menacing way. I started by exploring how a nightshade flower behaves and looks, so that I could experiment with different features. I noticed that it has a spiky at the centre that pierces outward. This isn't something I decided to include in my design, but I did try and keep the petals the same shape.
My first two designs include birch-like leaves, which is something I wanted to try and include. I used some bindweed-like tendrils around the first plant, but decided that this idea would be too dificult to sculpt. The second design featured two flowers instead of one, which is far simpler than the previous sketch, but I still wasn't excited by the idea.
I decided to go back to the idea of the flower bud being a mouth, much like the Demogorgon's head, and made the petals far sharper and tried to give them the texture of a tongue and teeth. I also added in the spiky birch-inspired leaves to accent the flower.
I added a final small sketch of a flower with two eyes, which I based off the nightshade berries. I went into more detail on these to the right, and I gave them sinister slit-irises.
Here is my final design for my plant. I decided to go with the final design, and drew it from three different angles (front, side, and 3/4) so that sculpting will be easier. I decided to make the final design symmetrical in order to make sculpting simpler for myself. With this completed, the next step is to start on sculpting the assest to use for the VFX shot. This will be done in ZBrush, which I will also have to learn.
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