BioShock 2 Fan Art | Johnny Topside

over 5 years ago (Edited)

Hello, everyone!

So I made a post a couple of days ago about my WIP characters—if you’re interested in checking that out you can go here—and now I’d like to share one of them that I have finished. Here’s the final render of Johnny Topside rendered in Blender 2.8 EEVEE.

This scene is about Johnny Topside—the main character of BioShock 2 before he turned into a Big Daddy called Subject Delta—discovering the ADAM sea slug, one of the main driving elements of the story of BioShock universe.

In the lore, Topside was a deep sea diver who conducted an investigation regarding the disappearance of many ships on the Atlantic Ocean. He discovered the underwater utopia Rapture, and mistaken for a government spy by its leader. So he was imprisoned in there, used for twisted experiments of genetic and physiological conditioning, and became the Subject Delta. If you play the game, you can visit the horrid place where all this happened.

Since we only know his history from conversation, I put my own personal touch to his appearance in this 3d model.

I started to learn how to use normal map in this project and wow, is it amazing. Normal map is like… arcane magic. For those who don’t know what it is, normal map is an image texture that contain not the colour of the model, but angle information of the surface normal.

The result is it give the illusion of bump, crevices, and all the little details that would otherwise require hundreds, if not thousands, of extra polygons. So, in short, normal map make low-res object look like it’s high-res without costing (a lot of) extra performance. For those who are more savvy about this, correct me if I said something wrong.

Click for full-res

^{With normal map}

^{Without normal map}

In this character, I haven’t understood the most optimal use of normal map yet as this was my first time, so there’s not that much different. I only applied it on the suit, helmet, and the slug. But in my other and next characters, I hope I can learn how to use it more effectively real quick. I don’t want to ‘fix’ this character because I’m done with it.

“Wow, you’re so lazy!” Well yeah, but no, actually. I learnt from other artists that it’s not good to spend too much time on one personal project like this so I decide to move on.

I hope you like this rendered scene. If you have any question, critique, suggestion, or simply appreciating my work then feel free to leave them in the comment below. Thank you for visiting!

Oh oh oh, and I'd like to say thank you kindly @loreshapergames for the SBI share! Much appreciated.

art blender gaming illustration games

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25 comments

@curie 77

over 5 years ago

Hi rainite,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.

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@rainite 64

over 5 years ago

Would you kindly take my gratitude?

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@prydefoltz 74

over 5 years ago

Great work on this. It turned out very well and I think it is good to spend some time working on what you love:) Especially with these results:)

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@rainite 64

over 5 years ago

Thank you ^^
Yeah I spend a lot of my time making 3d characters, but I'm trying not to stuck too long on just one. I found out that's not a good habit for an artist apparently.

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@prydefoltz 74

over 5 years ago

People have different processess.

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@steemitboard 66

over 5 years ago

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	You received more than 4000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 5000 upvotes.

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Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!

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@ryivhnn 72

over 5 years ago

Normal or displacement map? It looks like it's throwing shadows and I didn't think normal maps did that. Maybe I need to check terminology seeing as I never know the names for what I'm doing (which always makes communication entertaining XD).

My youngest walked in while I was scrolling down and said "That looks really familiar. It looks like something from Bioshock. That slug definitely looks like something from Bioshock."

I said "It's Johnny Topside," (which means nothing to me as while I've seen him playing the game I haven't played it myself and know just enough to know abuot the slugs and Big Daddies and Little Sisters and Big Sisters and...not much else XD) and he started excitedly flailing and "I KNEW IT!" XD

Did you do the entire scene in Blender? Looks great :) I'm kind of looking forward to 2.8 but still too lazy to just download it XD

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@rainite 64

over 5 years ago

I never know the names for what I'm doing (which always makes communication entertaining XD).

You're lucky that makes entertaining communication. In my case, whenever I explain/name something and it's wrong know I only end up getting embarassed for days...

Yes, I did the whole thing from zero to finished in Blendy 2.8. I only used normal map, I don't know how to use displacement yet. Maybe there's something wrong with my shader node. If you don't want it right now then maybe you could wait until July when 2.8 finally released (*Kids "Yaaaay!" sound*)

I'm glad that someone is so happy to see this as much as flailing excitedly xD because they knew where it's from. If you play BioShock chances are you'll either love it so much or hate it. Some hate it with passion. I personally can't get enough of the series but sadly it ends. So yeah, that's why I pour my admiration into fanart. I wasn't so confident about the result so thank you very much for the compliment (´∀`)

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@ryivhnn 72

over 5 years ago

Why embarrassed? If you got the term wrong the worst that's going to happen is that you're going to momentarily confuse whoever it is you're talking to if they happen to be more familiar with it than you are. The biggest problem I have with not knowing terms is having trouble searching if I need help with something XD

On this particular example my understanding is that normal maps just make low poly look like higher poly without adding geometry, but displacement was better if you wanted better shadows and to actually see bumps close up (because normal maps apparently didn't do shadows well or at all and if you zoom in enough you can see that the bumps are a lie XD). I don't know if there are different ways to use them, think just the painting is slightly different? I've just been plugging a map into the "displacement" connector on the output node and that seems to do the job :S

My youngest son loves Bioshock :) I haven't had time to game for a while x_x

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@rainite 64

over 5 years ago (Edited)

Whenever I do, I do feel like I shouldn't be embarassed that much about it, but somehow I just… can't handle my minor mistakes. It did happen quite a few times actually. In public. On some art related Discord servers. God, now I remember it again ╥﹏╥

I watched someone modelling with displacement on YouTube before and it was neat. They simply paint the surface with the colour between black and white and bam! The high and low on the surface was made based on how dark/light the colour was.

I also tried to see my normal mapped model in different angles and, well, it's like street magic trick. It's cool, yes, but it's actually a lie XD Whatever 3d modelling trick out there I'm willing to try it. Maybe after I learn texture mapping like, roughness, AO, metallic, etc.
"Texture mapping"… I hope that's the correct term. Otherwise, ugh! (－‸ლ)

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@ryivhnn 72

over 5 years ago

It is a bit magical XD though I use 3d Coat rather than Blender to do sculpting, retopo and all the mapping.

I still haven't figured out AO. Technically it's not that hard, just haven't grokked why I would need a map for it o_O

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@arcange 79

over 5 years ago

Congratulations @rainite!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:

Upvotes - Ranked 9 with 1156 upvotes

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@vibesforlife 65

over 5 years ago (Edited)

wow that looks amazing. I like the shape and size of front mirror of the suit, its just not too big like those of astronauts and not too small to be impractical. The diameter is such that the viewer's eye would find it unique and catchy. I like the neon pink creatures lying on the stone, specially the angle on which it is lying and looking towards the front side, I am guessing its a lizard probably or some mysterious lizardy creature. Amazing share, I got the chance to watch a work that I don't see often and yes congrats on your curie :):)

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@rainite 64

over 5 years ago

Oooh thank you! I put so much thought on the size of the helmet and its features so I'm glad it turned out fine in the viewer's (of this artwork) eyes too ^^

That creature is a slug actually. A slimy, wiggly sea slug, which is the animal I don't really like. I cringed myself a litte sculpting it haha

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@vibesforlife 65

over 5 years ago

Oh awesome, good to know that you actually had to put lots of thought work in that fine helmet. A slug,,ohh did not know about slugs yet, but interesting that you chose the one you don't like hehehe.

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@loreshapergames 67

over 5 years ago

Thanks for the shout-out! I love giving people who don't yet have SBI shares some if they're making good content. It's not much, but it helps keep channels growing.

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@rainite 64

over 5 years ago

You're welcome! I didn't know about SBI, so I went to the linked post in its blog and it says that firstly I should say thanks to the person that gave me the SBI share. So yeah, thank you for the SBI share, and for thinking that my content is good enough for this ^^

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@hlezama 73

over 5 years ago

Cool scene. It looks as if the slug caused quite an impression.
It actually made me remember a river fish I used to catch when I was little.
We'd go to the river and get our hands through the rocks and vegetation by the river bank. It was risky but fun. When the water was muddy you never knew what you'd touch.

_{We called it Guaraguara, they are of the Loricariidae family.}
I liked the composition of your art. The light effects are great.

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@rainite 64

over 5 years ago

Ooh that fish! Does the name Guaraguara have an English translation? Or is it just a name? I'm asking because in my place we call it Sapu-Sapu. The literal translation of "sapu" would be "broom", but the name "Sapu-Sapu" means something like "cleaning", named after their habit of eating algae in the fish tank.
Playing outside like that I don't mind getting injuries, really, what I can't stand is accidentally touching something slimy, squishy, wiggly like... I don't know, an alien? XD

The only time when I can acknowledge my own skill is when somebody else says that my artwork is good. In this case, I wasn't so sure and confident about my lighting, so I'm glad that you think it's great. Thank you for that ^^

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@hlezama 73

over 5 years ago

Interesting.
Guaraguara may very well be an indigenous word. I don't know, but coincidentally, the fish is also known as chupa piedra, stone sucker, because it sticks to stones undet water