Arsenal Avery

A journey through my art, experiments, and behind-the-scenes growth as I evolve as an artist

[arsenalavery]

Zbrush Practice Sculpt! I'm learning how to sculpt on the ipad! so far i really like the UI, i think they made it work nicely and it's pretty straight foward to find everything.

[arsenalavery]

Finished Sculpt!

During the holidays i took the time to finish this sculpt and it was very satisfying seeing the final result.  I enjoyed learning about different cloathing folds and how to build a character up by layers.  Something i struggled a little with was sculpting the suit and determining if i wanted to have multiple pieces of geometry to give it a better silhoutte or to sculpt everything as 1 piece.  Ultimatly i think this type of desition always depends on the project you're working on and what the final piece should look like.

Currently i'm almost done with Retopology so i'll be posting that on my socials soon! Again if you want to continue to follow this project and checkout the final result, dont forget to follow me on my socials linked on my profile.

- Arsenal Avery

[arsenalavery]

The Midnight Train: Station Two, Anatomy

The Midnight Train has reached station 2! Seeing the fully polished body for the first time felt like proof that trusting the process actually works. I don’t sculpt characters often, and this is my first fully stylized character at this level, so getting the anatomy to a solid place felt good. The biggest lesson at this stage was learning to embrace uncertainty through iteration. The face, as expected, was the hardest part, my concept didn’t give clear answers to what it should look like so the solution was explorations. Doing multiple passes, swapping out face features and doing small experiments eventually led to something that felt right. The hands were the second biggest challenge, however surprisingly one of my favorite parts. When something didn’t work like an elongated finger, I didn't hesitate to chop it off and redo it. Reworking a form is always faster the second time, and the improvement is almost certainly worth it.

What’s next?  Clothing and props, I’ll be diving into sculpting folds, experimenting with Zbruh’s dynamic simulation tools, and blocking out the character’s weapon.  If you want to see how this conductor comes together, stay tuned!

— Arsenal Avery

[arsenalavery]

The Midnight Train: Station One, The Fundamentals

The Midnight Train has officially reached its first stop | Proportion Valley. I kicked off the journey with a fresh blockout, laying down the core shapes and structure that will guide the entire sculpt. Even at this early stage, keeping proportions clean is incredibly important, especially for stylized characters like this one.

This checkpoint was also the perfect moment to explore the head variations. I sculpted four different options to find the right personality for the Conductor, each one shifting the tone of the character in subtle ways. Experimenting early prevents bigger headaches later and honestly, this is one of my favorite parts of the process.

Quick tip from this stage: strong foundations save you from a world of pain later. A clean blockout and clear proportions make everything that follows easier, especially in stylized work.

With the blockout shaped, the musculature established, and the head variations ready for review, this feels like a natural moment to pause and reflect before the next leg of the journey. The next stop awaits, thanks for riding along the Midnight Train.

— Arsenal Avery

[arsenalavery]

Workshop - Italian Jousting Helm

Every now and then, a workshop pops up that feels too good to pass on! Recently, I joined a quick hard-surface sculpting workshop hosted by Abe Leal 3D on Twitch. It was fast, casual, and the perfect excuse to sharpen my sculpting skills.

The piece selected for the exercise was an Italian Jousting Helm currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art.You can actually download the reference online if you want to try the study yourself. The helm has a great mix of clean shapes and curvature that are valuable for any hard-surface artist to know.

Short workshops like these force you to focus on three essential skills: speed, observation, and form accuracy. There’s no room for overthinking, you either capture the silhouette and base structure or you spend the rest of the time fighting your own mistakes.

During the stream, I devoted about one hour to sculpting alongside the workshop, absorbing tips and watching Abe’s approach. After that, I took roughly two more hours on my own to complete the rest of the helm, applying what I had learned and refining the shapes. One of my biggest takeaways was the importance of protecting your clean primary forms. Hard-surface sculpting can quickly turn “clay-like and lumpy” if those initial clean curves get pushed or warped, and no amount of metal texture will fully hide bad structure.

To finish the study, I spent about 35 minutes giving the helm a quick pass in Substance Painter. I established a simple metallic base and layered dust, grunge, dirt, and color variation on top, breaking each element into masks and procedural details to avoid uniformity. A bit of controlled edge wear tied everything together into a presentable result seen on this post.

All in all, the exercise took around 3-4 hours, and it was absolutely worth it. Quick studies like these are great reminders that clean forms are the base on which a good hard-surface sculpt is built.

Stick around for more studies, experiments, and breakdowns!

— Arsenal Avery

[arsenalavery]

Reboarding the Midnight Train

Every once in a while, a project sits in the background patiently waiting to be continued, this can go on for weeks, months or in my case years . . .  For me, that project is The Midnight Train; A world I built two years ago for a concept art class in 2023.  Today however, I’m stepping back onto that world with new tools, new skills, and a very different perspective as an artist.

A Look Back at the Original Project

The Midnight Train began as a small idea that quickly grew into a videogame concept, an old conductor whose job is to guide spirits into the afterlife.  A rough caretaker of lost souls, he helps them move on rather than remain tethered to the past, if he fails those souls become vengeful ghouls.  It was one of the first story-driven concepts I ever built, and it stuck with me long after the assignment ended.

Why I’m Returning to This World

Two years later, I realized something important: my portfolio doesn’t have as many characters as I’d like, and I’ve learned so much since 2023.  Coming back to The Midnight Train feels like the perfect chance to develop one of my earlier ideas while applying the skills I’ve grown into, almost like meeting an old friend again but as a changed man or in this case, artist.

What I Aim to Improve This Time Around

My goal is simple: push my character-art quality as far as I can, focusing on anatomy, structure, form, and most importantly, the charm of a 2D concept into a fully realized hand-painted 3D character.  With stronger knowledge in ZBrush, Substance Painter, and stylized workflows, this feels like the right moment to see what’s truly possible.

Stepping Back Into the World

I’m returning to an old world with new tools and I’m excited to see how far I’ve come.  If you want to follow along as I bring this character to life over the next few weeks, stay tuned.  There’s a lot more to come.

See you very soon.

— Arsenal Avery