3D Toolkit - Artist Comparison
To assist me in my project, I have searched through Artstation looking for artists who have worked on games I've personally played and enjoyed the art direction of. Below are 2 artists who have worked on many different games that have inspired me. I hope to learn more about their practices and maybe even attempt to implement their practices into my own work.
Raf Grassetti
Introduction
One of the artist I've chosen to research, is Raf Grassetti. Raf Grassetti is currently a full time art director at Naughty dog. Using ZBrush, Raf Grassetti has sculpted for games, movies and even comics. He is most known for his character modelling for the God of War franchise. He amassed over 15 years of experience doing both freelance and contracted work.
Career/ Experience
Raf Grassetti didn't start his 3D journey working on game ready sculpts, he began his journey working in movies and advertising. His early years show him working as a lead modeler for PixPost Animation Studio and Tribbo Post. In 2009, he worked for Hasbro, where he sculpted for popular franchises like Star Wars, Marvel and Transformers. In 2010, he worked as a senior character artist for cinematics at Axis Entertainment. Some cinematics he worked on are "Spider-Man: Edge of Times" and Risen 2: Dark Water". He has a lot more experience however, I am more interested in his sculpting for games due to the nature of the project.
In 2011, this is where the journey into game sculpting begins. He worked for Bioware as a Senior Character Artist where he rigged and concepted art for Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 3. His most prominent role in the industry is likely the work he did for Santa Monica Studio. For almost 10 years, he worked his way up to Studio Art Director where he produced key assets for God of War and God of War Ragnarök. Currently, he works as an art director for Naughty Dog on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Sculpting Style and Methods
Using ZBrush, Raf Grassetti sculpts in a pretty realistic style and this is very noticeable in his sculpts for God of War. To create a lot of the detail in these sculpts, Grassetti makes use of alpha textures and the damstandard brush. This is particularly evident in Thor's leather shoulder pads shown in the image below.
In a Youtube video called 'From Basics to Advanced 3D Sketching' (Raf Grassetti, 2020), Raf Grassetti goes over some sculpting techniques for sketching in 3D. He recommends to start sculpting on a low resolution model because it's easier to manipulate. He also advises that you "Shouldn't spend a lot of time thinking about how to do it. Just do it. It will get you to a result faster." I found this advise to be extremely helpful. For me, one of my biggest struggles, is starting the sculpting process. I spend too much time overthinking about how I'll get to my end result when I really should just go in and figure it out as I go. It's seems like a more enjoyable and quicker way to sculpting. He goes onto to talk about how material studies are extremely important particularly when it comes to clothing. Knowing where to sculpt the creases in key in sculpting. He likes to use the clay brush to help him make the creases sharper around the edges.
Paige Carter
Introduction
The second artist I've chosen is Paige Carter. Paige Carter is a senior character artist at blizzard entertainment where she is working on assets for Overwatch 2. She is primarily known for her work under Supergiant Games on Hades. She started out as a painter and worked her way up to senior character artist. She uses a variety of software like ZBrush, Maya and Substance Painter.
Career/ Experience
Paige Carter started her career working as a freelance artist painting family members, pets and landscapes. In 2015, she did a media internship at Falcon's Creative Group. She was responsible for modelling and texturing 3D assets and environments for park attractions. She worked as a freelance artist doing both freelance and contracted work for Supergiant Games. This is where she textured and rigged some assets for Hades. Afterwards, she worked as a character artist at many different game studios and did some assets for Destiny 2 in 2022.
Sculpting Style and Methods
In the video called 'Inside Hades - 3D Modelling & Rigging' (Supergiant Games, 2021) , she goes through her process on sculpting the character Nyx. Through this video, I learnt that in the industry they're sometimes given existing models to work from to save time. She goes on to detail that majority of the characters are made from the models used for Megara, Eurydice and Thanatos. At the start, she uses the ZBrush transparency option to see and places her reference behind it to work from. This is something that I didn't know existed and looks to be much more easier than importing an image into the project.
To texture her models, she uses substance painter. She comments that she immediately turns off the lighting and uses a base colour. She makes sure that each colour she uses is on its own layer. To create the stylized linework in the hades models, she creates a separate layer and traces the lines on the model by hand. She then focuses on adding the shadows and lighting. When it comes to rigging, she likes to do it after texture as they are super important for the Hades style. She wants to make sure that they don't deform or look weird when she tests out the rig.
How does her methods compare to Raf Grassetti?
In contrast to Raf Grassetti, Paige Carter has sculpted for games that have more stylised characters and uses hand painted textures. Her character models are shaped quite differently compared to Raf Grassetti's. This is due to the difference in gameplay that theses are sculpted for. God of War is played from a third person perspective and involves a lot of cinematics. This means that characters sculpted for God of War will be need to very detailed in the front and back. With Hades, the models from the front look kind of strange and top heavy. This is because Hades is played from a top down view where the character is further away from the camera. The parts of the characters that will be seen the most will be the back of the head so define the silhouette, some proportions need to be exaggerated.
How do I plan on implementing these methods into my own work?
Seeing Raf Grassetti use a lot of brushes I'm not familiar with, has inspired me to try and branch out and try new techniques. I want to keep the same level of detail across the models as the ones in his sculpts.
If I need to save time when it comes to sculpting, I might do what Paige did and work from an older mesh I've created or use a pre - existing one. I also plan to have my reference behind ZBrush and to use the transparency to see it. I want to try and do a similar approach to my textures and hand paint them.
References
Anon, 2024. Rafael Grassetti [online]. rgrassetti.com. Available at: https://www.rgrassetti.com/ [Accessed April 17 2025]
Inside Hades - 3D Modeling & Rigging 2020. [Youtube]. Supergiant Games, Oct 20. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYJ6d1ifSqA [Accessed April 17 2025]
Paige Carter, 2025. Experience [online]. Linkedin. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paigelcarter/details/experience/ [Accessed April 17 2025]
Paige Carter, n.d. Paige Carter [online]. ArtStation. Available at: https://artpaiges.artstation.com/ [Accessed April 17 2025]
Rafael Grassetti, 2025. Experience [online]. Linkedin. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grassetti/details/experience/ [Accessed April 17 2025]
Rafael Grassetti, n.d. Rafael Grassetti [online]. ArtStation. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/grassetti [Accessed April 17 2025]
Spider-Man Miles Morales - Sculpting Time-lapse 2020. [Youtube]. Raf Grassetti, Nov 11. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsOijdzQZlk [Accessed April 17 2025]
From Basics to Advanced 3D Sketching 2020. [Youtube]. Raf Grassetti, Jan 3. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iLhvzxuiBs [Accessed April 17 2025]
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