Rocket Raccoon's Portrait

"Someday I'm gonna make great machines that fly. And me and my friends are gonna go flying together, into the forever and beautiful sky."

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Rocket Raccoon has always been the Guardians of the Galaxy character I most empathized with, a soul tormented by his own story that lets anger instead of suffering shine through until he finds people who love him and has a chance to face the ghosts of his past.
So, after the third movie's release, I decided to try to homage him with this 3D portrait.

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I knew it would be the most challenging project of my career, so I asked Benedetta Cattani (https://www.artstation.com/benedettacattani), whose skills I know and trust completely, to help me make it. Honestly, today I have to say, this portrait would not exist without her, the most talented artist I have ever worked with and I am very fortunate to have had her dedication and invective for this artwork. Thank you, Benna!

During the process, we faced many doubts and dilemmas about how to approach the different stages of the project: what was the best way to create the suit, how to make a lighting setup to give much depth to his gaze, or how to shape his hair as faithful as possible to the original, based on many references taken from different films.
The most challenging task for me was definitely matching the fur on his cheeks: to achieve the final look, I tried different workflows which took me several hours of work. It was very hard, but in the end, we learned a lot and we are very satisfied with the final result.

We really hope you like it. Any feedback is well accepted. Enjoy it!

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Modeling and Sculpting done with ZBrush, Maya, and Marvelous Designer.
Texturing done with Substance Painter, Mari, and Photoshop.
Rendered and Shaded with Arnold for Maya.
Compositing done with Nuke.
Grooming done with XGen.

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Grooming, Rigging, Lighting and Compositing by Gianmaria Sorbino
Modeling, Surfacing and Hair Shading by Benedetta Cattani

A special thanks to our colleagues and friends Salvatore Sorvillo, Frankino Lupo and Francesco De Santis for all the tips and help.
Also thanks to Chris Bolwyn for all the advice he gave me during the course I attended with him: Grooming for Animated Characters on CGMA.

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(This is non-profit fan art, all rights belong to the original owner)