Cactuar - Final Fantasy 7
This fanart of the infamous Final Fantasy Cactuar (specifically referencing Final Fantasy 7) was a fun project, as it tested various aspects in a more simple shape. From my original sculpt I made many months ago, I started with retopology using Blender's Retopoflow. I noticed when I referenced actual cacti, their texture is rather smooth, so it was especially fun referencing cucumbers and various melons to get the texture that I was looking for to get it closer to what is seen in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake game. I made four sculpts, each varying in sizes from minis that could be used for tabletop campaigns or simple desk decorations to statues you could display with your Final Fantasy collectibles.
One of my initial renders of the Cactuar.
Once I have enough patrons to support my personal projects, I hope to 3D print the 28mm and 32mm minis that I also created for this sculpt. The other ones are a 6 inch and 12 inch statues that are separated at the limbs for assembly.
Since Cactuar are known to fight your team in the Final Fantasy games, I wanted to give this Cactuar some imperfections and battle damage details throughout its body.
I wanted the nubs and the needle area to resemble the butt ends of melons, which is where the brownish white tint comes from.
I referenced a watermelon stem end to create the area where the needles protrude.