"SMALL SOLDIERS | War For The Nekron" Proof of Concept- SHIX-SHAX
Shix-Shax is a very complex character since there are so many moving parts, still it is posable to get a quite clear silhouette
To make both bodies very different the scale flow on each side goes in one direction.
In addition to the scale flow being opporite for each head, the "horns" are also in opposite areas, Shix having it in the chin while Shax has it in the forehead.
Even the teeth are in opposing directions, Shax has a protruding jaw showing lower teeth, while Shix shows upper teeth mostly.
His tail has multiple articulations and in the lore it would be hes most dangerous weapon.
In the toy we can see the big sticky pad in the tail, represented as nekron
Since the tail grows from the shoulders, the articulation alows for it to have a great range of movement.
The small hands have sticky pads as well, allowing him to climb walls without compromising the weapons.
When the tail is moving forward we can clearly see the big gap left by it, which gives a very toy like feel.
Eeven though they are clearly from the same species, you can percieve their different personalities.
The elbows of the larger hands have protuding horns so the lower hands can grab there, simplifying the silhouette of the character when the small hands are not needed.
Model ifrom Zbrush.
Turnaround from Zbrush.
Showcase of the rig. featuring the movement range of diferent articulation chains and the stucky pads on some of the limbs.
Screenshot from the trailer.
[DISCLAIMER: Small Soldiers War for the Nekron is a Proof of Concept project in which our team was hired by Comadran Studios to create a set of toy characters during some months from 2022-2023. The conclussion of the project was the Proof of Concept trailer that brought those new characters to life. We would like to clarify that our team does not own these characters and we do not know what comes next for them after the this Proof of Concept. Designs and story might not represent the final product as they are subject to change during production.]
.
.
Shix-Shax was designed and rigged by me, modeling was a shared effort with Giulio Marrone.
.
Shix-Shax is the assassin of the group so it neede to look devious, dangerous and agyle. The idea of having two bodies merged into one makes this character interesting but also very complex design wise, so balancing the multitude of shapes was a big challenge.
After creating his concept art I started to work on a basic sculpt to block out the main proportions of the character and a first pass on color.
Then Giulio Marone was in charge of detailing the character, while keeping different areas of him very distinct material wise, since it is a toy, this material distinction comes from the sculpt directly. Some areas are very scaly, some have the nekron goo, some look like hard armor shells.
This was the first character to be fully sculpted, so when we got the rest done, it was not fully fitting in the style, since the style naturally evolved as we figured out stuff on material sculpting an proportions. I worked on a second detailing pass, mainly adding some more organic detail that matched the detail scale in other characters, and also some additional fixing to make it's very complex rig properly work.
The rig was a tricky part because since it has 2 heads with long necks and 6 limbs plus a very articulated tale, there was so much going on. Additionaly this toy has sticky pads on hands, feet and tail to be able to climb walls and sneak attack on his preys from above.