The Making Of

Rottcodd
Rosalyn Fenton

Contents
Gormenghast
34
Finding The Character
58
Finding The Face
9 13
Understanding Rottcodd
14 17
Dressing The Guardian
18 24
Adding a Prop

25 26
Going into Maya
27 - 33

Gormenghast is a trilogy written by Mervyn Peake ( 1946-1959). It

surrounds Gormenghast Castle and those within it but particularly upon
Titus Groan (the new heir) who grows older through the books. The
main theme running through these novels is personal freedom vs duty to
the throne and the family.
Rottcodd: draw over his head along, grey overall which descended

shapelessly to his ankles

Gertrude: half asleep and half aware with the awareness of anger, the

detachment of trance. A furlong of white cats trails after her. A bullfinch

has a nest in her red hair. She is the Countess Gertrude of huge clay
Titus Groan : Titus is sevensuckled on shadowson webs of ritual: for

his ears, echoes, for his eyes, a labyrinth of stone

Rottcodd: draw over his head along, grey overall which decended
shapelessly to his ankles
Guardian of the Hall Of Bright Carvings
Lives and sleeps in the Castle Loft
Doesnt interact with the rest of the Castle
Always has a feather duster at hand
Likes being alone
Admires stones and finer things

Finding the Character

Researching what is believed to be the era/century

that Gormenghast is based in I began to gather
sources as a helpful reminder further on in the
project. I want to evoke a medieval-esque gothic
style with a touch of grimness to add to the
loneliness of Rottcodd.

Finding the Character

Own IM morphing and influences, era, costume and

colour palette

I thought about
adding physiognomy
(animalistic features
on a human) . I also
wanted some form of
flair to Rottcodd as if
he was something in
his time but as all
things that live in the
loft, are soon
forgotten.

Thumbnailing Sketches

Finding the Character

Silhouette Sketches

Finding the Character

Initial Head Sketches

Finding the Face

Finding the Face

As the first head sketches were

rather generic old man it was
suggested to look into the
fundamentals of caricature. I
have drawn a Rottcodd from
each basic shape that caricature
contains.

Finding the Face

Taking one shape further, I experimented

with what else I could do with it, also I am
now trying to feed in the physiognomy part
that I was interested in.

As I started to understand Rottcodd more the

animal I wanted to include within his features is
a vulture. How they are reclusive, ugly and
gloomy I think suits Rottcodd and his
mannerisms well.

Finding the Face

Finding the Face

Understanding Rottcodd

Research into vukture As I imagine Rottcodd hunched

over, like an elderly man I needed
to understand the skeleton and
proportions of man better but
also researching what parts of a
Vulture structure could influence
my design.

I do not own this image (above)

Understanding Rottcodd

Understanding Rottcodd

Taking reference photos and putting

yourself in the characters shoes works
a wonder when trying to understand
the character that little bit more.

Understanding Rottcodd

Clothing Thumbnails

Dressing the Guardian

Dressing the Guardian

Colour Palette

Dressing the Guardian

The colour palette was a

difficult one. Rottcodd
does live in a castle so
royal blues and rich reds
come to mind, however,
he is a reclusive and is
being merged with
elements of a vulture
(shades of blacks and
browns).

Dressing the Guardian

This is the final

clothing (left).
Combining
royalty-looking
clothing (tunics
and patterns) but
painted so they
are old and tired
with the colours
being dull (and
taken from
vultures feathers)
has created
Rottcodds
clothing.

Dressing the Guardian

Understanding the way his

clothes would fall over his
body and movements.

Dressing the Guardian

The Duster

Adding A Prop

Adding A Prop

Orthographics

Going into Maya

Textures

Going into Maya

Clay Model Render

Pipeline inc model own, with skirt, cloak, few poses

Going into Maya

Going into Maya

UV Textured

Occlusion Pass

Going into Maya

Final Render with Textures

Going into Maya

Going into Maya

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