Pedals of Marigold 2020
Petals of Marigold is a vibrant stylized character project centered around a group of marigold-themed fairies, designed to explore expressive character design, glowing bioluminescent elements, and whimsical fantasy environments. The series includes multiple cinematic renders featuring group interactions, flight poses, close-ups, and character vignettes.
My Role
Sole Creator: Responsible for concepting, modeling, rigging, texturing, lighting, rendering, and compositing for all fairy characters and scenes.
Responsibilities:
Stylized Character Design: Developed the visual identity of each fairy—hair shapes, glowing petal motifs, wing patterns, face paint markings, and body coloration unique to each personality.
Modeling & Sculpting: Created the full body sculpts, stylized faces, intricate wing structures, glowing petal accessories, and soft organic details.
Full Rigging for All Characters:
Built a main rig which was reused for each fairy including wings, blendshapes for expressive facial poses, stylized hair movement, and delicate hand gestures.
Ensured rigs supported wide ranges of motion for swimming, flying, leaning, reaching, and group interaction poses.
Texture & Material Development: Painted stylized subsurface skin, glowing freckles, decorative markings, and patterned bioluminescent wings. Implemented emissive layers to create soft fairy-light effects.
Environment Creation:
Built marigold-themed environments with dense petals, floating leaves, and water surfaces for bathhouse scene.
Integrated fog, bloom, and subtle particle glimmers to enhance fantasy mood.
Cinematic Lighting: Designed warm, magical lighting inspired by lantern glow and moonlit petals. Used rim highlights and soft scattering to make wings and hair shine.
Dynamic Composition: Created multiple narrative moments:
Group bathhouse gathering
Flight sequences over blooming marigolds
Character close-ups with emotive expressions
Action poses showcasing wings and glowing particles
Compositing & Final Polish: Combined render passes with color grading, bloom, sparkles, depth of field, and soft atmospheric effects for a polished fairy-fantasy aesthetic.
Software Used
3DS Max, Maya (Rigging and Posing), Marmoset Toolbag, Substance Painter, TopoGun 2, After Effects
