The leviathan of lost bayou 2022
The Leviathan of Lost Bayou is a cinematic creature illustration featuring a colossal, mutated catfish emerging from the swamps of a post-apocalyptic world. This piece explores large-scale creature design, dramatic action staging, and atmospheric storytelling within the Thibodeaux universe. The moment captures Micheal and Denice in a coordinated battle pose as they confront the monstrous Leviathan erupting from the bayou waters.
My Role
Sole Creator: Responsible for the full paleo-art process—from sculpting and texturing to environment creation, lighting, rendering, and compositing.
Responsibilities:
Creature Concept & Design
Designed the Leviathan as an oversized, nightmarish interpretation of a giant catfish, combining real aquatic anatomy with exaggerated, monstrous proportions.
Added stylized teeth, whiskers, fin structures, and surface breakup to achieve a threatening, fantasy-horror aesthetic.
Sculpting & Modeling
Sculpted the high-poly Leviathan model with detailed musculature, scale variation, and wet-surface texturing.
Modeled updated versions of Steel and Denice for the action shot, ensuring their silhouettes read clearly against the creature.
Texturing & Lookdev
Painted all textures for the Leviathan, focusing on slick wet-skin effects, iridescence, color gradients, and swamp-creature grime.
Developed materials for the heroes that contrast the organic monster—hard metallic surfaces, glowing accents, and smooth stylized skin.
Rigging & Posing
Built a custom rig for the Leviathan allowing coil, twist, jaw spread, whisker motion, and body arching suitable for a breaching attack pose.
Rigged Steel and Denice with expressive action-oriented poses that emphasize teamwork, tension, and heroism.
Environment & FX
Constructed a dense swamp environment with ferns, water splashes, fog layers, and directional mist to reinforce scale and chaos.
Added simulated water displacement and spray to integrate the Leviathan’s movement into the bayou.
Lighting & Rendering
Created a moody forest-swamp lighting setup using cinematic rim lights, volumetric haze, and color contrast.
Used dramatic backlighting to highlight the Leviathan’s silhouette and give depth to the forest.
Cinematic Composition
Staged the scene for maximum visual clarity—heroes in the foreground, creature bursting from the mid-ground, and atmospheric depth behind.
Designed the shot to guide the viewer’s eye from the heroes’ weapons and stance directly to the Leviathan’s gaping jaws.
Compositing & Final Polish
Enhanced the final image with color grading, bloom, volumetrics, fog passes, sharpening, and subtle lens effects.
Added texture overlays and glows to unify the action and reinforce the vibrant, stylized look.
Software Used:
3DS Max, Zbrush, Maya (Rigging and Posing), Marmoset Toolbag 3, Substance Painter, TopoGun 2, After Effects
