L.A. Underwater - Paleoparadoxia

date. 2021

medium. Zbrush 2021 & Adobe Substance Painter.

client. Natural History Museum Los Angeles County

description. Paleoparadoxia belongs to an enigmatic group of extinct animals called desmostyllians. There is little consensus about how they evolved, how the moved, and what they ate. Working with Marine Mammal Curator for the NHM, Jorge Velez-Jurabe - I set out to create skeletal and anatomical studies centered around the nearly complete skeleton in the Museums collection. More studies were drawn to ideate what the facial features, skin texture, and even posture of the animal would be. This process was challenging due to paleoparadoxia's unique anatomy, that has no contemporary analogs. The final model was created in Zbrush, and textured inside substance painter. Model was rigged and animated by Kain Suwannaphin.