3D BLOG/INTERVIEWS/EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: 3D ARTIST RODA NA REVEALS THE MAKING OF RORO SON AND IGUANA

Exclusive Interview: 3D Artist Roda Na Reveals the Making of Roro Son and Iguana

Mar 10, 2025

Article by Filip Radivojevic

Introduction to Roda Na's Journey as a 3D Artist

1. Could you tell us a bit about your journey into the world of 3D character art? What motivated you to choose this career path?

I've been drawing characters ever since I was old enough to hold a pen. I realized around the time that I graduated from university that all of my past works had been characters coming from living organisms. Iven always been drawn to beings that move, live, and possess personality. That's why I decided to define my artistic identity as a character artist.

When I think about what character art truly is, I find myself returning to fundamental questions: What is a "character"? How can it be defined? While the definition, methods of expression, and outcomes of character art may vary widely, I felt that, from a technical perspective, 3D art is the ultimate medium for visually realizing imagination with unparalleled freedom and quality. For that reason, earning this skill has been a dream of mine since I was young.

Above all, I was captivated by the 3D technology that can render textures more vividly and vibrantly than real life, like moist skin, the sheen of oil reflecting light on the skin, translucent plastic, or even the intricate structure of the iris in an eye. The delicate potential to embed history and stories into the wear and tear of objects also fascinated me.

2. What were some of the key moments or projects that shaped your journey as an artist?

Until I graduated from college, I still couldn't figure out the reason for creating art, and what I wanted to express to the world through my art. However, I didn't want to create art just to make myself happy. While studying design in college, I also spent about five years training in voice acting to prepare for broadcaster exams, but I failed on all final exams I reached. Chasing my interests, I made several attempts at business ventures with friends, but they all ended in failure. At the time, I was left with only frustration, loss, and a sense of deprivation.

Afterward, I decided to go to LA, thinking I might start a work life in a foreign environment. One day, while surrounded by design and various mundane office tasks, I suddenly came to a realization. Even sitting in an office, in a safe environment where my life wasn't at risk, I found the repetitive routine to be agonizing. Even the small pains of the past felt unbearable to me. Then how do other people manage to live through their lives? In that moment, I realized how arrogant I had been to think that I could shine in the world with just my immature talent.

I came to truly admire friends who endure years of obscurity and instability for their dreams, coworkers who tirelessly take on tough jobs every day to support their families, and the countless others who carry the weight of their own challenges yet keep moving forward. I realized that the challenges they face and the burdens they bear are beyond anything I could imagine. I realized that I am no greater or more special than anyone else.

So, I asked myself: with this small ability I have, what can I do? That day, I made a lifelong decision to honor the lives of people around the world and through my work show that they are deserving of respect. Now, five years later, I know the message I want to tell to the world through my art. Through my future work, I hope to foster a culture where people not only respect but also honor each others lives.

3. How do you approach character creation? Do you start with a story, a mood, or a visual idea?

The concept usually comes first. I tend to start by thinking about the metaphor and message I want to convey. Inspiration for these metaphors and messages often come from specific words or direct and indirect experiences. After that, I think about what kind of character would best express them. Sometimes, I come up with a concept or story from a character I've doodled without much thought. Once the initial conceptual stage is complete, I think its important to experiment with different visual implementations by actually working on it. During this stage, instead of overthinking, I let my hands freely express visually on the paper, and something will come out. Figuring out how to develop and refine it usually comes in the next step.

The Story Behind "Roro Son and Iguana": Inspiration and Concept Development

4. What inspired you to create "Roro Son and Iguana"?

The design of these two characters, especially the main character, Roro Son, began with the question, 'How can people with different thoughts and positions be integrated into one mind regardless of the various conflicts that exist in the world? How can we open the way for humans to love each other?'

The human brain has a tendency to analyze and categorize whatever it perceives, striving to distinguish it from other things and define it. Discrimination in human society also essentially begins with 'distinction'. My belief is that this ability to distinguish, classify, judge, and define is a basis of human learning and is a defense mechanism that increases the likelihood of survival. There are various standards of definition and distinction in the world. Often, this is the case with wealth, race, education level, appearance, and household background.

However, before anyone is framed within the constructs of perception and labeled as "a certain type of person," they are unique beings. Moreover, I believe that beyond that existing uniqueness, we always have the possibility of becoming something new" and "the possibility of creating ourselves."

Is it possible to reverse people's thinking to a point before individuals are framed by societal perceptions? Or, could we consistently act in ways that break free from cognitive frameworks, making it difficult for others to categorize us as a specific type of person? Can we deconstruct concepts about things that have already been analyzed and defined, and create new ways of understanding them? How can we, in a world where we must coexist with others, voluntarily create ourselves and live as unique beings?

Roro Son was conceived from a desire to create video contents that explore various experiments related to this concept. With hope that this fundamental question will encourage people to explore themselves and, furthermore, provide a space where they can recognize and appreciate the diverse intrinsic natures of others.

5. How did you come up with Roro Son's unique design and personality?

Perhaps living as 'inherent and new beings by creating ourselves voluntarily' is a topic that requires a more in-depth approach than it seems. Nevertheless, people often judge a lot through what is seen from the outside. Roro Son's first stage of experimentation is seen as being difficult to define immediately through unknown costumes and actions. The purpose is to devise various costumes and movements, and the introduced design is Roro's first completed costume design. To ensure that people wouldn't associate the clothing design with any specific object or form, asymmetrical shapes, irregularly ambiguous graphic patterns, and fabrics with diverse, non-uniform textures were used. It focuses on attempts to avoid various concepts that are already strongly imprinted in people's perception.

Also, Roro Son is a clone modeled after myself. So, Roro Son's thoughts and values are based on mine. However, it is important to note that, much like identical twins who become distinct individuals and live separate lives after birth, the moment Roro Son was created in the virtual world marks the point where our paths diverge. I am genuinely excited to see the life she will lead, which will be different from mine.

6. Why did you choose an iguana as her companion, and how does it add to the story of the artwork? The Creative Process for "Roro Son and Iguana"

There's a common perception that reptiles move in a stiff, rigid way, but iguanas are surprisingly playful, agile, and even quick in their movements. The fact that an adult iguana can grow as large as a big dog was also fascinating enough to inspire the idea of making an iguana a companion for Roro Son. The story of their adventures together is still in the early planning stages.

7. Can you walk us through the process of creating this artwork, from the initial concept to the final render?

- 1. Concept Illustration

- 2. Life Casting

Life casting is the process where a mold is created by covering a living person's head and shoulders with silicone and then filling it with plaster to produce a casting. Since this task is challenging to do alone, I enlisted the help of three friends. Before starting, I wore a bald cap secured with skin-safe adhesive and applied Vaseline to my eyebrows and sideburns to prevent hair from being pulled out during silicone removal.

Skin-safe silicone was generously applied from the head to the shoulders and left to dry. On one side, layers of plaster tape were applied to form the mold. After protecting the surface with aluminum foil, the same process was repeated on the opposite side to complete a two-part mold. The mold was carefully separated, then reassembled.

The silicone was cut in a zigzag pattern and removed, after which it was placed back into the plaster mold. Hydrocal plaster was mixed with water in a 1:1 ratio and poured into the silicone mold and left to cure for 1-2 days. The hardened plaster was refined using a Dremel and sandpaper.

Two heads were created for sculptures to be placed on the face and top of the head. Since the ears and nose did not come out perfectly, separate molds only for nose and ears were made and completed using the same method.

- 3. Oil-based Clay Sculpting

Using a plaster face cast, I sculpted wearable pieces for the head, ears, eyes, face, and nose with Monster Clay, an oil-based clay that remains malleable and reusable at room temperature unless baked.

For the headpiece, I wanted to create a small, unfamiliar world, drawing inspiration from the landscapes of Zhangjiajie in China, Cappadocia in Turkey, and Ceres Mountain in South Africa. The nose design was based on characters from Larvae Story, a stop-motion animation I created in 2021.

Other forms were crafted using concept drawings as a foundation, with additional details added spontaneously during the sculpting process.

- 4. Molding and Casting

The principle of this process is essentially the same as life-casting, with only the materials differing. I sought advice from a local store to select the appropriate materials and primarily used Smooth-On silicone and plastic when creating sculptures on the plaster face model. The inner mold was made with relatively firm silicones like Mold Star 20T and SORTA-Clear 37, while the outer mother mold was created using hard plastic materials like Plasti-Paste II or Plasti-Paste EPOXY.

The masks attached to the face and nose were made with soft silicones such as Smooth-Cast 326, 45D, and 65D, while the rigid parts of the headpiece, eyebrow deco-pieces and nose tip were crafted with NuClear Epoxy UV-resistant clear casting resin.

When creating the molds, it's important to plan for a hole to pour the casting material. After making the mother mold, it must be tightly sealed to prevent gaps. Both silicone and resin have high fluidity before curing, so any gaps could cause them to leak out.

- 5. Costume

I visited a local fabric store and directly compared fabrics to the concept art, selecting and purchasing suitable materials that hadn't been planned during the 2D concept illustration process. The denim costume used in the project was created by reassembling three different denim garments sourced from thrift stores. To pursue realism in the costumes patterns and folds, some parts were crafted by hand, while areas that couldn't be fully realized in the actual costume were supplemented with reference images.

- 6. Cinematic Reference Photography Shooting

To create cinematic references, I collaborated with photographer McNair Evans for a photoshoot conducted in both an indoor studio and an outdoor location. The main backdrop was a forest with a beach. The photos also feature Jake, a fellow character who has yet to be revealed.

- 7. Roro Son's Body Modeling

Using the A pose captured in the studio as a reference, I created a 3D model. The base mesh was built in Maya, and additional details were added by increasing the subdivision levels in ZBrush. I applied scanned data to the face and hands using the Z Wrap plugin in ZBrush, enhancing any missing details with a combination of manual sculpting and alpha map brushes. The irises were sculpted by hand, closely following actual anatomical structures.

- 8. Digital Costume Making

I designed the clothing in Marvelous Designer on a low-poly A-pose character, re-topologized it, and added thickness and seam line details in ZBrush. After refining topology and UV mapping in Maya, I imported the OBJ files back into ZBrush to add detailed folds. I recall experiencing significant confusion while developing my workflow, as each fellow CG artist had their own unique approach to the clothing creation process.

- 9. Iguana Modeling

The focus was on modeling the iguana as realistically and detailed as possible. I collected extensive references, including skeletal structures and external photos. After creating a neutral pose, I rigged the model in Maya and adjusted the pose. Special attention was given to capturing the richness of the wrinkles on its body. The scales and internal structure of the eyes were sculpted manually, while the body scales were created using custom chisel brushes registered from hand-sculpted patterns.

- 10. Hair Grooming

I used Ornatrix to create Roro Son's hair, eyelashes, and the fine hairs on the face and body. To effectively groom stray hairs emerging between the facial ornaments, the hair was divided into six strand groups, with modifiers applied individually to each group. The eyelashes were organized into two strand groups, while the fine hairs were handled with a single strand group.

- 11. Posing

I crafted a rough iguana using aluminum foil, placed it on my arm, and captured various poses, selecting the one I liked best. Basic rigging for both Roro Son and the iguana was done in Maya to set the pose, and then details were refined in ZBrush. Roro Son's facial expression was sculpted on a new layer in ZBrush.

- 12. Texture Painting

I used Substance 3D Painter for the texture painting process. For materials other than metal and plastic, I created additional maps for options like opacity, transparency, sheen, SSS, coat, thin film, and specular, as base color, roughness, metalness, and normal maps alone were insufficient. When realism and precise depiction required it, I applied hand-painting techniques. For cases where hand-painting wasn't necessary, I combined various smart masks, generators, and grunge maps to build texture layers. I saved them as smart materials to streamline future projects and save time.

Fabric: When creating fabric textures, materials like thin or mesh fabrics required compact opacity maps to ensure the small gaps between threads were visible. To capture the imperfections of woven patterns, I layered intersecting stripe patterns of varying thicknesses. For Roro Son's right sleeve, where a translucent fabric features numerous enigmatic embroidery designs, the embroidery patterns were first drawn in Adobe Photoshop and then converted into vector files using Adobe Illustrator. These vector files were transformed into embroidery textures using Substance 3D Sampler and finally positioned on the sleeve in Substance 3D Painter.

- 13. Rendering

I used Arnold as the render software and completed the final rendering through Fox Renderfarm. As soon as each texture painting task was finished, I immediately applied the texture map to the object in Maya and adjusted the shader settings. I fine-tuned the shader values while checking the render preview to finalize the materials.

I set up HDRI lighting across the scene and added three-point lights around the character to enhance the lighting effect.

- 14. Compositing

I used the Cryptomatte node in Nuke to perform color correction.

- 15. Final Images

8. What influenced the choice of colors, materials, and textures in this piece?

I was aesthetically influenced by the stop-motion animation Larvae Story that I created in 2021. This 4.5-minute animation was screened at 14 international film festivals in countries such as the U.S., South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Nigeria, Turkey, India, and Italy. Since it was my first time making animation, there were many aspects I wanted to improve in terms of both technical skills and expression. I wanted to take the aesthetic I used back then and elevate it with 3D in this new project. I pursued exploring how to express craft-like elements, such as hand-painted traces, intricate textile patterns from various fabrics, holographic gloss from mass-produced plastic decorations, and irregular textures from hand-carved ornaments, using 3D tools. Elements like boots with drawings, scattered painting traces, slightly faded silicone masks, glittery resin crafts with rough edges, and combinations of various fabric materials were all influenced by this desire.

9. Roro Son's outfit is filled with intricate details. How did you decide on elements like the camera, boots, and other accessories?

In fact, most of the small props were decided on spontaneously. The camera and sprinkler remote controller were objects I randomly found at a thrift store in the neighborhood. The various colored strings used in the costumes were found at a fabric store. As for the boots, I first drew them as a 2D concept illustration and then aimed to create a pair that closely resembled the boots in the drawing. I bought a pair of white boots online that were similar in shape to the ones in the concept drawing. I cut various shapes of holes in the boots and painted them with fabric paint.

Challenges and Technical Aspects

10. What were some of the challenges you faced while working on this project? How did you overcome them?

There were several moments of crisis throughout the process. Like the morning of the day we were set to shoot the cinematic concept shot, the costume still wasn't finished. But the most memorable part was the process of creating the iguanas scales. Experienced creature modelers might scoff at this story. At first, I thought I could easily solve the issue by applying a scale map sold on the market as an alpha map in ZBrush. However, after closely examining the reptilian scale alpha maps I had bought, I realized that none of them matched the actual shape of an iguanas scales. On top of that, simply applying an alpha map across the entire body wasn't feasible, since the direction and size of the scales varied across different parts of the iguanas body. There were also transition areas where the shape of the scales changed. In the end, I realized that sculpting it manually was the only solution. For the iguanas face, I primarily used the Mask, Dam Brush, Inflate Brush, and Flatten Brush to sculpt. I then manually sculpted the alpha maps for the arms, legs, and other body parts and registered them using the Chisel Brush, carefully applying the alpha maps one by one to match the direction and size of the iguanas scale flow.

11. Which software and tools did you use to create "Roro Son and Iguana"?

- Maya: Base mesh, rigging, shader-making
- ZBrush: Zwrap, detail sculpting, displacement map, cavity map
- Marvelous Designer: Costume-making
- Substance 3D Painter: Texture painting
- Adobe Illustrator: Embroidery illustration creation
- Substance 3D Sampler: Embroidery texture creation
- Ornatrix: Hair grooming
- Nuke: Color correction, background
- Adobe Photoshop: Texture map color correction
- Arnold: Render software, test rendering
- Fox Renderfarm: Final rendering
- Adobe After Effect: Reel video creation

12. How do you make sure your characters look both visually striking and technically refined?

For this question, I could offer some classic answers. First, I need to be satisfied with what I've created. Observing the reactions of experienced experts in the field and seeking their advice is traditionally one of the best ways to gauge how the work is perceived in the relevant field. What I believe could also be helpful is sharing my work with the public and those around me to see their reactions. Even people who aren't familiar with art or technique can be surprisingly accurate in their perceptions. Additionally, taking some time to reflect on what I've created later allows me to identify areas that need improvement or aspects that still look good. When finishing a piece, its easy to lose objectivity, as you're often caught up in both the sense of accomplishment and exhaustion. However, if we continue to complete our works to the best of our ability and reflect on them afterward, I believe we can improve both technically and artistically, while also developing the ability to understand the pulse of the market.

How Roda Na's Life Experiences Shape Her Art

13. How do your life experiences or personal background influence the characters and worlds you create?

When I was young, I had many pets: hamsters, rabbits, squirrels, cats, dogs, parrots, prairie dogs, chicks, fish, and hermit crabs. It seems that these experiences formed a deep attachment to living, moving beings. During my studies in art and design, I mainly focused on the outward appearance of characters. However, after studying acting, my interest expanded to the character's values, personality, and the world surrounding them. I became intrigued by the differences in thoughts, delicate emotions, habits, actions, and gestures of people. It led me to the realization that one person is not just an individual, but a whole world in themselves. When different people meet and communicate, it means that they eventually invite each other to their own worlds. It took me a long time to reach this realization. Now I wonder, "What kind of world can my character invite people into?" and from that point, many ideas come to mind.

14. How do you stay motivated and creative in a field that's constantly evolving?

I think everyone has their own unique momentum and motivation. For me, the message and story I want to convey drive me forward. With the vision to creatively combine handcraft and computer skills, I trust that technological advancements can provide greater freedom in artistic expression. I believe the awe-inspiring feeling that comes from a masterpiece created by human hands and the humanity that comes from the fact that it was created by humans are irreplaceable values. Imagining how far artists, including myself, can push the boundaries of our unique aesthetic sensibilities and create meaningful works by leveraging the freedom technology provides fills me with excitement and anticipation for the future.

The Future of Roda Na's Work and Advice for Aspiring 3D Artists

15. What kind of projects or themes are you interested in exploring in the future?

As mentioned earlier, I constantly think about the kind of content I should create to build a culture where people can honor others' lives, while also developing content that has a positive impact. One of my approaches is to work with people who have diverse life stories as muses, telling their stories through live-action and 3D content using the visual characters I interpret in my own unique way. I want to create entertaining content that is both enjoyable and intuitive.

16. Where do you see yourself as an artist in the next few years?

My journey as an artist is just beginning. Over the next few years, I plan to work in the CG industry while personally creating a 3D graphic novel, a 3D fairy tale book, short video content, and independent films. I also want to learn more about artists and people from other fields who are working hard to make a positive impact, helping people around the world love and respect one another, and seek their valuable wisdom and advice.

17. What advice would you give to aspiring 3D character artists who are just starting out?

As a 3D artist who's just stepping into the industry, I don't have any grand advice to offer. But if it helps, Id like to share my personal motto as an individual.

Recently, I've been living with the belief that what matters most is attitude. Over the years, I've realized how important it is to maintain a consistent and kind attitude toward work and people, regardless of my mood or personal circumstances. Having an attitude of not procrastinating, encouraging teammates, and keeping promises has shown its value. Though I haven't always lived this way in the past, I'm trying to improve.

In terms of human relationships, I've decided to think more about and remember moments of gratitude. Its hard for positive energy and a good future to flourish in relationships where complaints dominate.

If you have a motto or dream, I hope you pursue it steadily each day. I believe that peoples true talents and passions lie in what inspires them the most, just as I'm deeply moved by living sentient beings. What moves you deeply is where you'll find the greatest meaning. I hope you can listen to what inspires and matters to you daily, creating a beautiful life both as an individual and as an artist.

Check out Roda Na's Gallery.

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