A digital likeness inspired by seeing Iggy Pop perform live in Chicago in 2010. Began as a personal character study and evolved into a real-time rigged model.
In 2016, AST Studios licensed the character model and textures for the Oneohtrix Point Never & Iggy Pop music video “The Pure and the Damned” from the motion picture Good Time, which debuted at Sundance 2017.
Recently reworked for UE5 with subsurface shading, strand-based hair in XGen, repainted textures in Substance Painter, and path-traced rendering. The project spans nearly a decade of iteration, from initial ZBrush sculpt through multiple rendering pipelines.
Gallery
Portrait
ZBrush Sculpt
XGen Hair
Keyshot Render
Torso Detail
Case Study
The Problem
A recognizable digital likeness has to work as both an artistic study and a production asset. It needs character, accuracy, clean textures, and enough technical structure to survive reuse in different rendering contexts.
Design Challenge
The project evolved over years, so the work had to remain adaptable as rendering tools changed. The likeness needed to move from personal study to licensed production use and later into a modern UE5 presentation.
Key Design Decisions
I kept improving the asset through multiple pipeline passes: sculpting and likeness work first, then texture refinement, grooming, and later a real-time refresh with UE5 subsurface shading and strand-based hair.
Outcome
The character was licensed for the Oneohtrix Point Never and Iggy Pop music video 'The Pure and the Damned' from Good Time, then later reworked as a current-generation character-rendering study.
Technical Highlights
Digital Likeness
A long-running likeness study spanning sculpting, texture work, grooming, rendering, and later real-time presentation.
Production Use
The model and textures were licensed for a music video connected to the film Good Time, which debuted at Sundance 2017.
Pipeline Refresh
The project was later reworked for Unreal Engine 5 with updated skin shading, XGen hair, repainted textures, and path-traced rendering.