Ni and It-uk - Saddle for Ni

Saddle design for short film La Tierra Del Sol. Myself, modeler Daniele Pappalardo, and the director Chris Hogstead wanted something that felt appropriate for a civilization with roughly bronze age level technology. We cast a wide influence net, looking at saddles used for all types of animals, from horses, camels, and alpacas to ostriches. Because Ni's form of locomotion is similar to a kangaroo's and because our story takes place on a lower gravity world, we wanted to design a shock absorbing saddle that uses a reverse bow design. No idea if it would actually work in reality but we liked the look.

Daniele Pappalardo blocked out the saddle in Maya based on initial design sketches by Amir Azimi and myself, we then did a paintover and photobash concept/design pass on top. Daniele is now working on the final saddle modeling, texturing and look dev to be used in the film.

https://www.artstation.com/dualpicture