ENDA Episode 139→ The time when ENDA volunteers as a tribute for the Hunger Games (Part 3)
(...) it’s easy to assume President Snow wasn’t spared from those in his multiple assassination attempts. But recreating those effects digitally? It’s a deadly mission on its own.
After dialing in the skin tones, our next challenge stepped right into focus: eye treatment.
Certain poisons, like methanol or heavy metals, are notorious for targeting the eyes, and it’s easy to assume President Snow wasn’t spared from those in his multiple assassination attempts. But recreating those effects digitally? It’s a deadly mission on its own.
Here’s what it took:
🔹 Multi-pass roto: one mask for the iris, another for the sclera, and a third to recover the eyelids and lashes.
🔹 Reflections and glints: even with a glassy, damaged appearance, the eyes must retain their natural gloss. That meant crafting a dedicated key just for the highlights.
🔹 Look development: achieving the “glass eye” look is a fine line: too subtle, and it reads as like a contact lens cosplay; too strong, and it starts looking like an A over B comp. Trust me, I crossed one of those lines more than once.
It took multiple iterations, texture tweaks, and reference checks before both eyes matched in a way that felt natural… and unsettling.
It may seem like a small detail, but once combined with the previous passes, the result was striking. And we’re only just beginning.
Next up: skin warping and a new concept to master: gravity.
So stay tuned!
The journey continues…
Comments