Photorealistic 3D Creature Artist Needed - Blender / Unreal Engine Horror Character

Project Type: Fixed-price, phased character-development project Current Contract: Phase 1 — Character Sculpt & Final Design Phase 1 Budget: $400 fixed price Software: Blender required Target Engine: Unreal Engine Future Work: 3–4 additional separately funded contracts anticipated Project Overview I am an independent game developer seeking an experienced 3D character/creature artist to create an original, photorealistic humanoid horror creature for a video game currently in development. The creature, currently referred to as “The Starved,” is a tall, severely emaciated humanoid entity with exaggerated proportions, elongated limbs and fingers, visible skeletal anatomy, pale/ashen skin, large reflective eyes, and an unnaturally wide smile containing prominent sharp teeth. Concept/reference artwork and more detailed design direction will be provided to the selected artist. The ultimate goal is a high-quality, photorealistic, fully rigged creature created in Blender and suitable for use and animation in Unreal Engine. This posting is for the first phase of development, but I am specifically looking for an artist who is interested in potentially continuing with the character through the subsequent production phases. Important: Phased Project Structure Because this project is being independently funded, development of the character will be divided into approximately four separate contracts, with a possible fifth contract if additional work is required. The anticipated production pipeline is: Phase 1  High-Resolution Sculpt & Final Character Design - initial offer $400 Create the final three-dimensional design and high-resolution sculpt of The Starved in Blender. This establishes the creature's proportions, anatomy, silhouette, head, mouth, teeth, hands, eyes, and overall visual identity. Phase 2  Retopology, UVs & Game-Ready Mesh - anticipated $600 Convert the approved sculpt into a clean, optimized production mesh suitable for subsequent texturing, rigging, animation, and Unreal Engine use. Complete appropriate retopology and UV preparation. Phase 3  Photorealistic Texturing, Materials & Eyes - anticipated $850 Develop the creature's final photorealistic appearance, including high-resolution PBR textures/materials, skin detail, mouth/gums/teeth, surface variation, normal/detail information, and a controllable eye setup capable of producing realistic reflective/eyeshine behavior rather than simply permanent glowing eyes. Phase 4  Rigging, Blender Master File & Unreal Engine Preparation - anticipated $800 Create and weight a production-quality rig appropriate for the creature's unusual anatomy, provide appropriate animation controls, prepare/export the character for Unreal Engine, and demonstrate that the completed character imports and deforms correctly. A possible Phase 5 may later cover additional polish, specialized rigging requirements, facial/jaw improvements, custom animations, Unreal-specific adjustments, or other production needs discovered during development. Future phases are expected to be offered as separate fixed-price contracts rather than milestones under the current contract. There may be pauses between contracts due to independent development scheduling and funding. These gaps could potentially range from approximately one to six months. I do not expect the selected artist to reserve their schedule or decline other work during these periods. My preference is strongly to work with the same artist throughout the complete character pipeline, provided each phase is successfully completed and both parties wish to continue. Future contracts are anticipated but are dependent upon successful completion of the preceding work, continued mutual interest, project requirements, artist availability, and funding. They should therefore not be considered guaranteed employment. Current Contract - Phase 1 Deliverables For this initial $400 fixed-price contract, I am looking for: - A high-resolution 3D sculpt of the approved creature design created in Blender - Full-body humanoid anatomy and proportions based on supplied concept/reference material - Detailed head and facial structure - Large, unnatural smile with individually modeled sharp teeth, gums, mouth cavity, and functional jaw anatomy suitable for later rigging - Severely emaciated anatomy with prominent ribs, spine, joints, and skeletal landmarks - Elongated arms, hands, fingers, legs, neck, and other intentionally distorted proportions - Eye geometry appropriate for the creature's large reflective eyes and later material development - Front, side, back, and perspective presentation renders for approval - Reasonable revisions during the design/sculpt stage to arrive at the agreed final design - Final approved Blender (.blend) source file, including the completed high-resolution sculpt and associated Phase 1 work The creature should remain recognizably humanoid rather than becoming an animal or conventional fantasy monster. The design goal is something that looks disturbingly close to a severely distorted human being. The supplied concept art should be treated as design direction rather than an inflexible anatomical blueprint. I want an experienced creature artist who can improve the anatomy and solve practical 3D problems while preserving the creature's established identity. Photorealism and Technical Direction Although Phase 1 focuses primarily on sculpting and design, applicants should have the skills necessary to ultimately carry this asset through a photorealistic game-character pipeline. I am therefore particularly interested in artists whose portfolios demonstrate experience with: - Photorealistic humanoid or creature characters - Anatomical sculpting - Horror creature design - Blender character workflows - Game-ready retopology - UV preparation - PBR character texturing - Realistic skin, mouth, teeth, and eye materials - Character rigging and weight painting - Unusual/nonstandard humanoid anatomy - Blender-to-Unreal Engine character pipelines - Unreal Engine character testing/integration Experience creating attractive static Blender renders alone is not sufficient. The eventual character must function as an actual game asset that can be rigged, animated/puppeteered, edited, and used inside Unreal Engine. Originality, Source Files & Ownership This creature must be original work created specifically for this project. Applicants must not knowingly use copyrighted character designs, unauthorized third-party assets, ripped game/movie assets, or other material that they do not have the legal right to incorporate into the final deliverables. Any third-party tools, base meshes, textures, brushes, libraries, plugins, or other resources proposed for incorporation into deliverable files must be legally usable for the intended commercial game-development purpose and disclosed where appropriate. I require delivery of the editable Blender source files associated with the work performed under each phase. I do not want only rendered images or flattened/exported final assets. Upon completion of a paid contract, and subject to the applicable Upwork terms and the parties' contract, the work product created and paid for under that contract is intended to be owned by me/the commissioning game studio for use in this commercial video game and related project purposes. The selected artist should therefore be comfortable performing this project as commissioned work in which the completed and paid-for character work is transferred to the client as provided by the parties' agreement and applicable Upwork terms. The artist may not sell, license, redistribute, repurpose, or provide the completed proprietary character asset/source files to another game or client unless separately authorized by me in writing. Any portfolio/display rights should be discussed and agreed upon separately. Who I Am Looking For I am looking for someone who treats this as character production rather than simply a one-off sculpting commission. The ideal artist can look at the supplied concept, understand what makes the creature visually disturbing, improve the design where necessary, and simultaneously think ahead about how today's sculpting decisions will affect tomorrow's topology, materials, rigging, animation, and Unreal Engine implementation. Communication is also important. If you see a technical problem with the design or believe something should be changed to produce a better final character, I want you to tell me rather than blindly reproduce the reference. When Applying Please include: 1. Examples of your strongest photorealistic humanoid or creature character work. 2. Examples of characters you personally modeled/sculpted rather than projects where you handled only rendering or lighting. 3. Any examples of characters you have personally taken from sculpt → retopology → texturing → rigging → game engine. 4. Your experience with Blender and Unreal Engine. 5. Whether you are comfortable delivering the editable (.blend) source files at the completion of each paid phase. 6. Whether you are interested in potentially continuing through all four core phases despite possible gaps between contracts. 7. A brief explanation of the workflow you would use to develop this creature from the initial sculpt into a finished Unreal Engine character. Please end your proposal with the phrase “Big, Tall, and Starved” so I know you have read the complete project description. Phase 1: Initial offer of $400 fixed price The listed Phase 1 budget is an initial target rather than an absolute ceiling. I am open to reasonable fixed-price proposals from experienced artists whose portfolio demonstrates the level of photorealistic character work this project requires. If you believe the requested Phase 1 scope requires a different budget, please include your proposed fixed price and briefly explain what it covers. Anticipated subsequent phases currently total approximately $2,250, bringing the presently anticipated four-phase character-production budget to approximately $2,650 at the current estimates, excluding any optional fifth-phase work. The budgets for later phases are also estimates and may be discussed with the selected artist as the character progresses and the exact production requirements become clearer. The immediate contract being offered through this posting is Phase 1 only. Quality and long-term compatibility are important to me. I would prefer to find one skilled artist who understands the character and can return for subsequent phases rather than repeatedly transferring the asset between different artists.