House of the Dragon - Silverwing

As a Look Development Artist at Rodeo FX for House of the Dragon Season 2, I had the privilege of bringing the majestic Silverwing to life, alongside Vermax. This presented a unique set of challenges, primarily driven by Silverwing's immense size and the desire to capture a specific, elusive silvery shimmer.

One of the biggest hurdles was the sheer scale of the dragon. In modeling it was difficult for the artist to create a very high level of detail over the whole surface of the dragon. So it was decided that the overall shape would be handled by the modeler while the fine detail needed for close-ups would be added by my texturing colleague in Mari. She projected additional detail using an alligator skin scan. I then unified the projected displacement and smoothed out transitions between the different displacement maps in Substance Painter where I had a better visualization of the final displacement.
The client's vision for Silverwing's silvery effect was, initially, rather vague. They envisioned a shimmering quality, reminiscent of fish scales, but lacked concrete references of how it was implemented. This ambiguity led to a lot of back-and-forth testing. We collaborated with the modeling team to create a scalable scale pattern in Substance Designer, which was then applied in Mari. I used masks to control the placement of these scales, ultimately concentrating them on the phalanx as per the client's final vision.

The wings presented their own set of challenges. Realistically, dragon wings of Silverwing's size would be quite thick, limiting the amount of subsurface scattering. However, the collective image of dragon wings often aligns more with the thinner, more translucent wings of bats. Balancing realism with artistic vision and client expectations required careful manipulation of SSS through masking. Even the color of the wing subsurface was a point of discussion. Should it be a realistic red/orange, reflecting blood flow, or a more visually appealing blue? I opted for a realistic red/orange, leaving further adjustments to the compositing team.
Throughout the process, maintaining open communication with the modeling and texturing teams was crucial. We shared references, discussed design goals, and collaborated closely. I also created mood boards, not only to guide the team but also to anticipate potential challenges.

Finally, the transition to a USD and Houdini pipeline at Rodeo FX added another layer of complexity. This new workflow, while ultimately beneficial, presented initial bottlenecks and render time issues. Despite these challenges, USD proved invaluable for creating multiple testing setups within the same scene.

Working on Silverwing was a complex and rewarding experience. Seeing her come to life on screen in House of the Dragon Season 2 was a truly gratifying culmination of this collaborative effort.

Modelling : Amina Tan
Texturing : Valérie Loyer
Asset Supervisor : Romain Côte
VFX Supervisor : Martin Pelletier