Another day another update.
Cleaned up most of the shapes. Added the ropes. Added the weapon. Tomorrow i'll work on finishing the base. Then i can finally do the cloud sims.

Changed the camera position. He is technically holding the katana the right way, but for some reason it feels wrong. Will adjust it later. The materials are just placeholders. Got rid of the cloud sim for now. Makes it easier to work. Luckily the body does not need to be too detailed.

Time for today's update.
I changed the size of the ropes. Now they dont look like shoe strings. I've adjusted the katana. It feels a lot better now.
The big part for today was the cloud sim. I started with 1 dense smooth layer for the body. It helps to see the muscles. On top of it i've put a less dense more noisier layer. It gives the char that sort of "cloudy" feeling. Now i need to add the "cloud" layer behind him and maybe some small dirt/dust under his feet. I want it to look like he just finished slashing someone.
I've been thinking about the background. I think putting him into a bamboo forest would fit quite well. I would make a road from left to right and have a bunch of bamboo as the background. I'm not sure what time of day it should be though. I plan to have a quite a few lightning bolts and they do give off a lot of light so maybe late evening / early night could look good. But i'm getting ahead of myself here. One step at a time. For now I need to finish the char first.

I've decided to keep the actual skull and just surround it with clouds instead of making the skull out of clouds. Ironically he looks a lot more alive with the skull. Added the light inside his head. It's not a lightning, but it looks right so i'm going to keep it like that for now. The cloud sims are low res for now. The shape wont change much, the quality will.

A small update for now.
Added the big cloud. Changed some minor shapes here and there.
Now it's time to work on the armor.

It feels weird working on this character. My computer is struggling to keep up with my demands. Which means i have to guess how things will look like in the end and only once i'm absolutely sure that i like the form can i increase the subdivision levels.
So for now everything will look a bit rough around the edges.

Once again it's time for an update.
Today i started working on the materials. I've added the base layer. Still testing some colors. I do like most of them. The rope could be a bit darker though.
For now everything is squeaky clean. Once i'm happy with the how the colors look like, i'll start adding details. I still need to find a proper place for the emblem. I think i could paint it onto the leg guard parts (the metal ones). Maybe do it like it was painted with one of those big Japanese calligraphy brushes.
I've changed the shape of some of the clouds. I still don't like how the cloud around the skull looks like. Everything else fits. Might change the color a bit. Maybe make the body blend into the big cloud.
The lightning is still missing, but it'll have to wait for now.

The materials are for the most part in place. I've decided to give him some gold teeth and changed the ends of the rope from gold to painted wood. Makes more sense that way.

A few more updates and i'll be done. This is one of those updates.
I finished detailing the armor and improved the quality of the clouds. Decided to change some materials. Now they fit even better.
I think for the most part the base material is done. Now it's time to add the imperfections. It's too clean and shiny for my taste atm. This is a warrior who has been in many battles. He needs to look the part. Dents, scratches, edge wear, cuts, dirt, dust and grime are still missing.
Once that is done i can finally add the lightning.
Time is quickly running out. Let's see if i can finish.

Second update this week. 4 more days to go.
Today i finished the materials. They finally don't look like they were freshly printed. I tried not to go overboard with the amount of imperfections. I'm quite happy with how the whole thing looks so far.
Now it's finally time to add the lightning.

3 updates done 3 to go.
I have finished my character.
I could tweak stuff all day long, but at some point i have to say i'm done.
Now it's time to add the background and adjust the light. I've decided to go for a bamboo forest. Most likely at night. Will need to test it first before i decide.

4/6. Only 2 more days to go.
I'm still working on the scene. The original idea did not go as planned. The bamboo forest does not really fit the character. He needs the sky.
I think i'm going to put him on one of those Japanese wood bridges. That should work.

The first version is already scrapped. Will work on the second version tomorrow

The last update before i'm done.
I tried a lot of different backgrounds and lighting setups. This is what I've ended with. I think it fits him quite well.
Now the only thing left to do is render it properly and do the detail sheet.

Well, here we are at the end of the road. I've finally finished everything.
It's interesting to look back. I've started with a very different idea and ended up here. Changing the design in the middle of the contest was perhaps not the best idea, but i like how the character turned out.

This challenge was a lot of fun.
I wish everyone good luck.

Final Image

Detail Sheet

thank you