Genghis Khan

In the fall and winter of 2023, I was determined to create a digital museum that depicted historical figures in historical moments. At the time, I was deep into Mongolian history. Looming large over Mongolian history is Temujin, Genghis Khan. This project was meant to capture the essence of Genghis. I wanted to depict Genghis Khan before he was the Genghis Khan we know today; Genghis Khan before one of his early conquests. I had to begin by creating Genghis’ Attire. To do that, I compiled a PureRef file of references of the Mongol deel (robe).

With the references in place, I was able to make my deel in Marvelous Designer.

Before texturing, I wanted the look to be complete. It was time to make his head. I started by collecting references of Genghis and his grandson, Kublai.

Next, I sculpted a basic look of how I wanted Genghis Khan to look. Using ZBrush, I created my base for Genghis’ head from a base mesh.

As I planned to use Mesh2Metahuman, I knew I had to exaggerate the details of the face which I wanted to stand out. Over all, I wanted a face worn with detail and stress, yet still smooth. I then imported my mesh into Metahuman and tweaked my settings to get an idea of what it might look like.

When I was happy with my changes in metahuman, I exported it again, made changes in ZBrush, and began to use XGen to create my hair. After many iterations of traditional Mongolian hairstyles, I ended up with one I like.

After Genghis’ hair groom was done, it was time to create his hat.

And with his hat done, I could finally texture his robe.

And with that, Genghis Khan was complete. I did my final renders in Unreal Engine.