Remember the character reconstruction exercise on Vlad Drăculea III “The Impaler”? Well, shortly after publishing the final results on social media back in February, I received an intriguing commission proposal from archaeologist Roxana Elena Stăncescu. As a curator at the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilization in Deva, Hunedoara, she’s organizing the annual Under_History cultural event, which is set to take place at the end of May this year. And guess what? This will be the event’s third installment!
The theme of this year’s Under_History event is something truly unique and taboo in human culture and history: TATTOOS. Yes, you read that right! It’ll delve into the intriguing world of body art, its origins, and its significance throughout the ages. To bring this theme to life, Roxana has proposed two captivating subjects for virtual reconstruction that have a direct connection with tattoos: Ötzi and Devochka.
ÖTZI and devochka: the Ice duo
Ötzi the Iceman and Devochka the Ice Maiden. Quite the couple, right? Ötzi, also known as the “Iceman,” is the well-preserved mummy of a man who lived around 3,300 BCE. Discovered frozen in the Italian Alps, Ötzi’s body boasts an impressive collection of tattoos, each carrying its own significance and telling a story of its own. By modeling Ötzi’s body the aim is to recreate his tattoos, in a realistic way.
Next up, we have Devochka, an enigmatic young woman who lived during the 5th century BCE in what is now known as Siberia. Discovered in the Ukok Plateau, her body was adorned with intricate and elaborate tattoos. These markings, crafted with remarkable skill and detail, provide us with a window into the ancient tattooing practices of the Scythian culture.
In this post I will detail my work process with Otzi and it will be followed by another post dedicated to Devochka.
Let’s take a closer look!
Ötzi The Ice Man: research and documentation
The first and most critical step in any virtual reconstruction is to define its scope and conduct extensive research and documentation. Although Ötzi the Iceman is quite famous and has a well-known physical reconstruction (see here), I had to perform further research to depict his tattoos and his daily life context realistically. During my research, I focused on three key aspects: the character and his tattoos, his inventory, and the location where he might have lived to provide context. My goal was to create an accurate representation of Ötzi that would not only showcase his tattoos but also give insight into that period of time.
Before delving into Ötzi’s tattoos and his daily life, let’s first learn about this fascinating figure. Discovered in 1991 in Tisenjoch (South Tyrol, Italy), Ötzi generated immense interest in the prehistory research community and beyond. At 5,300 years old, he was the oldest ‘wet mummy’ ever found – a mummy that preserved enough moisture for scientists to analyze. Ötzi lived during a period of significant changes in human history – the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. During this era, people began using new technologies like the wheel, the wagon, and the plough for agriculture, and new occupations like coppersmiths, miners, and merchants emerged. The climate during his lifetime was much colder and wetter than it is today.
Ötzi’s discovery was the result of a chance encounter by tourists who were crossing a glacier in the Ötztal Alps, near the border of Austria and Italy. What they found was truly remarkable: a naturally mummified body of a man with all his equipment intact. This discovery was truly outstanding! Through scientific studies, researchers were able to determine Ötzi’s possible origin to be the valley of Lower Vinschgau, which was a 1-2 day walk from the discovery site. Ötzi’s inventory was also found intact and included clothing, shoes, a pouch, a bronze-bladed axe, a flint dagger and arrowheads. Additionally, he had unfinished arrows and an unfinished bow body. Unfortunately, Ötzi met a violent end – he was killed by an arrow shot in the back.
Today you can visit his remains in South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano/Bozen – South Tyrol/Italy. Here is a dedicated museum for his preservation and study.
Ötzi's character creation
When reconstructing the body of Ötzi, my main focus was not on his facial appearance, but on his body proportions and the intricate tattoos covering his body. You can read more about his official forensic facial reconstruction here. Rather than depicting him as a classic cave man with long hair, I chose to imagine him roughly cutting his hair with a sharp edge. My primary goal was to find a position that would allow easy access to all the tattoos when viewed from an orbiting camera. Initially, I proposed a position with him lying on his belly on a stone slab, surrounded by his inventory as if he was ready for medical treatment. However, upon researching the positions of his tattoos, I realized that this position was not practical. Instead, a sitting position with a meditative state of mind would be more appropriate and effective in revealing the tattoos.
Ötzi's tattoos
The most plausible explanation for the design and placement of Otzi’s tattoos, consisting of parallel lines and crosses, is that they were used for medical purposes. Scientific investigations have revealed various ailments in the areas where he had tattoos. It is believed that the pigment used for his tattoos was made from powdered charcoal, and that the tools used for inserting the pigment into the skin were typically sharp bones or wooden sticks. For the virtual reconstruction of his tattoos, the skin texture of the character was modified and painted in Substance Painter so that it kept the skin surface properties (normal map) but with a different roughness.
Clothing
In terms of Otzi’s clothing, he was found to be wearing clothing made of stitched animal skins and furs. Although a unique shoe was discovered with him, I decided not to include it in my recreation. Instead, I chose to display him with minimal clothing, featuring only a fur around his waist. This decision was made to fully showcase his tattoos, which cover his back, legs up to the knee, and torso. Any clothing item would have covered one tattoo or another.
The round house
To create a more realistic context for Otzi’s virtual reconstruction, I initially considered placing him in a cave with a stone slab where he could lie on his belly. However, upon further reflection on his pose, I concluded that a better setting for him in his new pose (as seen above) would be a typical roundhouse. This choice would not only allow viewers to get a glimpse of what such houses looked like during that time but also provide me with an opportunity to work on another historical building reconstruction, particularly from that time period.
In the image set provided above, I selected three primary visual references that influenced my modeling of the round house. The first image provided me with the schematic and scale necessary for accurate representation. The second image guided me in incorporating the appropriate interior elements. Finally, the third image served as inspiration for the overall mood and arrangement, particularly drawing from its fireplace design.
I created various LOD versions for several building elements such as poles, wood pieces, and the fireplace, ensuring flexibility and efficiency. These models were then added to the Blender Asset Library for future use. Additionally, I acquired a few elements like the wood pile outside and the two logs inside from textures.com for further enhancement of the scene.
ÖTZI's Inventory
From the inventory found with him on the glacier I chose to model: the backpack frame, the dagger, the unfinished bow, the arrow shafts with the flint arrow heads, the leather quiver, a birch bark canister and the famous axe with the bronze blade. In the gallery at the end of the article you can see the images I used for reference. Below are some renders for social media.
Throughout the project, I tried to keep a balance of the ‘weight’ of the models regarding the following animation renders that were about to come. Maximum texture sizes were 4K for objects with large visible areas. All objects had PBR textures custom-made in Substance Painter, adjusted from basic textures (most of them from textures.com).
Animations and Final editing
The deliverables requested for this project were two edited short videoclips, one for each character. In these clips I wanted to show the context, the character with his/her tattoos and a nice and simple presentation of the inventory.
For Otzi I prepared 10 render animations. The roundhouse had two animations: an exterior half-orbit and an interior half-orbit centered on Otzi. These two animations were rendered in the same scene and same lights. As the main light I set up the Sky Texture (Nishita) and adjusted the exposure from the render engine color management. Inside the roundhouse, I set up additional lights: two area lights right at the entrance: one looking outside with a warm temperature and one looking inside with a cooler temp. In the fireplace I put another area light looking upwards with a reduced angle, to simulate a fire light on the surrounding objects. And finally, on top of the ceiling, I set up another light to set the mood. The background was set to transparent so I could use it in the video editing software as I wanted.
Due to the tight space inside the house, presenting the tattoos became challenging. To address this, a new scene was created with Otzi sitting on a log and facing a tattoo kit in front of him. In this setup, a total of 5 animations were prepared. These included a 360-degree orbit around the character, vertical panning shots on his back, left hand, and left ribs, as well as half-orbits for each of his legs. To enhance the scene, different Sky Texture and exposure settings were utilized, to provide an optimal exposure of tattoo details.
Out of the entire inventory, three specific items were chosen for rendering: the tattoo kit, the bow, and “MY AXE!” (as exclaimed in Gimli’s voice). To highlight these items, a dedicated studio scene was created. This scene was also utilized for the static renders showcased in the previous section, ensuring consistency in the visual presentation. The background and the light were designed to be somewhat warm and to also enhance objects’ details. The frame format (wide) allowed for additional image panels to be included (like photos of the original objects).
All the animations were rendered at 1920×1080 pixels with 30 frames per second. For Otzi were rendered 10 animations summing 66 seconds and for my workstation it required around 104 hours just for rendering the frames. I tried using smoke and fire for some scenes but the time needed for rendering sky rocketed so I had to go without them.
Video editing
I used Davinci Resolve to edit the final video. I used the frame sequence as they were rendered from Blender and here I could set up a nice background, covers, and titles. All graphics and texts were designed in Adobe Photoshop. Actually, this was the first time I used Davinci instead of my old ShotCut. I really enjoyed editing these videos and mixing them on Junkyard’s masterful sound design (or soundtrack as I like to call it).
join us!
So mark your calendars for the end of May, and join us as we unravel the mysteries of tattoos throughout history. This promises to be an unforgettable event that will challenge your perceptions and ignite your passion for the past. Let’s uncover the hidden stories etched on the skin and celebrate the artistry and cultural significance of tattoos in our collective history.
If you reached this far, thank you and please enjoy the BTS and WIP gallery below.
Cheers!
BTS & WIP GALLERY
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4 comments
[…] the context and introduction for Otzi are applicable to Devochka as well, let’s delve into the captivating story of Devochka and […]
Hey man – interesting project here. One critique: the bird bone tattooing tools you use as reference materials are from a Native American site in Tennessee, half a world away from Ötzi. His toolkit included a double-pointed bone awl made from deer or large mammal bone; not bird, and certainly not turkey!
Hello, Aaron! Thank you for your feedback. Very good observation. Indeed the reference I used here is not from Otzi’s inventory but I wanted to present a generic tattooing bone typical for that time. The best visual reference I found (as I do not have expertise in this field) was the bird bone you are referring to. But this is only because I did not find (at least at the time I did the research) a clear indication of what tool exactly Otzi used (or was used on) for his tattoos. I was also careful not to imply that the model I created was the exact tool used for his tattoos. Perhaps I should have been more specific about this aspect. Anyway, thanks a lot for this observation. Cheers!
[…] on my future development. One year later I can see how much I have grown through my projects like Ötzi the Iceman and Devochka the Ice Maiden and others I will speak about at the year’s end. Unfortunately […]