Reflection：

I learned how to coordinate and communicate more efficiently. Technically, I sculpted for the first time in zbrush, and on the other hand, I achieved my first full process houdini nuke simulation rendering compositing step, although the process was very challenging, the satisfaction of the finished work made me feel that the dedication was worth it.

Details of the personal division of work：

As I am very interested in special effects, the simulation part, I was responsible for the special effects (particle and volumetric effects), the design and sculpting of the body of Yog-Sothoth, and the compositing of the final shot.

1. Particles Effects Part & Composition ：

The main particles：

Swirl particles：

2. Design of Yog-Sothoth：

In my conception and understanding, I wished to design a Yuggothoth that was not a traditional Cthulhu character, I wanted it to be more mysterious and elegant, to achieve this goal I made several versions of the form and different motion forms, not least with hair dynamics (blender), but finally I chose the idea of using cloud-like eyelids to animate the opening of the eyes to reveal the eyeballs, as it is more mysterious.

References：

First appearance at the lake：

Past visions：

The final vision：

Last act proper (particles emitted from the feet of the body）：

Pre-preparation：

The primary thing that the group could agree on at the beginning was the art style, we all agreed that the story was set in the Middle Ages and that it would be awesome to go mainly for the Gothic or Cthulhu style. This led to each of us creating a different story, which after the first few weeks of discussion was rejected for the time being for various reasons.

The Warrior and the Goddess of War (by Shuaiqi) – too bland a story structure
Bunny Killer (by Guoxin) – technically difficult to implement, e.g. hair dynamics and animation binding
The Plague and the People (by Ruijia) — disagreement on the choice of topic

In the end, by coincidence, the silver Key of Yuggothoth-Silver was our inspiration, and since it was not a definitive shape and had a relatively open story, we worked together to create a story based on this concept

Reference images：

The Mist：

Keywords: unknown, confused, dark, fantasy

Basic story：

The mists filled the beach, the black waves lapped at the shore, the woman lying awake suddenly and unintentionally found a key appearing around her neck, a chant came from the sea in the distance, solemn and low, she panicked a little, she didn’t know why she was here, but it was as if everything was really there again in her memory. Looking in the direction of the chant, there was a huge blurred black shadow on the sea, a familiar fear her body remembered so well that she was too nervous to breathe and could only turn to the woods at the other end and flee as fast as she could.

The woman ran through the trees, the dim light mixed with dust slowly spilling through the branches, the leaves rustling; the sound from the unknown creature was getting further and further away, the woman’s pace gradually slowed, she gasped for breath, the branches creaked as she stepped on them, “Almost there” she slowly stopped and looked ahead.

She opened the door of the church and walked straight in, kneeling in front of the cross and praying, the light reflected on her face through the stained glass, she felt a little comfort, suddenly the organ started to play, there were many coloured particles coming out of the cracks of the small door next to her, she looked at the pattern on the door and felt a sense of déjà vu She looked at the pattern on the door and thought it looked familiar, perhaps with courage from the gods, she hesitantly walked over and inserted the key around her neck into the lock and clicked.

A few clusters of strange flaming stars wrapped around an eyeball that looked up and down at the woman, and a fear she had never felt before spread throughout her body, as did the entire universe that grew in both directions behind this unidentifiable object before her.

Background: The woman wakes up wearing the key and sees that she may have opened the door many times, that she has opened it in different situations in time and space, so that she appears to be a mixture of reality and imagination; the present, the future and the past memories, which provoke her to look at many surreal things in the scene, and she wakes up, watching her from afar, and even though she runs in the opposite direction, seeking the refuge of the gods there is no escape from the destiny of opening that door again.