We asked to talk us about her last incredible project: FRUG.
Feel free to explore this young and talented artist portfolio: Kimia Artstation
Thank you Kimia for the time you gave us!
“For a while, I’d been toying with the idea of creating a project centered on an amphibian. Frogs, with their vibrant colors and fascinating textures, have always struck me as perfect subjects for exploring complex details like roughness and bump mapping. However, I was already immersed in another project—texturing a demon—so the frog idea had to wait. Then, as if by fate, shortly after publishing my last asset, I received an unexpected message from Kurtis Dawe, a Senior Character Artist. He offered me the chance to texture one of his creations, and among the options was a unique chimera—a blend of a frog, a pug, and a fennec fox. I knew I couldn’t pass this up, so I eagerly seized the opportunity to bring this creature to life through texture.
For the first time, I found myself facing a completely blank canvas—a white asset with full creative freedom over the artistic direction. This meant my first task was to decide how best to approach this unique chimera. Initially, I imagined texturing it to emphasize each animal in the mix: a body resembling a frog’s, a face with dog-like textures, and a fennec fox-inspired fur. Diving into this concept, I spent one or two days researching reference images that could guide me in blending these very different textures into a cohesive, lifelike creature. Realism was my primary goal; I wanted this chimera to feel as though it could seamlessly exist in a grounded, human-like environment.
My next step was to do some early tests in Photoshop to see if the concept could translate without feeling disjointed. But as I experimented, the chimera’s character shifted before my eyes. Instead of a creature grounded in our reality, it looked increasingly fantastical with each texture I added—a creature that belonged more to an imaginary, surreal world. I also noticed challenges in reconciling my texturing approach with the underlying displacement, which made the original idea feel forced. It was clear I needed a new direction, one that would let the chimera’s character shine in a way that felt authentic to its unusual form.
To nail down the Frug’s look, I thought about what kind of movie world it might inhabit. Guardians of the Galaxy stood out as the perfect fit—a place full of bizarre creatures and creative freedom, where the Frug would truly belong. I also pulled ideas from other epic, alien-filled realms like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Star Wars, and The Fifth Element.
After that, I started a new search for references to inspire the Frug’s design:
Next, I created different versions of the Frug by blending colors I liked into various palettes. After picking my favorite, I got started on texturing the base in Mari, along with the tongue and teeth, which I completed entirely in the same software. Then, I switched to Substance to take advantage of its powerful features, using curvature, AO, and thickness maps to achieve all the color variations I wanted.
Once I finished the base color, I created the roughness and SSS maps. To find the right values for these maps, I switched to V-Ray and began the look development process.
As a finishing touch, I decided to add a small groomed section, a sort of short mane, to blend nicely with the fennec ears.”
