Varquynne spotted a cool update on Blizzard artist Anthony Rivero‘s art blog, where he posted a high quality, updated version of the Grotesque monster. Yes, the one that’s full of eels. A quote from Anthony’s update.
This version is slightly updated from the version currently in the game. I wanted to test out some new tools and there were some things about him that bugged me. I brought the model into 3dCoat to retopologize him and touch up his texture in order for him to look a little sharper up close. Since Diablo is a game played from a top down isometric point of view, the in-game assets don’t always hold up that well in close ups, since they’re optimized for a camera that’s pretty far away from the action.
This is not a normal mapped model. The techniques used are pretty “old school” combined with more current production processes. Essentially, what you’re looking at is just a basic diffuse texture map applied to a low poly model with all the lighting information painted in.
If you want an even larger view of that thing’s suppurating wounds, you can see it in huge size in our Diablo 3 Monster Artwork gallery, along with all the other spike-covered beasties you can shake a stick at.