Disney character 3D fossils are strangely adorable

Filip Hodas is an artist with a twisted view on popular culture. He's previously attracted attention for his series of pop culture dystopias, in which pop culture icons were transformed into unsettling post-apocalyptic views, and his latest work is no less twisted.

This time around he's created a set of cartoon 3D fossils and turned them into virtual museum exhibits. Each render looks like it's been dug up after thousands or millions of years underground and put on display in a museum, accompanied by telltale props associated with each character. The result's a sobering yet fun memento mori, which reflects many of our tips on great character design. Each fossil is set against a colourful flat background to provide a little cartoon flavour. 

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Making up the set are much-loved cartoon icons such as Goofy, Popeye, Spongebob Squarepants and Tweety Pie, sitting on little plinths complete with a label providing the Latin name for each specimen, and looking suitably age-worn. We particularly love Hodas' rendition of Scrooge McDuck, wearing a top hat and surrounded by stacks of gold coins. We have to take issue with his representation of Minnie Mouse, though; surely a mouse fossil wouldn't have retained those recognisable ears? 

Hodas created these amazing images in order to improve his sculpting skills and experiment with ZBrush (see our ZBrush review) and Substance Painter, and he notes that there's quite a visible difference between the first image (Canis Goofus) and the final (Anas Scroogius), thanks to his improving his workflow and the way his skills developed over the course of the project.

You can see the full set of adorable, macabre exhibits over at Filip Hodas' Behance page. Feeling inspired? If you want to explore ZBrush further, we've put together a handy set of ZBrush tips to help you master the software. 

You can also check out the best 3D modelling software available, for options beyond ZBrush.

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