Some music videos become memories. Others define an era.
In 1999, TLC's *No Scrubs* became an unforgettable moment in music and pop culture. Twenty-four years later, MTV brought that energy back through a stylized 3D animated reimagining, produced in collaboration with Cartuna and LotusFly Animation.
At the heart of it were three unmistakable icons: T-Boz, Chilli, and Left Eye.
My challenge was to bring all three into the world of 3D animation, capturing their likeness, personality, and signature style while giving them an entirely new visual identity.
A familiar rhythm. Three legendary faces. A whole new dimension.
DisciplineLead Character Artist · Music Video · 2023
Role & creditsLead Character Artist and Lookdev Artist
Studies on Tboz, Left eye and Chilli's No scrubs looks and features
01 — BACK TO '99
Recreating a moment in time.
The first challenge wasn't sculpting. It was knowing exactly who I was sculpting.
With more than two decades between the original music video and this production, contemporary photographs wouldn't accurately represent the TLC we wanted to recreate.
I went back to the source, studying archival photographs, music-video references, and the group's appearance during that era.
Every detail mattered. Their facial structures, hairstyles, expressions, and individual features had to feel authentic to 1999 while translating naturally into the stylized direction of the animation.
The aim was never photorealism. It was recognition.
Sculpting them to life in Zbrush
02 — SCULPTING THREE ICONS
Finding the likeness behind the stylization.
Translating real celebrities into stylized 3D characters requires a careful balance. Push the proportions too far, and you lose the likeness. Stay too close to reality, and you lose the personality of the artistic style.
I was responsible for creating all three principal characters: T-Boz, Chilli, and Left Eye.
Working primarily in ZBrush and Maya, I developed each character's sculpt, refining their defining facial features, proportions, and overall forms.
While the trio needed a consistent visual language, each character also had to retain her own distinct identity.
The challenge was making them feel like they belonged in the same animated world without losing what made each of them instantly recognizable.
03 — THE LOOK OF AN ERA
Every detail tells a story.
The likeness went beyond their faces.
Their clothing, accessories, hairstyles, and overall styling were essential to capturing the identity and attitude of TLC's original era.
I developed the characters' outfits, props, textures, and materials, using Substance Painter and Maya to refine their final appearance.
For the hair, I worked with polygon-based geometry rather than traditional strand grooming, allowing me to create stylized hairstyles that complemented the characters while remaining manageable for production.
Shading and look development involved working in Maya, with material and render tests using V-Ray and Redshift.
The focus was consistency: bringing the clothing, skin, hair, and accessories together into a cohesive, production-ready visual style.
04 — BUILT TO PERFORM
More than just a beautiful render.
These characters weren't designed to remain still. They needed to perform.
That meant approaching the modelling process with animation requirements in mind, ensuring the assets retained enough visual detail while remaining efficient for rendering and downstream production.
I paid particular attention to polygon density, geometry, and the complexity of the hairstyles and clothing.
Every technical decision was a balancing act between visual fidelity and production practicality.
Once completed, the character assets were handed over to the animation team, ready to take their place in the larger production.
My work focused on character creation, texturing, and look development, with animation and cinematic direction handled by the wider team.
05 — BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
From 1999 to a new generation.
What began as reference images and digital sculpts eventually became part of an official MTV animated production.
Seeing T-Boz, Chilli, and Left Eye come to life through animation was the culmination of the character work—from the earliest likeness studies to the final materials, costumes, and production handoff.
The finished collaboration between Cartuna and LotusFly Animation was released in 2023, bringing a fresh visual interpretation of TLC's legendary No Scrubs era to audiences online.
For me, it was an opportunity to contribute to a project connected to music history while pushing my character artistry across likeness, stylization, and production-ready execution.
