Older Grand Theft Auto titles' stars have gotten major graphical upgrades thanks to a dedicated 3D artist, who took protagonists from four of the series' best-known titles and brought their signature looks into the ninth generation. With Grand Theft Auto VI rumors running rampant, talk of returning characters and settings using modern hardware has been on players' minds.
Grand Theft Auto III's Claude, GTA IV's Niko Bellic, Vice City's Tommy Vercetti, and San Andreas' CJ all star in Grand Theft Auto entries that were released within a seven-year timeframe in the early 2000s, which are widely considered as some of the greatest sandbox games ever made. Since Rockstar doesn't churn out new entries in the series like it used to, largely owing to the more intensive production required for large-scale open world games with the sort of graphical detail that current gamers expect, these four remain among the most iconic playable characters in the series. Since their heyday, players have been passing the lengthy time between Grand Theft Auto V and VI coming up with various ways to pay homage to the most beloved GTA entries of yesteryear.
To that end, given that the graphical inferiority of the older 3D Grand Theft Auto titles compared to the likes of GTA V, 3D artist Hossein Diba took Claude, Niko, Tommy, and CJ and gave them a gloriously detailed and highly realistic overhaul, which he posted to his ArtStation account for all to behold. As a bonus, Diba also rendered GTA: San Andreas iconic loading screen and box art model in the same 3D style.
Diba's ArtStation site also features stills of the renders from different angles and perspectives, offering a more complete view of just how much work and detail went into each one, from eyelashes to skin texture, courtesy of ZBrush, Marmoset Toolbag, and Diba's own keen artistic eye. Diba certainly isn't the first 3D artist to give less graphically-detailed characters an overhaul, as other artists have done so for games like Among Us, but his work on these highly realistic human characters has certainly earned the admiration of Grand Theft Auto fans.
While Grand Theft Auto VI is still more a dream than hopeful reality for the time being, artists like Diba are giving a glimpse of what players may be able to expect visually if Rockstar Games were to return to its golden years. More importantly, he's giving fans of the series a look at what amateur artists, hobbyists, and independent creators are capable of, with the right tools and skills.
Source: Hossein Diba