Last Tuesday,
I tried my hand at character modelling for the first time in several years, and modelled a simple humanoid shape from a tutorial video. In uni the next day, Josh, one of the MA tutors, was setting a character design brief for the 2nd year undergrads so I sat in on the talk and decided to do the brief myself! The project aim was to create a character, be it 2D or 3D, and present the character through a desktop wallpaper.
I immediately got to work researching, gathering images and sketching up some ideas. My idea generation included fantasy/medieval characters, through archers, rogues, boxers and eventually I ended up at my final idea, a Napoleonic fusilier. I experimented with different proportions, both realistic and stylised, and decided on a tapered, upside-down triangle shape for the character, with broad shoulders and thin legs in a stood-to-attention stance, with a big hat and holding a rifle. I drew a final front and side view to work towards in Maya and began modelling.
I also considered the characters personality and had it in my head that he would be a loyal, brave and capable soldier, who followed orders unquestioningly, but was reckless and full of bravado. His role in a game would be that of a general foot soldier in a casual strategy/RTS game, perhaps on mobile or a PC/console indie title, and the character could be used several times rather than being a single, unique, named character.
Here's some images of the development process and final presentation shots:
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| Idea Generation |
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| Idea Generation - Using realistic scale |
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| Idea Generation - Experimenting with unrealistic scale |
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| Idea Generation - Unrealistic scale. Personality. |
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| Final concept. |
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| Selection of reference/inspiration pictures. |
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| Final technical presentation. |
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| Presentation shot / wallpaper (in UE4) |
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| Presentation shot / wallpaper (in UE4) |
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| Presentation shot / wallpaper (in UE4) |
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| Presentation shot / wallpaper (in UE4) |
This project has been a valuable experience for me and has helped me to develop my character design and modelling skills. Though character modelling is not what I want to go into in the future, it is certainly a useful skill and experience to have. I plan on doing some more character modelling in the future.
