Minor: Character Shape Test

One of the things that I felt was holding me back when coming up with my characters was the throught of how I was going to model then in Maya, I feared that after a point I want not be able to handle the modeling and start to get things very wrong. However, after talking with my tutors about this come up with the idea for me to have a 'Lego Kit' of some kind that would be easy for me to work with. What this kit would be I have to work out for my self but if I give myself a starting point and see where it will lead me.

When I first thought of the idea of the kit I thought about the way that I would build the characters if I was limited to a small set of shapes, how would I used them to make an overal object? This lead me to making quick models of Sun and Moon to see what shapes I would need for their different parts, it also helped me look at the baseic form of them in 3D and work out somethings that I hadn't noticed untill then.

Moon Shape Base Test




Moon base test with shapes used

Sun Shape Base Test




Sun base test with shapes used

As I was doing this I found that there parts of the characters that I needed to work out the look of and how they would work. This included the hands as at first I thought that just using the sphere would be fine but after looking at it in 3D it didn't seem to fit, so I modeling a second one next to it but this time with a square using the sphere as a joint.
 


Another issus that I found was with the neck and how it connected to the body. It could have been the way that I put the shapes together but it didn't look right when I put in a sphere for the neck joint. I my mind it made the neck look too long and didn't fit with the look of the characters. When I took it out the characters looked alot better but it left their heads floating in the air, I don't know if this will be a design chose that I used for the final designs but it was something that got me thinking.
 
With neck joint

Without neck joint

Comments

  1. tutorphil10:53 pm, September 28, 2018

    I'd like you to try re-configuring Moon's head pieces - when we look at her 'straight on' - I think we really need to see the crescent shape of the moon immediately - whereas here, they look like 'bumps' or horns - maybe go back to some of those Erte illustrations we looked at last year...

    https://super-conductor.blogspot.com/2015/05/opera-review-between-sun-and-moon.html

    and also...

    https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/318489004873833510/?lp=true

    Also - just in terms of think about masculine/feminine principles between your two characters - perhaps if Sun's arms were chunkier (bigger hands) etc - don't forget some of those character design basics as you develop your 'lego kit'.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rhia Crouch - BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester2:05 pm, September 29, 2018

    Thanks Phil. This is the first step, in seeing them in 3D, to help me work out some of their design problems like the ones you just pointed out.

    ReplyDelete

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