3D modelling

Zbrush Practice Number 1

At the moment we are learning how to use a 3D modelling programme called Zbrush which I am completely new too. As it's similar to sculpting with clay you have to push and pull shapes and draw onto them to create a character unlike in Maya were they are built up of shapes.

This is a rough character I modelled as a little bit of practice and to try and get used to the controls which I am still finding tricky which explains why the camera angle is a little titled. I have decided that it is some sort of dragon or seahorse. I think watching some tutorials will definitely help me with getting used to Zbrush and improve my skills.

Design Ideas Research

Nature Images

After looking at my image research on fairies/sprites and before I started on my values studies I wanted to have a little look at different aspects that would make up my character. Looking at the silhouettes I created I could see a lot of wing like shapes so I had a little look into different insects wings. Butterflies were the obvious choice to their colourful patterns but I also really like the simplicity of clear insects wings so I could possibly merge them together somehow to create one designs.

I then though about what my characters clothing would be made out of and I decided that it would be petals and leaves as they have a nice shape to them and there are hundreds of types of plants and flowers. I made sure I researched into common and rare plants to get a real variety of images and design ideas. Now that I have a wide collection of inspiration I can move onto my value studies with confidence.

 

 

Further Research

Nature Images

Now that I know what idea I am going for I did a lot more image research to be able to expand my design ideas and make sure I am looking at every possibility available. I started my image research by looking at generic fairy designs, this helped me get a starting point from where my ideas could expand.

 

 

After this research I had a understanding of what most people portray fairies as but as my creature was going to be leaning more towards a spirit or sprite so I needed to expand my research. I then started looking at different types of fairies/sprites for artistic influence.  

  

 

 

Flower Fairies

 

Flower fairies were a set of illustrations produced by the artist Cicely Mary Barker, which were later turned into books.  I used to absolutely love these books as a child and they were an obsession of mine for many years. It thought it would be a good idea for me to relook at these illustrations for a bit of influence and nostalgia. I like the concept of each fairy representing a different flower which is something it could incorporate into my design work.

 

 

 

 

 

The Spiderwick Chronicle's Sprites

 

The Spiderwick Chronicles are a set of children's books, created by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black that were later adapted into a film and video game. In the story one of the characters writes and draws in a field guide about all the wonderful mysterious creatures he sees and I remembered there were some beautiful illustrations of sprites in it so I did a little image research of them.

 

Similar to the concept of the flower fairies, different sprites represented different types of flowers but were mixed with foliage and plants too and this was to help them camouflage into there surrounding so they weren't seen by the humans. This made them look as if they were actually part of the plant and this is something I want to focus on when creating my character, I want to show as little human attributes as I can.

 

 

 

 

   

Guild wars - Sylvari

 

After looking at the sprites from The Spiderwick Chronicles I realised that some of the designs looked very similar to the Sylvari from the game Guild wars. Guild wars is a online role laying game that was developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft in 2005. Due to its popularity the series produced a second game in 2012.

 

There are different types of races available for you to play as in this game and the one which I am focusing on are called 'Sylvari'. The are creatures that looks like plants which help them to match their environment. They don't represent any flowers or plants in particular that we would recognise as they like in a fantasy world were the environments/plants/flowers are all different from the ones found on earth. This factor is something I will be adding into my designs as I want the character to be as eye catching as possible so having strange and new types of plants in he design will defiantly help this.

 

 

 

 

Design Process

Themed Silhouettes

I had quite a few ideas whizzing around my head for what I wanted the design to look like before I started my silhouettes but now I've looked at my image research and the 7 virtues I have decided I want to create the personification of nature in the from of a woodland fairy/spirit/pixie. This is because they are something I have never really given a go at drawing/designing and also I thought that the virtue 'charity' fits with nature quite nicely. The idea will be that they sprite can speak using the power of telepathy and can fly due to a strong aura it possess so I might not give it wings but I haven't decided yet. These are a few more silhouettes I completed with my theme and virtue in mind.

 

 

7 Virtues Image Research

Disney Princesses

I am a big Disney fan and a lot of people believe that each Disney princess from their older films are supposed to represent one of the 7 virtues. I thought this was a interesting concept and realised I had saved a set of images of the Disney Princesses on deviant art not too long ago and I thought these would be good for a little more inspiration when it comes to design, expression and pose.

These drawing are created by SADYNA : http://sadyna.deviantart.com/

 

 

 

 

Looking into the project theme

7 Virtues

Now that I've done my image research I wanted to have a look in more detail of what the 7 virtues are and what they represent, this is what i found out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_virtues


CHASTITY- purity, knowledge, honesty, wisdom.

TEMPERANCE- self control, justice, honour, abstention.

CHARITY- will, benevolence, generosity, sacrifice.

DILIGENCE- persistence, effort, ethics, rectitude.

PATIENCE- peace, mercy, ahimsa, sufferance.

KINDNESS- satisfaction, loyalty, compassion, integrity.

HUMILITY - bravery, modesty, reverence, altruism.



These are just the basic summaries of what each virtue stands for. I don't want to go into anymore detail on the 7 virtues because otherwise I will end up getting them all mixed up and it will make my final design disjointed.

At the moment I like the sound of 'Charity' as to me it seems to cover all the qualities that nature posses, epically benevolence and sacrifice.

Design Process

Starter Silhouettes

To begin the design process I wanted to create a few silhouettes before researching what the 7 virtues are so I could let my ideas flow and see what I created. I started off with a few quick silhouettes, each one taking under a minutes to produce to get some rough ideas and shapes flowing. The first set were produced on Coral Painter where as the second I did using a software I am new too, called Alchemy.

 

After doing these quick silhouettes I very quickly started to warm to the programme Alchemy and decided to continue using it to produce my silhouettes as I found it very easy and relaxing to use.
My favourite  silhouettes at the moment is defiantly the one right at the bottom. I think it looks like some sort of fairy or forest sprite which gives me a starting idea to work off for now.

 

Research - Mood Boards

Zbrush Models

As I've done mood boards for different character designs and styles I then decided to have a look at models that people on deviant art have made in Zbrush. As I have a very cartoon/anime style I wanted to find models that had this kind of look to them to see if my style would work okay in 3D. The collection of images bellow are a few favourites that I managed to find.

 

 

 

 

References Images

Character Designs

 

To prepare me for the character design process I decided to make mood boards of some pieces of artwork that I really like. These are all favourites from my Deviant art folder and I absolutely love them. They have a lot of different qualities for example, such as the art style, colouring methods, lighting, the character themselves and the design. These really help to keep my inspired and coming up with new ideas so they are defiantly a key part of my preparation research.

 

BA2 - Project Summary

So recently we have been introduced to our latest project which is related to character design, similar to our first project so I am hoping the experiences and skills I gained in producing my last character will help me this time around.

The similar aspects are going through the same steps as last time, silhouettes, values, colours and the final design but this time we are actually created our character in 3D using a programme called ZBrush which I am very excited about. Also we have been given a theme which are the 7 virtues so, basically we have to create a character that portrays one of the  virtues. This can be shown by choosing the right expression, stance, pose and actual design of the character itself.  This helps us have a little more choice than last time but it does really make you think how are you going to make our designs portray the theme obviously.

Overall I am looking forward to doing this project but I am a little worried about the time constraint being a month and also my lack of experience of 3D modelling but I am just going to have to try my best and see how it all turns out.

Personal Work

These are a few pieces I completed to keep my brain ticking and practice and have a practice and drawing in different media. The paintings of birds were created on Coral Painter which i love using as it is helping me learn to create pieces without using line art or a base image.
The two cartoon/anime pieces were drawn by hand, scanned in and coloured on Manga Studio. I am still hoping to complete personal work over the course of this project if I have any spare time.