Toolkit 3D- Character Sculpt

 For this project, we had to pick a character from a list to further evolve and turn into our own character. We needed to research and create a character that fits the criteria and work towards making a 3D model. 

I liked the sound of the desert nomad and decided to create a character that met the guidelines for this. I decided to focus on the more realistic elements of this character over the fantasy and make a character that felt inspired by licences such as Assassin's creed origins (2017) and the Dune (2024) movie franchise. I also wanted to make the hidden face a key focal point of my character. I want a sense of uncertainty for my character and keep his moral identity unreadable from a first glance. A lot of the characters featured within Assassin's creed use interesting and unique looking weapons that match up with the design the rest of the character has. 

Both of these franchises feature some really unique and interesting character design work that would work as great inspo for my own character. They use various head dresses/ weapons/ embellishments and general silhouettes. I really enjoy their use of cloth and colours for their characters keeping a lot of their costumes loose fitting and using mostly muted colours with sometimes an occasional colour pop.

I created this early ideas mood board to help me in picking out potential design ideas and a direction for me to push my design work in. I really liked the idea of a functional hood which is also seen here within a lot of other character designs aimed towards this theme. I felt like this should be a key asset of my design and would pair nicely with the design choice to cover over my characters face. This also helped me narrow down and pick out the type of desert environment I want for my character and what colour scheming that should need. Not all desert landscapes are pure sandy yellow. A lot have greens, oranges, browns and reds which may be something I will experiment with for my character. 

Using my research and references, I created this character with 3 different face covering options. I tried to create a different feeling with each one for the kind of atmosphere the character may belong in and create. I made one with a mouth mask and attached eye patch, One with the hood extended over his mouth and a surgical eye patch taped over one eye and one with a face entirely covered with bandages with one glowing eye peeking out! I personally enjoy the choice to use different face coverings to change how the character is perceived. To ensure I pick the best received design, I put these 3 options on my art Instagram page to gather data on which mask is favoured.

The poll told me that the general consensus was that the face of bandages is the best received design! It also let me know that the extended hood was not particularly liked and taking that design forward would be a poor decision. I decided to use the bandaged design and took this forward to test different colour options.

I created 4 different colourways that would allow my character to fit into different desert landscapes. Some with more natural greenery, some that fit into a more baron sandy wasteland. I wanted to try different takes and approaches that my character could take. I used the same poll system to gather general feedback for this part of my design work too. 

This poll let me know that the brighter, cleaner yellow pallet was not particularly well received but the muted earthy colour pallet on the bottom right was the most well received and should be the pallet I use moving forwards.  

Here you can see a turn around sheet for my character featuring a front and back perspective as well as a concept art for the weapon he may wield both bloodied and clean. I wanted my character to feel like he's a wasteland scrapper or collector using whatever he has at his disposal. I feel like the bone embellishments on his outfit as well as the strung animal tails on his belt support this idea. I also wanted to have his weapon be a pair of uneven bone carved shanks that look very obviously DIYed by this character.  I used the same leather strips on his arms for the handle as well as a fur tuft embellishment like he wears on his belt to relate the weapon back to its user. 

Here are two time lapse videos that showcase the full illustrative process for the creation of these assets. 

I decided I wanted my character to also have a companion. I felt as though the requirements list for my character featured equal levels of both realism and fantasy and up to this point, I had focused too hard on the realistic elements and ignored the fantasy side of the design task. I wanted to create a familiar that could accompany my character and chose to use desert foxes such as the fennec as these would already match the character and environment that he is in.  

 These are a few reference photos to help me with shape and colours for my companion.

Here is a render and a time lapse for the creation of the companion. To keep him from looking too realistic, I used the vague shapes of the fennec foxes to keep the characters animal identifiable but designed him in a manor that makes him look more like a stuffed animal than a real one to elevate the fantasy element.

Companion Creation

I used the ipad edition of zbrush to create this model due to a number of factors. I found online help videos to be easier to understand and follow, I can find desktop zbrush to often be confusing and overwhelming and using zbrush on my ipad is simply easier and more accessible for me personally. 

I started my process with a simple sphere and used the tools onscreen to change the poly's that the shape is build up of. I also tried a few brushes and got used to the UI and function as well as the features that the Ipad zbrush has and where they are located. Once comfortable and using my references, I created the shape of the head my character would have. I used the move tool to stretch out different parts of the model as well as the clay tool to chip away at the shape to indent the mouth space. I also used the symmetry tool so ensure than any changes or movements I make are even on both sides. I used low poly shapes so I can work from low poly up to high poly in the end.

I then started to shape more parts of the character using the clay, move and gizmo 3D tools to resize and reshape my character. Here I am shaping the torso, leg, ear and arm then positioning it all together in proportion with the head. I only need to make one arm, ear and leg because of the next tool.   

Now I have one of each asset, I can work on mirroring them so they will be positioned the exact same on the other side of the model but flipped. I opened up the geometry tab of each object I wanted to mirror over. I headed into modify topology and selected mirror and weld to duplicate and flip the object into the same position on the other side. Here you can see how the ears, arms and legs looked. 

To smooth out my model and increase it's quality, I subdivided each part of my model. I added about 5 subdivisions to each object because after 5 it started to lose some of the shape I had modelled. You also don't want to push this too far to ensure you don't crash your software.

I decided I wanted to carve the ears out more so I dropped the subdivisions back down. If you don't drop them, the movements you make with your brush can make your model look really grainy and bumpy so dropping the subdivisions allows me to work with larger chunks of surface area so my model will remain smooth later. As you can see in this screenshot, I ran into a problem with the positioning of my ears. When I had mirrored the second ear over from the first, I had accidentally moved it out of position meaning they both were no longer in the same spot. This meant that when giving the original ear  more definition by carving the indents out more, the copied ear was receiving these edits on the wrong spot. To fix this, I had to go back and re-mirror the ears so they lined up again. 

You can also see me lower the subdivisions here to make alterations to the mouth. I put these back when I am done.

To begin colours, I selected the specific piece of my model I wanted to texture and headed into thew materials sidebar. I found the material I liked and selected that then headed into the the colour wheel to change the colourings. Once I am happy, I hit RGB M to apply both onto the model. I then can go back into the colour wheel and hit FillObject which will stop my entire model being covered in the texture and colour and will layer it over only the piece I have selected.

Here you can see the model once I had finished going through the pieces and assigning them all materials and colours. I used different textures depending on the part of the character. The body is made up of a matt material that makes it look more like his body is furry. His eyes and nose are a much shinier texture making them look brighter, glossier and will allow them to reflect light when I set that up within the canvas.

I then went back through all my objects and grouped them up into their segments. I grouped all the pieces that made the body ( head, arms, legs, ears, tail ) into one group and all the facial pieces into another. This helps organisation as well as making sure this next part is less tedious to do.

I then used a dynamesh to stitch all the pieces up into one big object. I upped the subdivisions and  resolution to keep the model smooth and high quality. 

This process then makes your model look like this. In order to fix this I used the Zremesher feature to get all my polys into quads switching off symmetry so it doesn't deform my model. This then covered my model with small little lines and divots so you need to use subdivisions again here to restore it back to its smooth state.

I then upped the subdivisions a little higher than they need to be so I could use the different paint brushes to add in some details to bring the model to life a bit more. I used different shades of brown and different brushes to paint the details into his mouth as well as his patches into his fur. Using different tones of colour pushes the model further in creating depth and how the lighting within the canvas reacts to the model.

I then added in a gradient to the background of my model ( doesn't have to be a gradient ) and used the colours from the background of my original concept art for him. I also played around with lighting settings such as hue and brightness which didn't have a huge affect on his main body due to the material being so matt but it added a nice highlight into his eyes and the tip of his nose. I used a warm pink red colour to act as if he's being lit by the orange glow of a desert sunset.

Here are some final renders of my companion as well as a 3D turn around video to showcase all angles and demonstrate how the light reflects off his materials. 

Character Creation

This process is largely the same as the last one for my companion. I started out the project with a polycube and lowered the polys on the transform type. I then shaped this into the shape I wanted for the main torso.

I added in another polycube and turned it off so it couldn't be seen. This one would be what I can use to copy and paste from each time I need a new object. I then worked through the limbs creating one and using the mirror and weld to flip a copy to the other size. I then sculpted a head and neck.

I increased the subdivisions by about 5 for each section of the model to smooth it out and increase quality. This also helps me to see how all the pieces are fitting together.

I started creating the beginnings of his hood here. Using a polysphere, I started moulding a gap where his head would be able to sit in. I then realised here I had forgotten to altar the polys before I began sizing it up so I turned it back into a basic polysphere and lowered the poly sections to about 10. I then remoulded this to look better and fit the character better.

Here is the new version of the hood which looks much better since restarting it. I also started extending his hood down into the conjoined cloak that hangs down over his torso. 

I then added 5 subdivisions to each piece to help smooth it out.