Week 4: so good it’s ill-eagle’

Howdy folks,

After feeling happy, but exhausted from the game Jam, I decided to spend the first day of the week at hme, catching up with weekly chores, but, as I would be spending the next 4 weeks working on the Eagle warrior, I wanted to spend the day concepting him, so I was clear on what I needed to do.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day, because I was able to find peace of mind, but also taking the break away from labs to get myself together was very therapeutic. When concepting the character, I photo bashed, as It was faster and more effective method of visualizing characters, plus I had more experience using this process.

Throughout the concept phase, I made sure that I refered to accuracte historical images on these warriors as even though I would be changing the design, I wanted to make sure there was a sense of a believablity with my character.

I’m using this illustration by concept artist Craig Mullins, as a key inspiration of the type of character and diorama I would like to create with my character. This is pivotal for the character development, especially when I have moments of confusion.

With the design of my eagle warrior complete, I started the production of the character on Tuesday. I started from the conquistador base mesh and worked my way through. It was a satisfying sight to see that it took me less time to block out a character’s anatomy than before, all those hours are starting to pay off.

I wanted this character to be a lot bigger than most and preferably middle aged. I want to demonstrate that I can create a number of different age ranges in my portfolio and this character would give me an opportunity to do so. I noticed through the sculpting I paid more attention to fat storage and proportions of the character, which shows clear signs that I am growing as a character artist.

Ultimately, I’m feeling a lot better about myself since working on this project. Hooray!

I spoke to Mike again about my project, just to update him on my progress. I told him about how I was feeling much better since working on this character which pleased him. Furthermore, we were able to look at other character art, in order to remind me that video game characters don’t need to be high-end to be interesting and perhaps I could consider doing alternative character art e.g low-poly characters for example. Speaking to Mike, allowed me to gain a further understanding of what I want to achieve with this fmp, I am still not fully clear, however, since our discussion, I am certain that I want to create fascinating characters because of their personality, not just their appearance.

With the anatomy completed to the best of my abilities, I moved onto created the clothing of the character. I realized that some features including the face were not 100% complete, however I will re-visit it next week. I began the cloth modelling in marvellous designer. I used the program to model the skirt that goes around his waist.

It wasn’t too difficult to create this as I had a lot of practice since the helmeted character project and aviator project and the results were good enough.

Once complete, I went to work on the rest of the clothing in 3ds Max. I tried to work quickly here is it was only a block out. Nonetheless, I made sure that I paid close attention to getting it right, as this would save me precious time.

Modelling the headdress and the spinal cord was quite a challenge, especially as I wasn’t sure of where to begin, but eventually I was able to overcome the issue. Through this process, I made sure to keep the objects which would need sculpting basic and those that did not I added more detail in 3ds max.

With the main clothing parts complete, I began working on the accessories of the character, including the weapons and my favourite the heart. I’ve noticed that I was enjoying the block out process of the eagle warrior in comparison to the conquistador. I’m unsure why, but I feel this is because I have more of a clear vision of what I want to achieve with this character and Mullins’ concept has certainly aided this.

Now the character is ready for detail sculpting next week, for once in the project I am on track of my goals and plans, hoorah!

From my experiences working, I have come to the conclusion that, in order for me to create characters to the best of my abilities, not only do I need to be enthusiastic about what I am working on, but most importantly, I need to have a clear vision of the end goal. Of course this vision will alter with time, however, if I am able to understand what I am trying to achieve, I can accomplish unimaginable goals.

So there you have it, a little wiser since the last week and a lot happier. I still am working on my vision for the rest of the characters, but I am glad for the most part that this character is going

well!

So well it’s ‘ill-eagle’