Final Project
For our final project in 3D Sculpting, we have to create a full character sculpt, documenting our process along the way. This is what this page is for! I'll be adding to it along the way until my model is finished.
I couldn't think of any of my own human characters that I wanted to sculpt (I could have done the same character I used in my 2D Art for Games final, but that seemed like a cop-out), so I asked my friends if they had any characters that they'd like to see sculpted and I'd choose one. I decided to go with my friend Elayne's Dungeons and Dragons character, a Genasi named Meli. I chose her because she sounded cute (an elf wearing Japanese lolita fashion? Sign me up!), and I would still have to draw up the concepts, as she has no full reference sheet of her character completed.
Meli is a half-Genasi half-elf cleric. She has a frail, petite build, and eternally messy hair (as she has a constant breeze surrounding her due to being an Air Genasi). I was given a reference to the specific dress she wears, as well as a reference for her general facial/hair appearance (except that she wears round glasses).
As I have no idea what sort of shoes she has on, I looked up a few styles of boots that suit the lolita fashion. I went with boots because in art I found of clerics from other series, they generally have boots or at least closed-toed shoes and high socks on. Boots make sense from an adventuring standpoint, though almost every lolita boot has heels... I'll see how low-heeled I can go while keeping the aesthetic. I also found a few references for Genasi, showing that they're mostly very human-like save for pointed ears and occasional elf-like features - very similar to half-elves (except that Meli has blue skin, though that won't apply for this final project). I also found a few references for women with very thin bodies and some women with round faces to get an idea of how a round face should look from a few different angles. Specific facial features weren't a big concern for me in finding references, as she'll have more of an exaggerated cute-fantasy look and not really anything that'll pin-point her as a certain ethnicity or anything.
Here are my references:
I couldn't think of any of my own human characters that I wanted to sculpt (I could have done the same character I used in my 2D Art for Games final, but that seemed like a cop-out), so I asked my friends if they had any characters that they'd like to see sculpted and I'd choose one. I decided to go with my friend Elayne's Dungeons and Dragons character, a Genasi named Meli. I chose her because she sounded cute (an elf wearing Japanese lolita fashion? Sign me up!), and I would still have to draw up the concepts, as she has no full reference sheet of her character completed.
Meli is a half-Genasi half-elf cleric. She has a frail, petite build, and eternally messy hair (as she has a constant breeze surrounding her due to being an Air Genasi). I was given a reference to the specific dress she wears, as well as a reference for her general facial/hair appearance (except that she wears round glasses).
As I have no idea what sort of shoes she has on, I looked up a few styles of boots that suit the lolita fashion. I went with boots because in art I found of clerics from other series, they generally have boots or at least closed-toed shoes and high socks on. Boots make sense from an adventuring standpoint, though almost every lolita boot has heels... I'll see how low-heeled I can go while keeping the aesthetic. I also found a few references for Genasi, showing that they're mostly very human-like save for pointed ears and occasional elf-like features - very similar to half-elves (except that Meli has blue skin, though that won't apply for this final project). I also found a few references for women with very thin bodies and some women with round faces to get an idea of how a round face should look from a few different angles. Specific facial features weren't a big concern for me in finding references, as she'll have more of an exaggerated cute-fantasy look and not really anything that'll pin-point her as a certain ethnicity or anything.
Here are my references:
It turns out that saving all your reference images in a folder is way easier to deal with than just leaving 5 tabs of Google Image searches open in your browser!!! Who knew?!
Anyway, with all these refs in mind, I could start sketching out what Meli should look like.
Anyway, with all these refs in mind, I could start sketching out what Meli should look like.
I felt like my references for the main part of her outfit and her build were pretty solid, so I really only needed to sketch a bit to decide some of the details. I decided that the boots should be tall, but with minimal detail (really just the laces and heel), as short but detailed boots could look imbalanced. That, and her outfit is relatively heavy and conservative, so her showing off so much leg would look a bit out of place. I also decided to go with the version of the dress that features the cape closed and the belt over the waist, as too many floaty details may prove difficult to sculpt in a timely manner. Her face is easy to draw in 2D - the challenge will be translating it properly into 3D. I decided for her hair, it shouldn't be too bunched up or too long, or else I may get caught up in the details. It'll be about medium length, with a few stray strands added in to show it being messy. I think it would also be fun for her glasses to have little wings details on them because she's an air elemental as well!
Some rough drawings of Meli, combining various elements as laid out in my thumbnails in a few different ways. That open cape look at the beginning is just NOT a good look.
Here is my turnaround, colored extremely quickly because I was finishing it minutes before my in-class presentation!
A rough 3D sculpt of Meli's body shape. From here, I can refine it, add clothes, and make her face!
I attempted to make the clothes in Marvelous Designer, and after several hours of messing with it, I was able.... to make a pile of clothes rendered on the ground. I suppose I learned how to Not use Marvelous Designer, which was valuable experience, but it delayed my final just a little bit. Here's what I have so far.... |
Final Project (almost)
Unfortunately, at this time, the clothes are not finished, though I do still have her silhouette done. Still, I think I captured her messy hair and her likeness (at least to my drawing, I have yet to find out if she looks like what she does in Elayne's mind), so I'm pretty happy with that. Even if it'll be too late to fix my final grade, I will finish her outfit, if only to have something nice to show my friend. Plus, Zbrush is fun!