Character Design for 3D

The objective of this project was to have an original 3D character model, for this our teachers had to collaborate for 4 months in order to guide us in the process. This project begins with the drawing teacher, where we start with character exploration and final design, next, we move to the 3D modeling teacher to start sculpting our character, once this is done, we move on to texture with the designated teacher, and make a final render and video turntable with the help of this last teacher as well.

The biggest hurdle was to design an stylized character that would be able to translate well into 3D, we had a lot of revisions for the final design, until the final silhouette and design of my character was accepted.

Goals/Requirements: • Make a character with clear silhouette and appealing design for 3D. • Sculpt the character following the 2D drawing and keeping a good topology. • Texture, light, render and create a turntable of the final character.

The first step to character design is to brainstorm what the character is like, their personality, their interests and their surroundings, trying to make them as real and relatable as possible, while keeping the design 3D friendly.

I wrote down my ideas of what the character was supposed to be like, my main idea was to make a 13 year old fantasy voodoo girl.

As for the drawing stage I began with the silhouette, to create a recognizable character.

Then I mixed and matched designs to explore more ideas.

Once I had the sketch accepted, I moved on to color and received feedback on her outfit.

I was able to sculpt and texture my character with Zbrush, Maya and Substance Painter.

I was so happy to be able to complete this project, I really enjoyed every stage of the process, but my favorites where drawing and modeling in Zbrush, I had to simplify her clothes a bit since I still hadn't gotten used to cloth modeling and if I had to go back to this model I would make her eyebrows a bit different since they would be hard to animate in case she would be used for game or video animation.