My Reflection
Improvement in Character Development
From Week 6 to Week 8, I have modelled some characters and background designs for our upcoming short film ‘Seal’s Journey’. The model design that I made was the Beluga Dolphin and I did this by using subdivision surface, insets and extrusions. This helped me develop a good typology.
For my background props, however, I decided to model some coral, fish, ice bergs and other various backdrop props.
The first time I modelled these designs I found it difficult to have a good typology so I would often recreate my designs over and over again to carry perfection. I would do this around three or four times.
Here are some samples…
Beluga Dolphin
Coral
Fish
Icebergs
I have also done some experimentation around line art as this would give the cartoon look we desired. To do this I had to do some research and I found these two YouTube videos, from Artist B and Blender Secrets.
These are the Video Links that I used/studied –
Artist B
How to make Line Art and Halftone Toon Shader in Blender with Eevee https://youtu.be/tHKhErp408s?si=xD6dbh1Liuw2plZk
Blender Secrets
Daily Blender Secrets – Toon Outline with Inverted Hull (updated)
https://youtu.be/913lbud30xc?si=WHNGOJb1jwHGPazd
These links guided me throughout the process. Artist B’s video demonstrated Line Art with Halftone Shader and Strokes. I liked this technique but when I tested this on the coral, It made the lines messy especially when I added noise which wasn’t the design I was looking for.
Blender Secrets’ tutorial on the other hand made my character designs more detailed and cartoony which we aimed for at the time.
I even modelled seaweed design and a land of ice. I thought the designs could be improved by making the seaweed waiver and making the land of ice more detailed. For me to improve on this, I would need to research tutorials for guidance and support.
I’ve done some research on how to create water trails, fish animation, ocean loops, dynamic ripples and overall stylised look with the help of Rae Houston herself.
Throughout my easter break, I have done an animation piece to test out my strategies for my seaweed moving underwater. I have also applied armatures and rigs to my Beluga Dolphin but the only issue I was having was the use of expressions as I found it hard to express my character when using rigs. For me to do this I had to research rigs that help me perfectly form an expression or a smile to my character.
Moving Seaweed Piece Link