Cute Character
For this part of the task I had to create a sculpture of a character with the theme of that character being cute. In this blog I will show you my process of how I have created my character from concept art to the finished product.
The Beginning
When we got the theme for this assignment, I began to think of what character or creature that I can create that I also cute. At first I thought of using the designs that I had created for the Cute Graveyard short. However, I didn’t want to cheat it, so I decided to think of something entirely new. So I looked around the internet to see what I can do for my assignment. In the end I found what I wanted to create. A cute character that is a singer. This inspiration came from a game called Firday Night Funkin which has the protagonist drawn in a chibi and cartoon style. Here are a few examples:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/434808539030609405/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/528047125067330250/
Another thing that I also found cute were squirrels and robots. I found how cute they can look and thought I would include them in my design. Alongside that I found some clothes ideas that could go with the character. Here are some examples:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/208713763971359921/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/16255248642948276/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/135600638771568424/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/13159023901031444/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/133419207700790785/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/289356344818550885/
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/830491987537992320/
https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/softdon/cassette-girl
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/140667188351286688/
After gathering the reference, it was time to put them all together and to start sketching out the concept for this character.
One thing I had to keep in mind when designing cute character, was that I had make sure they looked appealing and convey the idea of cute as much as possible. This meant that I had to use round shape and make sure that there aren’t any edges to the character to get the idea of comfort across. When creating the first three design I decided to separate themes into each individual character design. When doing the designs, I quickly realized that the robot idea couldn’t be created due to the fact that I will have to first sculpt the character which will make the robot look awkward as it is a very solid and needs a lot of accuracy to create. So that Idea was scrapped. For the other idea I wanted to give her a bit of a punk look while also trying to incorporate the speaker music box into her design, wherever it would be a hat or it being strapped at the back of the character. While did somewhat like it, the idea wasn’t cute enough. The last idea I made the character a squirrel and tried to give the character very big clothes and it ended up looking really cute. I then tried to mix and match some of the design ideas before ending up with the final design. The reason for choosing the design was not only that it fit in the criteria of a cute character, but also because she is able to convey her idea across as a character that likes to sing or that likes music in general. After selecting this design I first made a mock-up of a reference sheet for her to get an idea of how I will be doing a turnaround for her when using it to create the character in blender.
All I had to do now was to start creating the colour scheme. So I opened Clip Studio Paint, drew a pose for the character which I then copied and applied different colour pallets to each of the character poses. This were the three colour schemes that I ended up using:
For the first one I wanted to give her a very chill feeling to her by using cold colours like blue and white to show that she is pure and calm. While the other too I wanted to convey the calm feel, by using warm colours such brown, violet, pink and red. I didn’t know which to choose so, I ended up asking the University Discord which of the colour schemes was the most interesting for the character. That colour scheme ended up being the one in the middle which a lot of people really enjoyed. So I will be using that for the character.
Lastly, I created a reference sheet for my character that I will be using in Blender to start creating the character. This is how it looks like:
Now that I got the reference drawing created, it was time to put this reference into Blender and get started on sculpting the character.
Sculpting
Once, Blender opened, I firstly inserted the reference image by going onto Add, Images and Reference Image. This will bring the image in the 3D space. Then I moved it a bit backwards from the spawn point to have it prepared for sculpting. The next thing I did was to spawn a UV Sphere by going onto Add and Mesh. This will act as the base of the head. Then I switched the tab from the Layout to the Sculpture tab which can be found at the top of the screen. With this tab I can have access with different brushes which allows to sculpt the character such as grabbing and adding more volume to the objects in certain regions like creating the ears for the character. Then I use Dynotopo from the tab in the bottom right. With it I can increase the poly count of the model to get a smoother look for the model. To do so I selected made sure that the options for it were set on Constant Detail and to always make sure that the Dynotopo poly count is higher than the object. Once the settings have been made, I click onto apply which will apply the settings made.
Once the head has been shaped I apply similar methods to the rest of the body parts and later clothes. When doing the character, I first focused on first creating the body. The reason for creating the body first before the clothes, is because it gave me a guideline for when I was going to create the clothes. For the rest of the body I used modified UV Sphere shapes and used the grab tool to model shape the into the required shapes for each body. To speed up the process, for each limb I used the a modifier which allowed me to mirror the exact same object on another object on any YXZ axis I selected. This made my job so much more easier when sculpting the character. This option can be found in the Modify tab where the icon for this is a blue wrench. With it I can access a range of modifiers such a Boolean or Subdivision. Once the Mirror Option is selected a small tab will open which will make me pic the base for the object to mirror and select on which way to do it. Once I get the result that I desire, I go onto the arrow near the camera icon, hit it and click apply. This process was for the body parts and some cloth parts as well.
Lastly, I had to create the hair. To do the hair part, I used an interesting tutorial on Youtube. The video will be linked under the conclusion section. Anyway, to create the hair, I needed to create two types of curves which are the path curve and the circle curve. First I position them properly using the rotate and move tool. Then on the right side there is a menu for the curve. With it, I go onto Geometry and onto Bevel and select the Circle Path. This will create a shape around the line path. Using the circle, I can then shape how the hair strand looks by using the edit mode and moving its point until I get the desired look. When the look that I need is achieved, I tighten the end points using the resize tool. Now I can just copy and paste the object and shape it however I want it to look like.
Switching to Maya
Now that I got the sculpture created, I export this file as a FBX file by going onto File, Export and FBX which I can then use for the base of the retopology in Maya.
For Maya, I first set my project to make sure that I have easier access to the scene of where my model will be placed by going onto File and Set New Project which will allow me to create a new folder. Now, I imported the model into the scene, it was time to do retopology. This means to rework the polygons of the original model by creating a brand new model on top of the original model. In a way kind of like a new layer for the model. To do it, I must first select the model that I want to do it with. Then the magnet icon at the top of the screen will be selected. This will make sure that the retopology will stick on the model. With that, I go onto the right side and go onto the toolkit section. There I can find the Quad Tool. With this I can create new polygons by creating four points by simply clicking on the surface in a square like pattern and with holding the shift key and clicking in the middle will create a new polygon. Then its just rinse and repeat for the whole model. Here are screenshots for the process:
Once the retopology is done, simply click onto the cursor key and the magnet which will disable the mode and create the new model.
Texturing
For the texturing, I thought at the start that I would create a cel shaded style for the character to mimic the cartoon style. So I started texturing the model with the Toon shader, but I quickly realized that it was impossible to upload those textures to Sketchfab as it does not support the Arnold Texturer. I did ask the teacher Henry as to what I should do with the model. He quickly send me a link to a forum which showed me how I can do it. However after looking at the forum I went with texturing the character in Substance Painter because I was afraid that my model might break making it unusable and not having enough experience in the cel shaded department for 3D. Here are an image of what the character might have looked like:
So, to texture it in Substance painter, first the new model was once again, exported as a FBX and opened that file in Substance Painter. Since I couldn’t use cell shading, I instead did stylized shading which gave it a cartoony look to the character. Before I could texture, I had to make sure that the materials had been baked. This is done by going onto the Texture Settings on the right side of the screen and scrolling all the way down and selecting baked lights. There a new window opens where I have to put the high poly model in a small box. Once its done, the Bake Light button is hit and we are ready to go.
To texture the character, I used a mix of brushes to create textures for things such as the shirt, skirt and skin. I used darker coloured brushes to make the darker zones of the model while also using light colours on the areas where light shines. For the brushes I found the at the bottom of the screen by selecting on a list that includes things like materials and brushes which then pops up a new menu at the bottom full of preset brushes. For the colour I use the colour picker which can be found on the left side of the screen when clicking on base colour. Here are some images of my texturing process:
When the textures are done, These are exported by going to File and Export. With this a new window I can select where to save the textures. After doing that I click on Export.
Finalizing Everything
Now that we got everything created, the last thing that I need to do is to pose the character. For this I will have to go back in Maya and add a skeleton onto the model. To do this, I had to switch from modelling to the rigging section by going onto the top left side. This will switch tab to be themed around rigging. Next was to go onto Skeleton and Quick Rig. This brought up a new menu which allowed me to create the rig for the character. To do the rig I had to first create a new template by going onto the plus icon at the top right of that new window. Next selected the mesh for the character and clicked on another plus icon to add it to the box. With that, the guide section was next. All that it had to be done was to click onto create. This spawned in points for where thing like the shoulders and legs may be. Since mine where placed in the wrong spaces, I had to move the manually using the move tool. After moving them I also create the skeleton for the rig by clicking on create in the skeleton option. Lastly, I hit create one last time in the Skinning section. This will merge the skeleton to the mesh which will now allow me to pose the character freely. Once the character was posed, This was exported as a FBX and uploaded onto sketchfabs. Did encounter a few problems like for example some faces would break, which had a very simple fix to it which was that I had to remove the face and fill it in with a new face. Another other problem was that on the posed character, the skirt texture wouldn’t display correctly, so I had to make to uploads of the same character. One with the skirt texture and another with a simple colour. Other than that, it was uploaded. Here are the results
