Here are some concept sketches for what I was going to model.
I went with a cowboy ferret for my model. I decided that I would make it a cowboy as I thought the accessories would be fun to model.
This how the ferret started off with basic shapes.
This is how it looked after I smoothed it out in Blender.
I later added the face and cowboy accessories in Maya. I had to redo them a couple of times to lower the polygon count, as well as to improve upon the design.
When I put my model into Substance, I decided against giving the model eyes, as I had the idea that the hat would obscure the eyes. Also, it caused the model to have 2 holes in it’s face.
I textured this in Substance Painter. I used mostly fabric style material (except for the metal objects) to texture it to give it a soft style and to add to the cute factor of the model. I looked at photos of ferrets to get the pattern of the fur down.
I’ve uploaded it into Sketchfab.
Overall, I enjoyed creating the model. My favorite part of the production of the model was the concept stage as I thought it was a fun idea for a model. It was also good seeing the concept art for the character and how it evolved from a sketch to fully realized model. My use of color on the model is appealing. In terms of things I could’ve improved, I believe I could’ve leaned more into the posing to make it look more interesting, like one of the original concept sketches, as well as some elements that could be improved upon that would’ve helped with the western aesthetic like some environmental models such as a cactus. Overall, I am happy with how the model came out.