Process
For this project in which I had to sculpt and texture a cute character of my choice, I decided to model a cuttlefish. I made the decision to choose a cuttlefish pretty quickly because I like them in general and they also met the requirement that the model had to have no fur or hair.
As soon as I started this project I gathered up various images of cuttlefish as references and began a basic poly model in Maya. I found it to be surprisingly difficult to model the fish. I thought their somewhat simple, round shape would make them a fitting choice for a cute character design but I also found their lack of complex shapes to make for an underwhelming looking model on my first few attempts. I made quite a few basic models until I finally made one that I was happy enough to import into blender and start sculpting on.
(final model)
Sculpting the model in blender was tough as I had very little experience doing it but over time I got more confident with it once I had learned about how each tool worked. I had to pay close attention to all of the images I saved of real cuttlefish so I was able to accurately sculpt their features while also occasionally straying from a realistic look in order to keep the design in line with the cute kind of look I was aiming for. An example of this at this stage of the project was the model only having 4 tentacles because I thought 8 would be much harder to sculpt while also taking away from the pleasant aesthetic I was aiming for. I eventually got to a point where I was happy with how the sculpt looked and was ready to start.
Once I had the sculpt completely done and got the polycount to a sensible number it was time to UV cut and unwrap. This was one of my weakest areas of modelling previously so I tried to put in extra effort on this model. Overall I think I did a much better job on this model and I was reasonably happy with the results.
I decided to texture it in substance because I used it for my previous project and I enjoy using it for texturing in general. I originally tried to go for a somewhat realistic style but it didn’t fit the model right so I decided to try and make it look like a toy. I was happy with my final design because I feel like I found a nice balance between a simple cartoony look without the textures looking too basic.
(my original toy look that I abandoned because it was not cute enough and was too simple)
FINAL DESIGN.
EVALUTATION
I was happy with the outcome of this project. Since starting work on this model I have gotten much more comfortable with the sculpting tools on blender and with using blender in general. Out of all the work done on this project I am most pleased with the sculpt I created for this model. I feel like I did a good job in using the tools on blender to successfully make an accurate but cartoonish looking cuttlefish model. I am also pleased with the progress I have made with UV mapping because while in my last project I essentially had no clue how to properly cut and unwrap a model I think I am beginning to get the hang of it. My biggest difficulty during the project was texturing at the end. I had to try many different looks with different materials before finally creating a look that I believe suited the model best. Although I still think I have a lot more to learn when it comes to using substance painter or just texturing in general. All in all I feel like I was reasonably successful with this project and it had definitely given me a clear idea of what I need to work on.