Back to the drawing board, I decided to stick with a bull character and my ‘bull in a china shop’ idiom, but instead of him being old and frail, for him to have the size, strength, and proportions of a more fictional, fantasy beast; the Minotaur.
Also, after again searching for inspiration online and coming across the t-shirt below, I decided to parody this saying by having my bull be a waiter, and this dim-witted, clownishly clumsy strongman character serve afternoon tea. Also, after watching the Genndy Tartakovsky short, ‘Puppy,’ where Dennis’ pet puppy ‘Tinkles’ totally decimates a skeleton family on their way to check in, I thought that in my final design, I could relay the initial stage of some catastrophe in the making, as taking this tack would also allow me to create a wide-eyed, open-mouthed, shocked expression on my bull’s face.
Based upon this Minotaur concept, I then gathered together some images of bulls in a more expressive, cartoony style, and bodybuilder imagery, before completing a few sketches predominately based on rounded shapes and forms; chosen as they not only help create the required silhouette to relay my character’s large stature and immense strength, but to also subconsciously suggest an unexpected benevolent, softer side to his personality, and that being a waiter, he should appear friendly and approachable.
Wanting to also practice the new sculpting skills I’d learned, as opposed to sketching a detailed version of my bull’s head, after watching an online time-lapse tutorial, ‘How to sculpt a stylized bull head Blender 2 9 and 3 0 Quick Tips Series’ (www.youtube.com, 2022), I instead created the sculpted 3D model below, which also hopefully illustrates the progress I’ve made in this part of the module.
Happy with this concept, and that it could translate well into a 3D medium, I then drew my final design in a cartoon style to specifically exaggerate the extreme bodybuilder proportions of his bulging muscles, a broad chest slimming down to a narrow waist and hips, and often seen in clipart for these bodybuilder types, a small head set almost directly on thick shoulders, used here to visually imply his lack of intelligence and slow, dim-witted nature. Also, as I wanted to my bull to be clothed, I drew him from the front view wearing a skin tight uniform that would accentuate his exaggerated form, but kept him unclothed in the side view to better emphasise the primitive shapes and forms in his design.
Finally, with this coursework accounting for such a large proportion of my overall 3D Literacy mark, just to be 100% sure, using my final design as a reference, I also roughly blocked out the body of my character, and satisfied with the result, my final decision was made.
References:
www.youtube.com. (2022). How to sculpt a stylized bull head Blender 2 9 and 3 0 Quick Tips Series – C G Choco 3D Tools and Tips. [online]. [Accessed 17 December 2023].
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn03HM0X5HM