Week 9 also saw me begin the process of modelling and sculpting my character in Blender, and while I’d been hesitant to start my final task of assignment one, with more experience, and confidence from knowing that I’d be broadly using the same principles (albeit following slightly different processes), completing this task felt considerably less daunting.
Investing time into the research and development of my character, imagining and developing his personality, and creating a potential backstory, was also of great benefit as it made me feel I really knew him before ever starting modelling. Also, this time around, instead of jumping straight in, which had previously led to silly mistakes, and even taking into consideration my rudimentary skills, a final outcome I wasn’t entirely happy with; this time I’d a clear vision of the model and scene I wanted to post online, and planned out every step of its creation.
To make modelling my character easier, and ensure I kept to the intended shape and proportions, I added both of my final sketches to different layers so that at any time, they could be used as references in orthographic view. Then, being happier with the process to create the body with clean topology, and knowing from my previous attempts that, even with care, adding the detail required to make my bull’s head seem naturalistic and believable, could cause n-gon issues; so I therefore concentrated on this more complex area first. Also, it made more sense to start at the top, and work logically downwards.
As in my workshop task, starting with a cube with a multires modifier applied, I assigned different colours to map out the main areas of the face, as significant modification would be needed to achieve the eventual shape and form, and easily monitoring the position and topology of these areas would be essential during the modelling process. Having done this, understanding the importance of symmetry throughout my model when eventually adding armature and posing my figure, and to make this process easier, from here on in I only modelled using a ‘mirror’ modifier.
Then, having completed the basic form in line with the tutorial videos, I used the grab tool to define certain areas, and added loop cuts and bevelling to create the approximate shape and form of the features; and on checking the topology, at this stage, no issues had been created.
Next, I set about creating additional detail, by refining the shape of the ear, nipping in the underside of the jaw, and adding eyes. Also, as I knew I wanted my bull to have a shocked expression as the items go flying off his tray, I’d later inset the centre of each eye more than in the tutorials, so once textured, this feature would be more noticeable in Sketchfab. Again, at this stage, despite the changes, the head had clean topology.
After then creating a more exaggerated version of the horns than in my reference drawing, which were modelled separately by extruding a cylinder in segments, and bevelling them to gradually shrink in circumference until they achieved the desired shape and form; my next steps were to inset the eyes, improve the side profile and muzzle shape, and to move the ears forward to improve the aesthetics in relation to the horn placement. This however did cause a few n-gon issues, but these were easily rectified.
Below are image of my model, both before and after shading smooth, and applying a multires, and subdivision surface modifier to check the presentation, from which it was noticeable that both the eye area, and the nose, which appears less defined and still too angular, needed further adjustment.
However, given the existing geometry of the head, these adjustments caused issues that created a number of five, six, and seven-sided n-gons, which now made additional retopologising necessary. Firstly, as I’d been unable to find a suitable location in which to add loop cuts to refine the nose area, that didn’t majorly affect other areas of the head, I’d had no option but to create this additional detail by using the ‘knife’ tool, and to retopologise the few issues this caused both here, and elsewhere in the model. To do this I either dissolved unwanted vertices, added additional edges where applicable, or where possible, dissolved and replaced edges that unnecessarily contained a vertex, and if required, then also subsequently adjusted the adjacent faces. This process, and using the ‘grab’ tool was also required to rectify two small n-gons in the concave, inner surface of the ear, and in the eye area, where although I’d correctly followed the tutorial to improve and smooth this area by adding loop cuts, my attempts had proved unsuccessful.
I also considered adding top and bottom eyelids to more easily rectify this issue, but rejected this approach, as it would have significantly reduced the size of the eye, making it almost impossible to achieve the wide-eyed effect, surprised effect I wanted, and would make this attribute less noticeable in my final Sketchfab upload.
However, while this process took time and thought, as can be seen below, every issue had been resolved, my bull’s head again had clean topology, and the changes had the end result of making the model more aesthetically pleasing.
At his point I thought the head was complete, but when receiving feedback, my tutor mentioned that as Blender objects don’t inherently have a reverse side, this has to be modelled. Therefore, I added this, and when focusing on this area again, realised I could also pull the lips out more to make the mouth more expressive, and him appear more slow, and dim-witted.
So now with the head finally complete, it was time to move on to the body, which I blocked out with primitive shapes to which I’d added a level two ‘subdivision surface’ modifier to all but the spheres which would eventually become the hooves (as I’d ultimately need more definition here to create the cleft and toes of the hoof), and added loop cuts at various points throughout the body that enabled me, using the ‘grab’ tool, to roughly define the shape, and bodybuilder proportions portrayed in my reference drawing.
Next, with my bull an anthropomorphised character, using my own anatomy as a reference, and employing a combination of extruding and bevelling, I created the basic form of the hand as a separate object from the subdivided cube above, and added knuckles by insetting the appropriate faces. I then, using the ‘grab’ tool, refined the hand shape by raising the knuckles, and indenting in the palm, and the underside of the fingers and thumb at each point where they would naturally bend. Then I selected, extruded, and scaled down the terminal edge of the arm, which would become the cuff of the sleeve, before extruding a wrist from the relevant faces of the hand. Finally I positioned the hand and wrist within the sleeve, and made any necessary adjustments, and with the ‘mirror’ modifier applied, my character now had a pair of hands.
Still working on the top potion of my model, I then created a collar by selecting, extruding and scaling the relevant faces, before pushing these into the required shape. However, when I initially checked the end result, the collar could hardly be seen, and I needed to increase the dimensions.
Moving on, I began modelling the pelvis, by pulling the appropriate faces on both the front, and rear of the subdivided pyramid I’d already blocked out, and once I’d achieved the correct overall pelvis shape, I rescaled this to meet the proportions of my reference drawing. However, as the pelvis was now clipping the torso, I needed to make adjustments to accommodate this, but at the same time keep the characteristic nipped- in waist of my existing model.
Next, I re-joined the legs, but highlighting that even the best made plans sometimes go awry, when doing so, I realised that even though I’d drawn my final reference that way to increase the comedic value, the proportions below the knee were way off in relation to the rest of the character. Therefore, I amended these before pulling out the relevant parts of the leg, using the ‘grab’ tool, to emphasise the strong thighs, and exaggerated musculature of my character.
Finally, I modelled the hooves from a standard UV sphere, by removing the bottom faces to form the overall hoof shape, before then both insetting the required front faces, and bevelling the bottom edge to achieve more detail. Also, remembering that the sole of one hoof would be visible in my Sketchfab pose, and that its just generally good practice, I also filled in the hoof’s bottom face.
Although the side view of my final character design had included a tail, in keeping with my Minotaur concept, I consciously decided against including this in my 3D model, as doing so would have increased the polygon count, and and I felt that having the ability to add detail elsewhere in my design, such as in the face which, in keeping with the brief, enabled my character to be more expressive, was more important.
Looking at my model however, I realised it still needed something more, especially around the collar, that even when textured, I felt would still seem quite plain. So having again looked at my character development mood boards for inspiration, I decided to add the tie seen in the majority of my cartoon bull reference images, which would not only make my model more visually appealing, but would also add movement, and another dimension to make the pose feel more realistic, by hanging down as he tripped, and fell forwards. Also, its addition would not significantly increase the polygon count, and I felt, in some way, this might make up for the lack of a tail.
I therefore, after quickly watching the relevant parts of an online tutorial (YouTube, 2023) , added the tie, and here’s my completed model, which I feel reflects my final character drawings well, and happily shows the progress I’ve made, even in the past few weeks.
Overall, as I’d planned each step of the modelling process well beforehand, I encountered only a few minor issues along the way, but these were easily overcome, and understanding how create a model with good topology, and indeed how to retopologise when needed, was a valuable learning experience.
References:
www.youtube.com. (2023.). Modelling Tie – Beginner Blender Tutorial | Create Your First NFT collection – part 9 – Thangys. [online]. [Accesses 23 December 2023}.
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v9hPA5ZOiA