Pocahontas first stage of modeling

Ok so this is my first attempt of modeling Pocahontas, i have sorted my profile and side view ready to take into Maya.


















So above is a nice little screen shot showing the torso and head of the body. I used the EP curve tool to get the shape then used the revolve tool to get the cylindrical 3d view. Then using the Lattice tool to add deformation to how i would like her to look, combined with upping the faces for more control of the overall shape. One mistake being when i used the EP curve tool i outlined the ear so the ear shape has followed the revolve around the head. Though im hoping to sort this out later.


















The above screenshot shows how far i have gotten by using the same techniques and tools i talked about for making the torso. I'm feeling pleased and confident considering this is my first try. For the arms i also rotated after the elbow 45 degrees to help for when i model the hand facing down to the floor.



















A screenshot with the panes turned on, i have not stuck to my designs as i'm feeling more creative, as i've given her a waist.


Now for the hands a feet!

Cornelius Designs

Ok so the things i wanted to correct on Cornelius was his broadness in shoulders, that his head doesn't really have a neck but basically sits on his shoulders and that his legs are much shorter as before he was too humanized. In the above picture i can now see that his legs and hips should still yet be shorter, basically moved up another centimeter. Also maybe the arms to be thicker?
From the side view just the legs to be shorter and maybe to have him more arched. I'm finding it difficult to know what look im going to get whilst i draw him standing up considering he wont be able to stand like a human does which may be whats throwing me off.






















So talking to Steve he suggested maybe to model him in this character pose? Except with the gorillas front fingers pointed, this way i can have the back legs really bulky and see what i want the arms and big arc of that back to be doing.

So.. i'm not really sure how to model not in the T pose, or how to set up the panes for this. If i begin by drawing him in this position but in the orthographical views i think i'll get some where as i've already got his 3/4s view.

Then i can begin modeling the basic shape in maya.

Character Designs Pocahontas

Here are some sketches i have done for Pocahontas' head and body shape with reference to my research.



















Heads, noses, eyes, and ears can be so many different shapes and sizes so here is just a sample sheet of possibilities i could use for Pocahontas. From my research i was drawn to a wide head and big eyes.




















Above are some body designs for her shape and posture, from my list of words i said i wanted her to be tall and smart looking, so with a good posture maybe. Although i'd like her rig to be able to do a gorilla impersonation. I feel i'm more drawn to the character second from the bottom left. and the posture of second in from top right.




















Above is just another pose, i see it as a mother pose with the hands on the hips being authoritative. So not for my character.



















Ok so i feel i'm getting closer to what i want, the two which catch my eye the most are the second from top left because of the narrow shoulders and posture. The legs are simply functional and do not draw focus which is good as i don't want the legs to be the focus, that's for the face and arms to be. The second is the bottom left two, taken from the illustration reference i feel is cute and appropriate for Pocahontas.


















Great.. so i'm pretty much settled on the body shape, now to explore the head. The ones which stand out to me more are the bigger and more square heads, second from top right and second from middle left. Though i do really like the cheeks from the second from top right, looks more mischievous and maybe older though.


















And here is my finalized character sheet for the body and overall shape of Pocahontas. I will proceed to make more drawings of the face and hands in greater detail so i can use this as reference when adding more than her frame.

Overall i think she looks quite cute and i have yet to move to the colour design ideas, working with complimentary and contrasting colours of the colour wheel to get a convincing and established look.

I will take this scan into photoshop to make sure i can view it clearly for when i set it up on the panes in maya. This way i will be able to model swiftly i hope.

Pocahontas Research

For Pocahontas i started to look at existing work in 3d however i remembered that that's not all of what's out there. So i have broadened my research to looking at illustrations and artwork of children.



















The picture above im liking the posture and innocence portrayed. The torso and head give a good shape as i've been drawing curves for the waist and hips not 100% sure how to draw a child because they haven't developed those curves.



















This illustration i'm looking at the position of the eyes, nose, ears and mouth on the head. A narrow jaw but wide set eyes looks cool.


















I love the big head design again, i want to adopt this, she has rather chubby cheeks and her eyes are wide and inquisitive. The torso shape is small at the top but larger on the belly, not that she's fat but a child's posture. Maybe a bit of a young look for a seven year old though.




















In this illustration i'm looking at the legs and i can see the proportions (narrow shoulders)


















I like most things about the face above, the huge eyes that draw you in and the tiny nose in contrast. the head shape looks as though it could be easier to model in maya as its simple curce and straight line. I'm not commenting on the hair so much as i think i'd like her to wear a gorilla mask/hat. Though i like how the hair sits with the ears.





















The head is the focus here, square head, big eyes wide apart and a tiny mouth. Maybe add a little curved nose to contrast with the squareness of the head.










The dress reminds me of a ghibli design the way this has been drawn. I really like how she looks like a bumble bee, good idea for the boy from this brief. Also leads me to think could i get her dressed in gorilla styled clothing? something to reflect her fondness of gorilla other than a mask or face paint. I really like the legs on this character, tall.



















Ignoring the other parts of this drawing and looking at the head again. It has a more realistic shape.. doesn't appeal to me as much as the others however i like the square cut fringe and pointy cheeks.





















Adorable! love everything about this, the pose, the simplicity of shapes as the body is a triangle and the head a nice gentle oval shape, little arms and feet. Mostly drawn to the body shape, like the idea of socks pulled up, maybe dungarees? Really like this.




















The nose. I like the long nose which i hadn't thought about as i've been distracted by the other illustrations. the straight line compliments the curves to the jaw. Wide eyes again. Also i liek the colour in the cheeks.














Like the thin legs with the dress. the idea of holding something.. maybe a banana balloon? The curl in the hair looks cute and again with the oval head with big eyes.

I will put up another post for researching Pocahontas showing some existing 3d characters from the screen.

Over all here though thin legs, small shoulders, undecided on head shape until i start drawing some heads and experimenting with positioning of the facial features.

Cornelius Designs

Using my research i have gone on to creating designs using simple shapes. from the photos i have posted previously i noted that i really wanted an expressive and strong brow, set deep into the head.. I had no idea what shape of head i'd like so i firstly began with anything and everything!
















These are my drawings inspired by the skull photos. I used the simple skeletal shape and structure to start with something basic.. i think these already look better than the previous ones. I have got the deep set eyes, strong brow, and i am really liking the strong square jaw as opposed to the curved jaw. This is becuase of combining the straight line with a curve which enhances the drawing. I like how the skull is quite high as i think this will set Cornelius apart from other gorillas :)




















Here i have just experimented with the view of this head style. I have tried adding glasses to sit behind the nostrils and to keep the muzzle of his upper jaw larger than the lower jaw so his mouth will have an under bite - easi. The first drawing on the left is the best to see this.















More head designs but also beginning to take a look at how i want the body to look, an actual silver back gorilla is heavy, round and very hairy!
So im thinking whether to give my character thin tall legs and he can be bi-pedal, or less humanized and remain a quadruped.















From the skeletal photos i have drawn a simple line of action pose from that, then used that same pose with the different drawing techniques such as the circling technique then the basic shapes. Experimenting again with head shapes, using that strong jaw definitely works for me.















Working from a different skeletal pose where the gorilla is standing up, i have decided that i'm liking the rough input of the hands and the skull is really coming round to something i'd use. Still have to do some research into the feet and i feel that i need to add a stronger S curve for the spine.


















More of an orthogonal view using the skeleton as a reference again.. i'm beginning to understand what goes where but i want to go onto observing how it moves.
















A side on view with a three quarter view, just an experiment to see what i can do. The 3/4 view has hardly any neck which is what i want, where as the side view has and it doesn't quite work. also i want a much more broad and curving spine for the back.. like it'd be top heavy. The legs need to be shorter. When re-drawing this i will stick to these changes.

















A front on view, fatter arms and thighs needed here.. he's looking too humanized. I have taken a closer look at hands and fingers. I need to look more into this as from viewing photos they have kind of banana shaped hands. Looking at the bone structure i can draw a convincing knuckle.



So at the end of Cornelius, i need to make his legs/arms shorter and fatter, and draw a clean sheet with what i want with orthogonal views. Then i can move onto thinking about his colours and begin modeling him in maya, to then import into zbrush to create the detailed image.

Cornelius Research

This footage above shows the highlights on the gorillas face, how deep set in the eyes are. I can see the body shape of the gorilla and how he moves with turning his head and how strong his arms are. Very powerful.

<< Very nice example showing the deep set eyes and strong prominent brow.















>> This shows the rings round the eyes, thinking of egde loops when modeling in maya. The wrinkles are a great advantage, also i can see from this perspective how the nose and mouth are extruded from the face.













<< Here we can clearly see the arcs and curves of the skull and the photo shows the extent of the extrusion of the muzzle.















>> From this photo i can see how set the head is to the body and how the size of the skull is much bigger than a humans.










<< See that the back end is much narrower in comparison to those strong broad shoulders. The arc of the spine helps to bring forward the arms which is noticeably longer and drop from the spine.. everything is hanging off the spine.












>> The skeleton from the front view again allowing me to measure the height of the shoulders in comparison to where the hips sit.















<< When comparing the differences between the human and gorilla skeletal structures we can see how the rib cage is much larger, the shoulders are more forward which brings the arms to drop lower. The pelvis is longer which in turn makes the legs shorter.













>>An orthogonal view of the gorilla skeleton, it will help to see this to place the body parts in the right place.











<< Great eye brow bone here, i can see how the jaw moves and arcs.








>> This photo just shows the structure for the cheekbones and how the skull is shaped long and narrow.









<< Another great example for strong brow and deep set eyes. I'm picking up on this because i think the brow will be a strong point for showing the gorillas expression












>> A nice reference for character posture.















<< Another reference for position and structure.
















>>Again with the arms and legs













<< Here we have a sitting down pose showing a nice round belly. The legs fold and the arms stay stretched possibly to help with the balance too.









I have used different types of gorilla for facial and body structure references.
Now i am going to continue to create my character sheets by using these references and maybe go on and take sketches from the the london zoo.

Character Choice

1. Pocahontas Billiams
“Willie’s sister, she’s seven years old but much more relaxed and more knowing than her sibling. She wants to be a gorilla.”

I have chosen this character because i can see that although she will be challenging, i'm not going to be too ambitious and i have some ideas of where to start.
I can see the silver back gorilla and this little girl acting to one another.. the girl acting how she believes a gorilla to be, maybe wearing a gorilla mask or face painted.. and the gorilla looking completely bemused and insulted as he is described as more of an elegant character.

List of words to help describe Pocahontas:
small
mature for her age
geeky for her zoo knowledge
miss no it all
slim
ginger crazy hair? platted pig tails?
fringe - has a bad scissor incident where she cut it herself
glasses
note book and pen ready - covered in stickers for awards and gorillas
gorilla face painted or mask?
uniform - maybe brownies kind of thing? not 'cool'
freckles
missing teeth
little satchel from the shoulder across body
shoes with laces
socks
little bobble nose
big wondrous eyes
little ears
thin neck
watch on her wrist



2. Cornelius
“A middle aged silver back gorilla, the most civilised and sensible occupant of the zoo by far.”

I chose this character because its something different than a human skeletal rig structure and i liked the sound of him in the brief description.

List of words to help describe Cornelius:
elegant
intelligent
safety conscious- reviewing a health and safety leaflet
bemused by the public
-yet curious of this little girls attempt to communicate with him
strong definition to facial features
big brow
set in eyes
big muzzle
funky afro style
characteristic colour stripe on his back to set him apart
Proud/strong stance/walk
leathery hands
smaller back legs to walk on
big round belly



I am going to look at using basic shapes to create these characters (if not at first then simplify them this way) and to refer to primary and secondary sources including skeletal reference.

Unit 204 -Brief C, Character Design

I have chosen this brief because i feel it's going to be the most challenging.
I want to learn as much as i can and by looking at the other two briefs i can see them being applied to other units in the course, so that is what finalized my decision for character designing.
(I feel 'chop shop' is more to do with using environmental, texturing and modeling techniques. Then with the National Gallery its more idents which i have done before at Alvls).

I am not familiar with how to rig and model but i plan to use a combination of zbrush, mudbox and maya if this helps me.

Aslo a recommendation for beginners at rigging:
An Essential Introduction to Maya Character Rigging with DVD
by Cheryl Cabrera

I plan to start with creating a list of words for the character's i have chosen to model, rig, and animate. I am hoping this will help me to understand the genre and movement of the characters, then i will continue to research from primary and secondary resources:

Primary Source
Photographs, sketches, my own interpretation from watching people/gorilla at the zoo

Secondary Source
Internet, books, television (atinborough), DVDs, existing artists/animators