Quick Model - Toolau

After having no internet and no personal computer for a week (moving -- it was all packed), I sat down this afternoon and impulsively started a new model I knew would be quick, easy, and fun. The end result is this doll character named Toolau.
A bit of history about him: Toolau is a character from an old online role-play. He was created by the user "Horn", and was a magical voodoo doll whose origins are never fully explained. He follows around a euro-medieval ninja with the unenviable name of Chyaltze. Toolau is basically your typical wise-cracking sidekick, and becomes the object of affection for another bizarre character early-on. Nobody in the story really finds him unusual or odd, which begs the question: just how many magical talking dolls are walking around?

Took all of 3 hours to make. Despite the simplicity, he pretty much looks exactly as he should. I will likely end up rigging this one since his rig will be similarly simple (no fingers to manage!) and fun to play around with.

Just a Drawing

Whoa, an update two days in a row! Just felt like posting a picture I did a few days ago. This is a character named Normandie Sardigna, from the same story as the axe-wielding guy sitting down I posted previously. Enjoy.

Character - Ivan

Perhaps it's time I detailed a little more about my fantasy game idea...

It's one I've been reworking for some time. It's a fantasy/sci-fi turn-based RPG (whoa originality!) with Dmitri (the previous character I worked on) leading an excursion to find a legendary creature. This particular creature's properties are such that it's both magical and technological, two opposed forces. There's way more to it than that, of course, but in the beginning Dmitri leads a party of four to hunt for it.

This guy, Ivan... is not one of those four. :P

He's a down-on-his-luck shepherd living in the highlands of the world's largest nation, and like his jutted jaw and sharp features would indicate, he's a gruff, large guy. He's also got a Scottish accent.

Though it is but a distant twinkle in my eye, I do enjoy modeling these characters. Ivan's profile was very different from what I'm used to. His bottom-heavy head shape and ears that stick out make for an interesting silhouette. I imagine modeling his top-heavy, almost apelike body will be a fun challenge, as well.

Back to Work

Finally, I have decided to pull myself out of this apathetic (also pathetic) slump to continue work on the Dmitri model. Or rather, the textures, starting with the eyes and hair and other small touches.

Finally, he's got actual eyes instead of two vacant black dots. It's amazing what an iris and some fake shine can do to make a character seem more alive. The hair is another matter, however. I believe I mentioned how slapdash the UV map for it was before, so I've really just been layering a ton of different things on it to try to make it look good and hide seams. It's worked, for the most part, and I think I can say I'm satisfied with it now.

Other things I did were, obviously, that "stubble" on the chin, and added a bit of noise to the skin. The latter is hardly noticeable, though. The former... looks okay, I suppose. I can already see the comments from my friends: "It looks like dirt." Which is true enough, I suppose, but it'll do for the time being.

I'm beginning to doubt I'll have the will to rig this one. Rigging is a pain for me and I'll avoid doing it if I can, even if it would be nice to have this guy fully poseable. I guess we'll see.

Oh, and one more treat...


















AAAAAAAAAGH!!!

Vacation Over

And I have nothing to show for it. Well, except some art. Maybe it will tide you over until I get off my butt and do something more substantial. This drawing, save for the initial pencil sketch, was done entirely with my drawing tablet. Consensus: TOO PAINFUL. Seriously it took like 3 hours longer than normal and my hand cramped up something fierce. It does look nice, but I think I'll stick to inking by hand for now.

When You Stare Into the Abyss...

... the Abyss stares right back. There's some pretty bad problems with that face, not the least of which is the texture. His lips are darker than the rest of his flesh tone, which, when looking at it here, looks REALLY odd, so that's gotta change. I've been having troubles figuring out how to make the eyes function properly, since they aren't spheres right now. I figure a good solution is to actually make them spheres and change the face to accomodate. Currently, his eyes are unmoving nearly-flat domes with separate circle pupils. This could potentially work, but I imagine in practice it would be easier to do the former than try to animate the latter.

As for the rest of the texture, well... I'm not UNhappy with it. The gloves are a big pain point since nothing seems to fit well with them, and texturing fingers and toes is a royal pain. I am pretty happy with the overall ensemble, though. And the hair turned out okay.

Maybe it all just looks off because of that vacant, soul-crushing stare. It's like the toys from Toy Story when people are around, except not nearly as endearing.

Progress

The model's texture isn't yet complete, but then I've had a pretty busy, exciting week. Last Friday I was supposed to have a job interview for a teacher assistant position at a small, local media academy. Turns out there was a mis-scheduling or something, so the interview didn't happen, but I did have a nice little chat with the assistant director and we rescheduled for next week. While it's not a game development job per se, it most certainly is an opportunity to work with what knowledge of game design I do possess, particularly modeling and animation.

Anyway, back to the issue of the texture. I must not have adequate memory on my PC, because Maya will slow to a chuggy crawl if I begin editing the UV map now that some textures are applied to the model. It looks okay so far. No highlights or blemishes on the skin (it's still all that flat colour), or the hair (same), but the clothes are looking pretty good.

Oh, right. I promised a drawing today.



I do fancy myself a bit of a writer, and this here is a villainous guy called Ash Wordos. His name is a play on the demon name Asmodeus, and he's one of seven assassins in the story. Ash is the only one of them who isn't actually human, but rather a construct of magic. He can easily change his shape as a result.