Characters! But in Groups!
So begins another 3D character design unit, however this time we are tasked with creating our own 3D character in a group context. Whilst not strickly a group project, its had a few of us come together with the similar theme and interest for a design that we wanted to create. I teamed up with fellow cohort members Denise and Jorge, and we decided on an aquatic theme in the style of Overwatch. We wanted to encorporate the idea of anthropomorphic characters such as Wrecking Ball/Hammond, but on a scale that involves aquatic animals, not just mammals.
To start, we founded a small group DM where we started presenting concepts and ideas.
Big Ol’ Moodboard
To start gathering ideas of what I wanted to go for, I created a moodboard with possible things to reference. Originally I had the idea of doing something with a squid/octopus, as I feel that would be a character akin’ed to Overwatch’s idea of a creature that can be anthropomorphized, plus 8 limbs, would be a challenge for me when it comes down to rigging and animation, I want to push myself.
Concepting!
Following on from the research, it was time to start concepting my character, I feel pretty established in my theming so I was really happy to move onto thumbnailing so quick, as usually it takes me quite a while to feel fully confident in my idea.
I wanted to create another healer class styled character, much like the 2D rendered work I did in Year 1, as I felt that something was sorta missing or that there was unfinished buisness in a way, and I really enjoyed working on that class and that theme, so I thought why not extend that into this year, but have a much more unique definining feature about it. I tried to exaggerate the form of the squid/octopus in each thumbnail I made, with the top 3 being mainly anthro whilst the bottom ones tried to be a bit more accurate it how it would look, however, definitely not the case for th.5.
Alongside this, I had asked my teammates and friends on which one they liked the most! A majority of my friends really enjoyed thumbnail 2 and 5, and my teammates felt the same way. Overall, I decided to go with thumbnail 2, and develop that one further. I enjoy the scale of it, and think its significant enough, but also incorportates a lot of elements from my other thumbnails. Whilst thumbnail 5 is a lot of fun, I don’t think it could really qualify for the Overwatch feel that I want to achieve.
For now, this concludes Week 1! I’m incredibly happy to have gotten a solid concept and idea down in one week! A new record for me it feels like, as I do ponder and wonder about my concepts a lot, so I’m glad to have something I and my teammates are excited to work on ready to develop further! See you in Week 2!