First of all, I needed to pick which characters to model for the project. According to the assignment, I just needed a "Character 1" & "Character 2", no specifications whatsoever on what they should be like. The one rule was that they couldn't already have been made in 3D. This rules out many video game characters, and many characters from 3D forums. It might not seem like a big deal, but it does weaken your work when something like it already exists (I think plush artists would easily understand this).
Anyway, the point of a modeler's job is to take someone's concept art and bring it to life in 3D. A major aspect of the project is how closely the model matches the concept. Most of the time, even in small studios, concept artists/pre-production artists are separate from modelers. The concept artist needs to make sure that his/her drawings are clear, and the modelers needs to make sure that he/she actually matches the concept. After all, what would be the point of the concept art if it didn't? Plus, the concept art would have been approved by the director and perhaps other team-members as well. If everyone is expecting this concept to be the character, and people start changing it along the way... you're going to have a mess. As obvious as it sounds to not change anything, when people start running into problems with the model or running out of time, they start cutting corners and they end up changing things.
Picking the Concept Art
Since I am a fan of medieval fantasy, high fantasy, and similar themes, I wanted to go with something along those lines for my thesis (I like sci-fi and other themes too, but... this has to be my favorite). Also, I needed the two characters to contrast each other, while still looking like they fit in the same world.
When looking for concept art online, it's best to start with a specific idea and then move on from there. Too often do I see people typing "concept art" on google images, and being presented with an extremely random and boring selection of images. You want to first imagine what kind of character you do want, pick a few keywords that describe it, and go from there.
For Character 1, at first, I wanted to make a sorceress/wizard/mage. Character 2 would then be a similar magic-casting character, but an evil necromancer instead. However, while I was going through hundreds of pictures I didn't find one that really popped out to me. I started searching through artists' profiles and similar images. Many websites, such as DeviantArt, have thumbnails showing pictures very similar to the one you're currently viewing, which makes browsing like this very easy. I found a witch design that I really liked, but ended up looking through the artists' other works and finding something I liked better.
The quality of the art plays a big role in how your model is going to end up. Now, yes I know, "good" art is extremely subjective... but in general, there is a significant difference between art that was drawn by a professional and by an amateur. The better your concept art is, the better your model is going to be. I attended a live presentation by a Senior Modeler from Dreamworks Animation, and even he stressed how important this was.
So, there are certain key things I wanted to look for which are not so subjective. Keep in mind this list is only what *I* was looking for, for this particular project:
- Full-body
- Color (If it wasn't in color, I would have to create the color scheme myself, which would take extra time... and I don't feel comfortable with that)
- Detail (It can't be too sketchy, or a blurry speedpaint)
- Decent Anatomy (Not looking for a chibi anime character)
Concept art can be pretty much anything; it doesn't have to be a model sheet or a schematics sheet (shows front/back/side of a character or object), but you are super lucky if you manage to find those, because it makes your job a lot easier. If your character doesn't have schematics, you will have to draw them yourself - more on that in another post.
Eventually, I found some characters that looked AWESOME. While I had over 100 images saved, I narrowed it down to 10 of my favorites for each character. I showed these to various people at school, on my private blog, and over skype, to get an idea of which ones are the most popular. For the female character, most people loved Gaviel -- a fierce, awesome-looking, black & red thief character. I loved her too, so she was my first choice.
For the male character, it was a bit harder. I had a lot of big, evil-looking characters. Some of them were armored knights, others were liches (related to my original search for necromancers). Peoples' responses were all over the place. Ultimately, I picked the Skeleton Knight. I am a sucker for glowy lights, emissive effects, and magic. I also wanted the chance to make some badass armor -- and his undead face still allows me to do some fun organic modeling.
I wouldn't say they are a perfect contrast, but it's still a strong pairing. It's not a standard good vs evil/white vs black scenario, it is grey vs black.
The female is a thief (not rogue or other similar archetype) character, as stated by the creator. She doesn't appear to be "heroic" -- and rarely can you expect a thief to be so -- she is merely seeking personal gain. It's sometimes difficult to determine the alignment of a thief. But a major point to consider, with all characters, is motivation. Why is she a thief? I sent a message to the creator to see if he has an answer or a backstory for her... So I'll update this part later. Thieves can be any alignment except for lawful good, and I don't want her to be evil, so that removes 4 choices. I still have to figure out what she really is.
The skeleton knight is a powerful undead character. From the clear presence of magic on him, we can assume he has been cursed or enchanted, not that he was merely affected by a zombie disease or parasite (could be both however). He will be dwelling in a dungeon setting, hostile to anyone who approaches. This character is neutral evil.
That's all for now. I wrote quite a bit in this post, but I expect the next ones to be shorter.
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