Character Design Sketches

 The image to the right is the initial sketch of the character Dandy. He has a large upper body but a smaller lower body. The hands are almost touching the floor and has a small head. The hands are gigantic, being able to cover the head with one hand.

The upper body is far too large for the lower body, making the legs very small. This is not I wanted because this will cause Dandy to have walking problems. The head is also far too small, making him look like an idiot. The overall look tells me that he is unintelligent but has a lot of strength. This is not what I wanted becaue Dandy is both smart and strong.

The picture to the right shows the side view of the character. From this view, one can see that he has a slightly protruding stomach. The size of the head is now bigger but the arms are shorter. The length of the feet is long enough that Dandy is able to see his feet without sucking in his belly.

With a protruding belly, Dandy does not seem as scary as before. I feel that the arms should be longer because the elbow joint is too high and should be lowered.

In this picture, this is the final front view of the character. The size of the head has been adjusted, the size of his upper body has been decreased. His arms are longer and his finger touches the ground. The character's legs are still short but looks better with the adjusted body. A slightly curve has been added to the waist area to show the protruding stomach.

Dandy does not look as scary as before and looks more like a comedic character. Even though his fingers touch the ground, it is not a problem. The most important thing about the character's appearance is the big hands, small lower body and a comedic look.

 The first pose of the character is sitting on a chair, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. The important aspect of the pose is how he holds the items. Due to his large hands, Dandy only needs to use his index finger and thumb in order to hold the cup.

The chair has shorter legs because the character's legs are short. If he sat on a normal chair, his legs will be dangling in the air.

 The second pose of the character is running away in panic. The angle of the picture is looking down like the sun at 4pm in the afternoon. Dandy is swinging his arms quickly while running. His back is arced such that his chest is pointing upwards.

Since the chest is pointing upwards, his head is thrown backwards while his legs are running near the front. The transfer of energy is a curve which goes from the character's foot to the spine which moves to the head.

 This is a stationary pose of the character posing. This is one of the gags that the team does. The gag is a flashy introduction of the team, with each member doing a pose like a super hero and this is Dandy's pose. The weight of the character is on the right foot.

 This is another stationary pose of the character posing like a gorilla. Due to the body of Dandy, his body resembles more of a gorilla than a human. He was told to bend over and have his hands touch the floor like a gorilla. Dandy only bends over slightly and his hands already touches the floor. The weight of the character is distributed between and hands and feet.

 This pose is of the character trying to jump into the window of a car. The pose shows that he intends to enter the window legs-first. The position of the right hand shows that he was running or moving quickly before jumping. It is also noted that the character used his left leg to jump because the right leg is straight and is used to aim for the window.
 






This pose is a stationary pose of the character doing a gag. The character has slightly bent knees and the elbows are at 90 degrees. The upper body, lower body and legs are facing to the right while the arms and head are facing to the left. The character could have twisted his upper body, lower body and legs to do this pose.

The gag consists of the character twisting his body in order to get the pose.




The pose is of the character inspecting something small. The character only uses his index finger and thumb because the object is too small to be held in the entire hand. Holding with only using the index finger and thumb greatly implies that he is inspecting something.

The right leg is also forward because the entire body is leaning forward. Instead of bring the object closer to the eyes, the character chose to move his head closer to the object.

 This pose is of the character shrugging his shoulders. With raised shoulders and arms out, this shows that the character does not know the anwser. The direction of the character's face is probably where the person asking him the question is at. He wants to make sure that the person asking the question is seeing the gesture as it is the character's answer.

This pose is of the character walking with his head high in the air. His left hand is adjusting his tie and is walking with his right foot out. The weight of the character rests on the left foot.

A character walking with a head held up high shows that he is happy and is looking at the sky. Unlike prideful characters who walk with their heads up, Dandy is walking normally. Pridefull characters tend to take smaller steps with their heads up high.



The final pose is a stationary pose of the character having a depressed-like feeling. This feeling is like doing something with a lot of effort to get a result while another hardly does anything and gets the same result.

The character stands in a straight pose with no life in his body. The raised head can be seen as looking into the sky. This shows what the character is thinking. He is thinking that he doesn't care about anything anymore and simply stands there stunned.




I learn from the work that body expressions can be used to convey messages across. That are a lot of body movements that is used to express the character's thoughs and actions that I did not notice. Even the smallest of gestures like raising the head can tell the audience something. However, body movement can have different meanings when combined with other body movements, creating a totally different body expression. One must be careful to take note of the simplest of details in order to accurately convey the message across as it can greatly affect the expression.

Week 4 rigging

1 of the problems that I have with rigging is the finger bones. The hands of the models were not faced down and the fingers are slightly curved. Due to these reasons I had problems with the fingers. When I had to Joint Orient the fingers, the axis are pointing all over the place. This made the finger curl look like worms rather than fingers.

The 2nd problem is the arms and shoulders. The shoulder joint is actually very flexible as it allows 360 degree of rotation. However, the skin around the shoulder gets twisted badly if I try to move the arms around too much. I try to resolve this by using the shoulder control but there is a limit to this. I feel that I should have done the shoulder control better as to prevent problems like this.

The next problem is the spine. I do not think that I have arrange the spine bones properly for the spine control. Since there was only 1 spine control, I should not have made the spine so curved.

The final problem that I had is the distribution of the weight of the skin. The problems I had on the skin was the breast area, elbow area and knee area.

The problems I had with the breasts was to retain its shape as the spine bends. I did this by giving complete control of the breast area to the 3rd spine bone while the 4th spine bone was only given control on the area slightly above the breasts.

For the elbows and knees, I had to make them bend realistically. I group the area at the elbow to the lower arm while the area at the knee is with the calf. I had to study how the muscles move in order to make the skin on the model bend as accurately as possible.

I successful did the ball lift and toe lift and used them in my poses. However, I feel that I could improve on areas like the weight distributions on the skin and rigging the shoulder control better. I should also improve the elbow control since I have problems with the pole vector of the elbow.

Eleven Rig Poses

Pose1 Side

Pose1 Front

The first pose is sitting down cross-legged. The main highlights are the curved spine, crossed legs and arms.

The spine has to be curved to show that the character is relaxed and leaning forward. The left arm of the character cannot stick out too much or it will spoil the curve. The arms are forward to show that it is supporting the upper body which is leaning forward.

The shoulders of the character has to be forward to give the slouching effect to show that the character is relaxed. The character's neck has to be more forward and the head is turned so that the face will be in the direction of the camera.

One of the biggest challenges is the cross-legged sit. The knees has to be adjusted so that it is higher than the hip. I then inserted the feet and rotated them. I had to do more adjustments on the knee and feet to make the cross-leg effect. The knee on the character is actually above the foot and has to be raised higher so that it can accommodate the foot beneath it.

Pose2 Side

Pose2 Front

The second pose is a model pose. The highlights of the pose is the legs, hips, shoulders and curve of the waist.

The right leg is front of the left leg and the hip is swung to the left. For the hip to be swung to the left, the character has to be resting her weight on her left leg. The hip also has to have its right side point out so that the right left can be infront of the left leg. The right leg is quite far from the center but is actually supporting the body. The left leg is straight as to support majority of the body's weight.

The shoulders of the character has to be wider while the hands have to be pushed deeper into the model. The elbows need to form triangles to give highlight on the shoulders.

The most important aspect is the curve of the waist. The curve from the left hip joint to the waist to the left shoulder is crucial to the pose. Even though the hip is very tilted, the shoulders try to stay as straight as possible. This gives the effect of the character trying to show off the right side of the body.

Pose3 Front

The third pose is of a young boy playing basket ball. The highlight of the pose is the bent body, shoulders and left arm.

The character needed to have bent knees and a curved spine because it is trying to bounce a ball that is lower than the waist. The curved spine and forward shoulders make the character look like its leaning forward.

The bent of the legs allows the character to be lower than normal as to bounce the ball. The right leg shows that the character is preparing to move forward while the left leg is supporting the body weight. Since the direction of the right leg seems to be different from the body, it  could be that the character is turning to the left.

The left arm needs to show that the ball is not too close to the body and is within control of the character. Basketball players try to keep the ball within a certain distance from their bodies so that they can do more moves and not be placed in a situation when they can no longer bounce the ball. The left shoulder is sticking out so that it show that the character is using its left arms to bounce the ball. The arm also shows that it is relaxed.

Pose3 Back

Since the character's right arm and hand is been blocked by the body and is hardly seen. I did not pose those parts of the body.

Spiderman Poses

Pose1 Front

The first pose is Spiderman's trademark pose of hanging upside down. The act of having his body position this way resembles how a spider would descend down a web. The outspread legs are position exactly like a spider's when it descends down a web.

I feel that my pose could be improved because his body is not symmetrical. This removes the grace of Spiderman when he descends upside down. He looks as if he is trying to maintain his balance rather than being in control. I also feel that the bulge at his crotch area can be distracting.

The camera is actually upside down instead of the model because I found out that the model has some problems when it is upside down.

Pose1 Side

In the side, the most important aspect is the curve of the spine. Spiderman's center of gravity is actually somewhere around his belly button. When the spine curves, his CG is becomes further than the rest of his body. To balance out the weight, his legs and head has to be over his arms since his shoulders are acting as a pivot. However, this makes Spiderman look funny from the side view.

The curve of the waist looks unnatural and can be improved on. The calves can be aligned with the hands to make the pose look better.

Pose2 Front

The second pose is of Spiderman doing a back flip to dodge an attack. This pose shows the power and flexibility of Spiderman's body because the move is very difficult to do. By looking at the picture, one can tell that he is jumping backwards to the left by how he twists his body in mid-air. One can also tell that he used his right leg to jump instead of both because his left leg is raised higher than his right. This shows that he is using the momentum of his left leg to complete the flip instead of completely relying on his right leg.

Pose2 Top

Spiderman's neck is also turned to help with the flip. The neck acts as a guide for the spine, telling it how much to bend for the flip. His left shoulder is moved back while his right shoulder is moved towards the front. This allows him to back flip to the left as it twists his upper body. His fingers are widespread and his arms are straight. This shows that he is preparing to land. The straightness of his arms allows him to use his arms for momentum during the flip. The widespread fingers shows the strength he used to keep his arms straight.

In the top view, the transfer of energy can seen travelling from the right to the waist, through the spine and to the neck. This is how a normal back flip works. The right side of his body will be more stretched because the left hand acts like a pivot. The left side of the body tries to keep close while the right side stretches to swing the body around.




The third pose is of Spiderman falling. While he is falling, he shoots a web to save himself. The most notable part of the pose is his hand which is his signature hand sign. The most important aspect of the pose is the twist of his waist. In order to save himself from falling, Spiderman has to twist his upper body and shoot the web so that the web will travel faster. Since he is in mid-air, his lower body will twist in the opposite direction.

I feel that the front of the pose looks average and can be improved on. Spiderman does not look balanced. I have to shift his right leg inner. His right leg looks as though it is more front than the left leg even though the left leg should be infront. His web shooting hand has to be tilted up because the web comes out from his wrist. If his hand is straight, the hand will be blocking the web.

Pose3 Front

Pose3 Side

In the side view, the bad side is exposed. The character's crotch is bulging and his waist looks distorted. I also feel that the spine should be more curved. His Spiderman is falling, his CG should act as the lead during the fall and the rest of the body bends with the CG as the center.

I made his right shoulder stick front while his left shoulder is moved back to show that he used strength in his shoulders to do the twist.

Cow Modeling Part 3

Final Feet Perspective

Feet

I increased the size of the feet and shaped it to resemble hooves. The hooves are not accurately correct because they resemble more like pig hooves and cow hooves. The hooves are also flat which is not correct as cow hooves are raised. I created the flat hooves to keep the model simple and because the cow is walking on 2 legs. Having raised hooves on a cow walking on 2 legs makes it look as though its wearing high heels.

Final Feet Side

Problems

Initial Neck

1 of the problems I have was that I smoothed the model too earlier. This created a lot of problems because I have not merged the different body parts yet.

The body had even more vertices and the neck area had too many vertices and have to merge some of them first before I can merge the head. The neck had 16 vertices while the head has 8 vertices.

Final Neck

Areas around the neck have planes that have more than 4 vertices. I had to slowly remove and replace them. In the final model, the neck area is not smooth and have a crumbled effect around the neck. This makes the model look as though it has scales on its neck.



What I have learned

By doing this exercise I have learned some useful tips on modeling.

Most of the time I delete half of the model so that I do not need to adjust to sides of the model at the same time. After I have done all on my changes, I use Mirror Geometry to create the other half of the model.

I also noticed some elements of the human anatomy that I did not noticed before. I also learned about a cow's anatomy and combined it with the human body. I figured out the elements of what makes a cow look like a cow and try to retain does elements while modeling the cow. Even though the model does not resemble a cow  or a human, the features that people are familiar with help viewers to recognize the model as a cow.

Cow Modeling Part 2

Initial Hand

 Hand

The initial hand lacked detail and was too big for the model. The fingers and thumb are round and the fingers point at the same direction. The decoration at the wrist makes the hand look like its wearing a glove. The diameter of the finger is roughly the same throughout the length of the finger.

Final Hand Whole

In the final hand, I reduced the hand size and the length of the fingers and thumb. I also made them point in different directions. I increased the decoration at the wrist to help emphasized the glove effect. By making the fingers shorter than normal, I wanted to make the hands look cuter because the palm of the hand looks bigger.

I made the finger tips less pointed and added details to the hands. The thumb has more shape to it and the areas between the fingers have been adjusted to make the fingers more prominent. I have also added the effect of having knuckles on the hand, raising the vertices inline with the fingers and lowering the vertices beside them.

Final Hand Fingers

Final Hand Side

On the side view, the vertices are raised to create knuckles on the hand.








Arm & Leg

Final Arm

The arms of the final model is shortened and the vertices have been moved around to add detail of having muscles and an elbow. I have shifted the arms slightly inner into the body so that I can make the shoulders of the model smaller.

Final Leg

The legs of the final model is thicker and have added detail to the legs. I tried to create the thigh and calf muscles on the leg and made the knee more obvious. I have also reduced the size of the ankles so that it becomes the smallest part of the leg.

I tired not to add too much detail to the arms and legs because I did not want the  cow to look muscular. I only wanted sufficient detail on the body to add realism to the model.

Cow Modeling Part 1

Overall

Initial Model

The model to the right is the initial model. Its head is too big, the arms are too long, the legs are too thin and the body is not fat. The hands are also too big and the model lacks a lot of detail. 

The pictures below show the finished model's front & back. The adjustments to the model includes making the head smaller, shortening the arms and thickening the legs, making the hands look more realistic and making the body look fat. Detail have been added to the arms, legs and hands to make it look better.

Finished Model Front

Finished Model Back

 

Initial Head

Head

The initial has a long snout and the back of the head it too round and long. The ears are too small for the head.

For the final model, I reduced the head size and also reduced the snout's length, making it shorter. By having a flatter snout, I wanted to make the cow look cuter. I increased the cow's ears to increase its presence and make it more noticeable. I have also decreased the size of the lower lip so that the snout will be bigger than the lower lip. I did this to give it a friendly look because of the smaller mouth.

 

Final Head Side

Final Head Front

Character Design

Basic Details

Name: Dandy

Tagline: All muscles and all brains.

Backstory: Employed by Welfare Co., Dandy helps others while being pulled into crazed plans made by his leader.

Story

Welfare Co. is an international company specialised in doing odd jobs. Dandy along with his mates, Black and Monkey, are employed in a company branch to help others in need. However, the leader of the branch, Black, often does the jobs in an extreme way and Dandy usually gets caught in the flow.

Motivation

Having a wealthy background caused Dandy to have the strongest body and the smartest mind. Due to his abilities, Dandy never asked people for help neither did other asked him for help. Over the years, Dandy’s became more distant socially and wealthier. Others only approached him for his money and Dandy never felt any connection with them.

One day, he went to a carwash and met Black. Black was helping out because there was a lack of manpower. When Dandy asked Black why is he helping out, Black replied with a simple reason. ‘They were asking for help.’ These words stayed with Dandy even after he joined Welfare Co. Being charmed by Black, Dandy uses his abilities to help others as much as he can.

Appearance

1) The most eye-catching about Dandy’s appearance is his body shape. Dandy has a large, muscular upper body but a small lower body. His arms are long and large while his legs are small and short. His neck is so thick that his chin can hardly be seen.

2) The most interesting part of Dandy is his hands. His hands and fingers are so large that he can pick a person up by only using his index finger and thumb. His big hands allows him to do delicate tasks like dialling a phone number using a very small phone or holding chopsticks.

3) His facial appearance consists of a bald head and stubble around his mouth.

4) A key visual of Dandy’s body is his feet. Even though his legs are short, the size of his feet is not proportional to the leg. His feet are slightly bigger and longer.

5) Dandy is always seen with wearing a tie around his neck unless he is in his sleep wear. The design of the tie changes, depending on his outfit.

Behaviour

1) Even though Dandy is very intelligent, he usually follows through with Black’s methods on handling the job. Black frequently comes up with ineffective methods to handle tasks but Dandy likes the methods because it is enjoyable. Dandy can come up with better methods but usually stays silent.

2) Dandy often does gags with Black, making the atmosphere funny. Most of the gags involve doing stupid things at certain moments.

3) With small legs and a normal walking pace, Dandy does not walk any slower than a normal person. His posture while walking is relaxed but firm.

4) Dandy can become serious when the situations call for it. If an action of Black is going to cause the situation to worsen, Dandy will intervene with the best of his abilities.

5) With a superior intellect, Dandy often explains things that the other members do not know about. Dandy often does it when the group encounters something new.

Dialogue

Dandy with Black while being chased by a group of criminals:

Dandy: When you first explained it, I thought that it was a very good plan!

Black: Really?

Dandy: Yea really! You don’t come up with good plans often!

Black: Thanks! So what about now?

(Dandy and Black jump over a fence)

Dandy: It sucks badly!