I’ve started on retopology – to help with this I installed the ‘PolyQuilt’ Blender add on. It helps me more efficiently place and edit quads over my high detail sculpt.
Creating a new Champion for 2XKO!
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Carving out details
From my initial blockout I began sculpting. I carved out details in my characters clothes, body and face.
From studying anatomy previously I found it not to be too much of a challenge to sculpt my characters body. Thanks to my complete blockout I was also able to be pretty efficient in moulding out the finer detail in my design.
Detailing the head/face was the most challenging – I needed to reference the most when tackling this part – but in the end I feel that I came to a successful stylised outcome. Using this article was quite helpful overall in this sculpting phase:
https://80.lv/articles/stylized-character-sculpting-in-zbrush
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Blocking out
This week I moved onto blocking out my model. In class we were shown one method of making a base using zspheres – I couldn’t quite get the hang of it so I moved on from this attempt…
In blender I created my initial block out, looking to map out the primary shapes/ largest forms. Next I will need to block out the secondary and tertiary forms and then bring out further detail with some sculpting.
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Finalised character
I didn’t settle on a final design in my last batch of sketches so did another page to try and find an outcome I would be happy to move forward with. I decided to do a mash up of the two female designs I did last time. I feel like this direction took the best elements from all my designs so far.
Now that I had a finalised design I could work from, I created a polished illustration/ splash art of my character, sanding down any unnecessary detail and determining my colour palette.
From this I made detailed turnaround drawings – these will help me when I come to 3D modelling.
I settled on her name – Almena – after the ‘Almendro’, a tropical tree resilient to lightning strikes.
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Fight!
I realized that I haven’t played the game I’m trying to emulate properly before so I booted it up today for a session to get a better look at the characters in engine.
After this I tried to look for rips of the character models online. With the help of a friend I was able to find the rigged models for all the playable characters: these will be invaluable references for when I come to do my modelling.
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Narrative Development + Sketches
From my initial concept I wrote a rough narrative for my character. So as not to harm my creative journey I kept it quite open ended, not going into too much detail – I’ll explore the specifics in my drawings.
Here’s my short narrative:
On a stormy evening a carriage races down a thin cliff face track – a pack of wolves in hot pursuit. With a jolt the carriage partially swerves off the road spilling a number of its contents, including an intricately decorated cot; down it fell into the cluster of trees below.
The cot fell a great distance, thankfully cushioned by the forest canopy. Inside, there lay a child – fever stricken and missing an arm (a feature from birth). The child was happened upon the forests protector and their spirit companions – to save it one of the spirits grafted itself together with a branch to the small person. From that day forward the child was raised by the spirits and animals of the forest becoming one of its prominent guardians.
Together with the forest spirit in their wooden arm the druid defends the great wood from anyone who would do it harm.
From this I developed a number of rough sketches, exploring silhouette, shape and form.
I developed a few of these rough sketches further – out of these I’ll be going forward with one.
I did some more detailed sketches of the wood prosthetic as this is supposed to be the main hook of the character.
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Art style and design research
To help with the creation of my character I did some analysis of the art style I’m trying to emulate as well as some general reseach on good character design.
Here’s my analysis/notes on the 2XKO artstyle – I was also able to find a helpful resource covering the creation process of the games designs:
2XKO’s characters and designed to be bold and expressive. Their proportions are highly stylised each with a distinct recognisable silhouette.
Bright, bold, high saturation colours are used in a majority of the characters designs, making them pop from the comparatively desaturated backgrounds. They are easily spotted on the screen in the action of the game. Cel-shading is used with black outlines adding detail to the figures and their props.
Visual effects drop the outlines and when animated tend to show movement with heavy use of smear frames.
Bringing League Champions to 2XKO’s Art Style – Super Art Power Hour Ep. 11, Riot Games (YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBnBQ7zs2_k)
- ‘As concept artists our main role is to try and make as many large swings as possible’, make many expirations to find the best outcome.
- Certain feature are ‘expensive’, eg, a cape will give a lot more work to animators working on that character.
- Shadows and line work are a big part of the style, too many details becomes too visually noisy.
- In fighting games you want people to track the hands and feet and distinguish the other parts of the body easily, the design should be working to help with this.
- Always consider proportion and silhouette, fighting game characters are always moving.
- Fighting game characters are ‘larger than life’, ‘everything on them is double the size, they have double the muscle mass, they have double the personality’.
For my character design research I looked at a number of resources:
Axis Studio’ head of character on what makes a character good, 80.lv article https://80.lv/articles/axis-studios-head-of-characters-on-what-makes-a-character-good –
- Successful characters ‘tell a story’. People enjoy and are interested by a good hook – something that gives the character life.
- Technical execution is just as important as a compelling concept.
- Consider shape language, is the character heavy or light, make them bulky or streamlined.
How to make Capcom fighting characters, page (book, https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Make-Capcom-Fighting-Characters/dp/1772941360) –
Page 12
- ‘The characters of the Street Fighter series are a lineup of incredible super humans brimming with personality, but also with something comical that makes them hard not to love.’
Page 22
- The importance of ‘applying a rationale’ in fighting games, part of the appeal of fighting games is ‘the “head canon” that unfurls as the character you’re controlling clashes with the enemy’.
Trent Kaniuga, What every character designer needs to know! (YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGtR14xSV-E) –
- The most important aspect is the purpose/ function, what is your design going to be about?
- Consider the world they live in.
- Does the design match their story?
- Themes – what’s the first thing you want someone to notice?
- How will the character be viewed – consider from what angle the player will be looking at the character the most.
This research will definitely be valuable in assisting me in my creative process and help me attain a succesful final outcome.
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New project START!
This week I’m starting on my next project – creating a 3D character in the style of an existing IP.
Out of the suggestions provided I decided to go with League of Legends (specifically it’s spin-off game 2XKO).Here were some initial ideas I wrote down for my possible character, including what I could animate them doing after their model is rigged:
I made a mood board and brainstormed a list of words which could help me choose a clearer visual direction for my character – at the moment I’m leaning towards the ‘Druid’ concept.
Alot of the refrences I collected for my moodboard can help to inform my characters anatomy, proportion and costume design. I chose to look at many designs from Capcom as they are experts at designing iconic fighting game characters – I intend to borrow elements from them in my own design.