Character Design Enhancement week assessment

Research and inspiration

My main ideas for making my character were based off of 2 references. It started off by being fully referenced by a player in Elden Ring by the name of Let Me Solo Her. They wore a big pot on their head for their character. The character is very recognisable and you know who he is just by looking at the player character model. The other reference I pulled from is Viking style and medieval style, their armour and look is very nice and I would like to replicate it to make my outfit look clean and recognisable.

I started off by creating my character in 2D to make sure I like my concept before creating it in 3D, this was to make sure that I like the idea and don’t have to restart later on if I don’t fully like the original idea. unfortunately, I did redo my character due to a gender swap, however it wasn’t as bad as i was able to transfer a lot of my materials and knowledge into the new character as it wasn’t too much of a deviation from the original. Having a woman be my lead meant I had to give it a bit more clothing as too not reveal anything we do not want to show.

Retopology

I used a Medium poly model (1Million Polys) to create my retopology model as it was the highest amount of detail that is needed, as I don’t need any skin imperfections on the base topology. Skin imperfections are mainly put on during the baking process with texturing.

Screenshots

These are some orthographic Wireframe pictures of my model, my model comes out to 31K Polys which is a decent amount for a character. It would be much more if it had a face like in the male version.

This is a close look at what the texturing of the skin looks like, I made this by baking my High-Poly model onto my retopology model, that was sub divided once to make sure there were no sharp edges. I tried to make the skin itself tell the story with where the bruising is and also how the skin was cut and is still purple. I made sure most the redness was on the joints were as a lot of bruising was on where someone would typically throw a punch, like in the abdomen. And also on the hands were Bucket-Head are throwing and holding her weapons.

( I shall make sure to make a muscle grouping anatomy piece for the final blog, to show that I know my anatomy. )

What I intend on adding

I intend on making an axe weapon for my character that will make them stand out better, along with the 2 handed battle axe I was planning on making a red cape with a cloth sim attached with a wind component in front. It will make the character more cinematic and it will make them recognisable when seen.

I would like to add some fur onto the model, but I know that it creates a performance drop, so I might have it as a toggle. As I could have fur padding shoulder plates, boots and even gloves.

I have noticed that the hands also seem very bare along with the arms, therefore I was thinking of wrapping them up in bandages with the ends also having cloth sims. My aim is to make this model feel very fluid and flexible.

Another thing I want to add is a face for the end of my VFX and production module, for when Bucket Head takes off her bucket you can the back of a female head with short blond hair.

Lastly for now I want to make my Bucket have dents on it as if it has been used, and also to add handles to show that yes, this was a real bucket and it has been used over and over again.

Turn-Table Camera shot

References

Sorry for no references, I shall put down the list when I gather everything for the final blog.