Major - Alekos Flat Textures

Major - Alekos Skeleton Built

Major - Alekos UV Layouts

Head, Hair, Torso/Shirt/Scarf, Trousers/Belt/Feet

Major - Alekos Body Modelling #5 - Adjusted Details and Final Model

Added details in the mesh for where the shirt ends

Added Eyebrows

Fixed the shape of hands

Major - Alekos Body Modelling #4 - Finished Clothing Details and Fixed Head Geometry

I finished the clothing details for Alekos and with Alans help got the Geometry on his head fixed up so it looks better. There are a few smaller bits I need to fix on his model as a whole before I start UVing but he's pretty much finished other than that.

Major - Alekos Body Modelling #3 - Starting Clothing Details

I started adding Alekos' clothing details on his torso. I'm happy with how it's going so far, but the parts I've done so far definitely need more modelling.

Major - Alekos Body Modelling #2 - Feet, Hands and Added Head

I have connected the head and added hands and his feet to the model. The neck looks a tiny bit strange, but since it will be covered by his neck scarf it will be okay.

Major - Alekos Head Modelling #5 - Finished Hair

I finished the Hair for Alekos. I had to take a few liberties with the placement of some pieces but I'm happy with how it's come out.

Major - Alekos Body Modelling #1 - Torso and Legs Progress

I've been working on the Body Modelling for Alekos. He has a lot of odd shapes in his overall form so its taken a while to get things right. I'm not happy with the shape of the chest in the side view so I may end up changing it drastically in comparison to the orthographs until I like it. Right now the legs aren't done since i'm still working through the tutorial.

Major - Alekos Head Modelling #4 - Finished Head and Hair Rough Blocking

I've started to work on the rough hair blocking for Alekos. His hair is pretty intricate, and its taking a lot to make everything accurate to his Orthos and work in 3d. So far I've only got the front done, and it needs some serious work to make it look nicer.

Major - Alekos Head Modelling #3 - Detailed Eyes and Nose

I've modelled and sculpted the Nose and Eyes, plus added in the neck and changed around the geometry to look better. One thing I'm not completely happy with is how "alien" he looks. He also looks very scary and I'd like him to look kinder. I'm going to work on fixing that before moving on with the throat and eyebrows.

Major - Alekos Head Modelling #2 - Eyes and Slightly Better Lips

I haven't uploaded in a couple of days, that's because I've been concentrating on finishing up my dissertation ready for my hand in. Now that's done, I can finally give my undivided attention to my Major project.

I've finished the eyes for Alekos and gave him some slightly better lips. I'm struggling a bit more with him than I did for Katherine, purely because his facial structure is more "bony" and less "fleshy".

I now need to move on to his nose, which is going to be a struggle too. Last time with Katherine I recall I had a lot of issues with her nose while making and when it was finished. Which I had to get fixed by Alan. That resulted in different geometry than the JPJ tutorial. I'm going to try a different approach this time and use the (now obsolete) tutorial from the 2012-2015 Cartoon Character Head Modelling on the website which uses a different technique of extruding instead of building face by face.

Major - Alekos Head Modelling #1 - Rough Blocking and Lips

Rough Block Front

Rough Block Side

Rough Block Unsmoothed

Lips

Smoothed View

Major - To-Do

I've discussed with Alan the next steps I need to take for my project.

Katherine:

• Fix Face Rig
• Build pre-vis set for rough animation and layout
• Refine animatic
• Film Reference Footage
• Build and Texture Set
• Final Animation Passes
• Lighting and Rendering
• Editing: Music and Sound

Alekos:

• Model Head and Body
• UV and Texture
• Build Skeleton
• Skin
• Rig
• Build pre-vis set for rough animation and layout
• Refine animatic
• Film Reference Footage
• Build and Texture Set
• Final Animation Passes
• Lighting and Rendering
• Editing: Music and Sound

Elisadora:

• Model Head and Body
• UV and Texture
• Build Skeleton
• Skin
• Rig
• Build pre-vis set for rough animation and layout
• Refine animatic
• Film Reference Footage
• Build and Texture Set
• Final Animation Passes
• Lighting and Rendering
• Editing: Music and Sound

Art-Of:

• Alekos and Elisadora: Character Poses and Expressions
• Alekos: Torch Prop
• Sections for Environment and Layout

All of this should be achievable if I work in blocks. I'm also getting faster with the Pipeline for Modelling and Rigging so I'm confident I can get those done in time.

First things first, I'm going to be working on finishing up Katherines block, and starting on Alekos' Modelling alongside her. 

Minor - Reflective Statement

I didn't want to write this without first addressing the elephant in the room. My Premise. Something I had no choice but to drop. The person I commissioned the music from for my premise never met the deadline I gave them, and since my premise would heavily rely on the music (since it was a music video), I had no choice but to drop it and start fresh for my Minor. Part of me wishes things went differently, that I could be working on that project even now. But another part of me is happy with what I'm doing now.

My character/wordbuilding driven Minor project has been a bumpy rollercoaster ride. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Its been a challenge, but an incredibly fun one. I'm glad I had the chance to start over for Minor, to chase what I love to do.

Creating the World of Solumna was fun but challenging. I had my ups and downs with the project, and it took a while to get off the ground with the idea, but once I got going It was a fairly straight path forward.

I enjoyed designing my 3 characters a lot, and I think they represent the three races of Solumna well. I'm looking forward to making the rest in Maya too.

I ran into many problems while making Katherine. This is mostly due to the fact that during my third year I didn't make much progress with Jet Pack Jones, which meant a lot of the stuff from the tutorials I was doing for the first time and learning as I went. Which wasn't the best for me in terms of the progress made. If I had the experience with JPJ I think I would have worked faster.

My first focus for Major is to start modelling my two remaining characters, Alekos and Elisadora. I've gotten fairly fast at modelling and think I can get them done in a good time frame. My second focus is finishing the designs for the environments they'll be shown in and also refining the animatic. I also still need to finish the facial expression for Katherines model, but since I keep running into issues with the method we were taught, that's been put on hold for now until fixed. I didn't want to spend time fixing it that I could be working on polishing other things. But I will come back to it.

Another thing I'll need for my Major is to find someone to do the music for it. This will be done when I have my animatic finalised and finished.

Moving into Major I'm very excited to keep working on this project, It's been a fun ride so far with results I'm proud of.

Minor - Submission Post

Animatic

Making of

Turnarounds

Rig Demo

Title of Project: Solumna

This project is a character design/worldbuilding project. I've designed 3 characters to fit in the world I created. The aim is to have them elude to a bigger world and plot, without giving away too much straight away, wanting viewers to believe there's a bigger world waiting to be explored.

My personal goals for this project was to finish modelling one character and have the other 2 fully designed ready to start modelling in my major.

The agreed outcomes were one character modelled, rigged and textured, my making of and an animatic. As well as turnarounds for the character and their assets. However, I couldn't get the asset turnarounds rendered in time.

Minor - Animatic Version 1

This animatic depicts a "trailer" full of short vignettes for each of my characters.