Research & Concept
Moodboard
My chosen IP for this project is Monster Hunter. I hope to create a character in armour inspired by a creature similar to the games’ armour sets. To fit within my IP, my base character will be human and the outfit will include a variety of textures such as metal, fur and cloth.
I started by looking at the games’ armour sets which are crafted from materials obtained by killing monsters. Each armour set is reminiscent of the design of the defeated creature therefore for my own character, I will include elements of a creature design so that the armour fits within the IP.
I began looking at real armour, I focused mainly on royal and samurai armour as I felt they closely matched the Monster Hunter style. I liked the ornate engravings on the royal armour which I will reference back to when sculpting. I found many examples from the Tower of London therefore I plan to visit to gather my own references. I found that the samurai armour involved layered, rectangular pieces of armour rather than body shaped pieces as it doesnt restrict movement. I also liked the interesting helmets, each involving uniquely shaped horns which I would like to consider in my own design.
As I wanted to vary my textures, I looked at fur clothing and capes, I liked how some where held together by chains and involved spikes as it comes across as more powerful.
I also looked at costume armour, similar to the creature inspired armour in Monster Hunter. I liked the exaggerated sharp shapes which is something I would like to experiment with my character to make them more intimidating.
I looked at a wide range of concept work including creature and armour references. During my research, I highlighted a few artists which stood out such as Othon Nikolaidis, goo JJang, Russell Dongjiun Lu, and Marcus Whinney.
Character Analysis
The Handler
The Handler’s role in Monster Hunter is to guide the player and provide tips. The handler is made up of round shapes which evokes a warm and approachable feeling. She also carries round a book and wears glasses which suggests she is knowledgeable. The vibrant yellow makes her welcoming and joyful but also implies she is a cowardly, hence why she guides the adventurer rather than joins them. Yellow is also associated with hope, as can be seen in some countries when yellow ribbons are displayed by families who have loved ones at war.
The Commander
The Commander is the de facto leader of the Research Commission in Astera and a member of the First Fleet [2]. The Commander is made up of rectangular and triangular shapes, this suggests that he is powerful and dependable while also being menacing and fearful. His age also suggests he is wise and experienced. His outward, wide stance further implies he is strong and outgoing, and his clenched fists imply he is always ready for a fight. His vest suggests he isn’t afraid to hide his strength.
The Guild Master
The guild master help hunters register into the Hunter’s Guild, they are known to test a hunter’s strength with ‘Urgent Quests’ in order to see if the hunter is worthy of ranking up. They also give hunters various types of advice to help them overcome challenges.
The Guild Master is made up of round shapes similar to the handler, making him appear friendly. His over exaggerated laugh further implies this and suggests he is cheery. His large ears displays that he is a good listener. His age suggests he is knowledgeable. This is further suggested by his blue colour scheme, blue can also mean serenity, stability and inspiration.
Concept
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Personality: Rebellious but protective
Powers: Move using a speed burst so fast it seems like teleportation
Archetype: Genius
Alignment: Chaotic Verbose
Unique Elements: Wirebug Expert
I used a random generator to create the personality of my character, my results showed that my character will be an extremely fast genius which I thought would be a perfect for a wirebug expert. A wirebug is similar to a grappling hook that allows the player to scale cliffs and provides aerial attack opportunities. An example is shown below;
My character would teach the player on how to master the wirebug and provide tips on where to find them.
Fast character Game Examples
Tracer (Overwatch), Octane (Apex Legends), and Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog) are great examples of speedy characters. They each move at incredible speeds, tracer is so fast that she appears as if she is teleporting. Each of them are made up of triangular shapes which suggest they are dangerous, cunning and sneaky. Each of them also have strong, recognisable silhouettes also resembling triangles. Each of them wear tight or no clothing so that they aren’t restricted, I would like to experiement with the balance of protection and movement in my character. They are also lanky with very thin legs.
Character Shape Exercise
I used a www.softr..io.com to randomly generate shapes. From these shapes I tried to create characters, this helped me exaggerate elements of the character and focus on the overall shape of the character rather than the details. This was a quick and easy way of creating unique and interesting characters, I would like to implement these exaggerated shapes in my character design in order to portray their personality.
Tower of London Visit
To aid my research, I visited the Tower of London to see weaponry and armour first-hand. The tower that interested me the most was the White Tower, the armoury. It was useful to see the details and engravings up close as online image quality hid most of these details, this is something I will look back to when sculpting. They also had a wider variety of armour than what I could find online, such as armour for not only men but also women, children, and horses. In particular, I liked the child’s chicken head shaped helmet as it inspired me to create more unique shapes in my character’s armour.
Fantasy Exhibition – British Library
Concepts
For my first concepts, I began with a foundational body and pose, then layered clothing and additional features on top. However, I found that my designs were somewhat constrained by this approach and lacked the eccentricity I desired. Nonetheless, I particularly appreciated the shoulder pads in designs A and C, as their sharp triangles conveyed a sense of danger and cunning, which aligned with my vision for the character.
I also toyed with the concept of a bionic limb in designs C, E, and F, suggesting she had lost it in battle. However, upon reflection, I realized this wasn’t suitable for her personality. Given her strength and prowess, such a mistake wouldn’t likely occur in battle.
In my subsequent concepts, I opted not to use the base body. However, I still found that designs 1 and 2 leaned towards a particular stance, which felt limiting. As a result, I shifted my approach for the remaining designs, experimenting with creating silhouettes first and then sketching on top. This method proved to be more successful, although I still felt that my designs lacked the desired personality traits. Therefore, I plan to leverage the lessons learned from working with silhouettes and apply them to create more dynamic poses in my next concepts, aiming to capture my character’s personality traits more effectively.
On a positive note, I found the spikey hair in designs 1, 2, and 4 appealing. I intend to incorporate similar elements into my next designs and explore iterations inspired by them.
In my final iteration, I integrated dynamic poses as previously mentioned, resulting in significantly more successful designs. They exuded a sense of energy and joy. Design Z stood out to me, with its spread-out pose suggesting both playfulness and strength in the space it occupies. However, I felt it appeared too childish considering the character is meant to be a genius. Attempting to address this, design Y introduced wider and rounder shapes to give a more adult appearance, but it veered too far into seriousness for a character described as chaotic and verbose.
In contrast, design X seemed to strike the perfect balance. It embodied both cheekiness and intelligence, evident in the lively hair and the addition of goggles/glasses. Consequently, I opted to move forward with this design as the basis for my final iteration.
TurnAround
3D Modelling
I began blocking out the body base, using my full turnaround for reference. Utilizing spheres and the move tool, I added the major body masses, such as the ribcage, lower ribcage, and stomach. This allowed me to achieve proportionate angles before adding finer details.
Next, I added all the details to the body, being careful to restrict the areas where clothing would contort, such as the chest, since the clothing would be built on top.
I made sure to define her upper body muscles, reflecting the strength a Wirebug expert would have from constant swinging, which also highlights her athletic traits. I referenced body builders to accurately depict this. As this area of skin is the most exposed, I concentrated most of my detailing efforts there.
I began by blocking out the overall shape of the clothing, using separate subtools from the base mesh to keep them disconnected. To achieve this, I masked the areas of the base mesh where the clothing would lay and then used the extract tool to add mass and separate the clothing.
I started adding details to my block out by emphasizing creases in the top and pants, exaggerating them to achieve a better silhouette. I then used IMMs in Zbrush to add buckles and buckle holes to the straps. To make the shoulder pads and gauntlets resemble leather, I masked the edges and inflated the masked area to create a rim and added bolts following this rim.
Additionally, I included a knee pad that wasn’t featured in my final concept, as I felt the lower portion of the body needed more detail. To reinforce her unique element as a wirebug expert, I added a wirebug emblem to the knee pad using an alpha I created in Photoshop.
Retopology
To ensure my character would function effectively within a game engine, I needed to reduce its poly count. I started with the clothes in Zbrush, using the Zremesher tool to bring the poly count down to around 28,000, which I was able to reduce even further in Maya later on. I aimed to retain the overall shape of each clothing item; however, Zremesher sometimes altered the shape too much. To address this, I decimated some items a few times before using Zremesher to better preserve their form. Additionally, I enabled ‘Keep Creases’ and ‘Detect Edges’ to help maintain the integrity of the shapes.
Next, I lowered the poly count of the body base using QuadDraw in Maya. By using QuadDraw instead of Zremesher, I could place each face manually, preserving the shape and flow of the body more effectively. I began by creating loops around the eyes, mouth, nose, arms, and legs to serve as a guide for filling in the rest of the body.
XGen Hair
I made several attempts to craft a messy bob hairstyle, yet each fell short of the realism I sought. Consequently, I resolved to conduct further research before my subsequent attempts.
I collected various hair references of shoulder-length hairstyles, spanning from blunt cuts to layered styles, to determine which would achieve the desired effect. I found the layered “wolf-cut” references most appealing, as they typically appeared more dishevelled. Therefore, in my next attempt, I plan to create two layers of hair, with the top layer shorter than the other, to replicate a similar effect to a “wolf-cut.”.
As previously noted, I crafted my two hair layers, resulting in a significantly more successful attempt. Subsequently, I incorporated a noise and clumping modifier to enhance realism and augment the messy appearance. To refine this effect, I employed a black map to paint where the hair would generate, ensuring to delicately soften the edges for a wispy finish.
Texturing
I baked my high poly model onto my low poly model in Substance painter. Initially I baked the whole body as one however this made the clothing bake onto some areas on the body. Therefore I separated the body and the clothing and baked them separately.
I then painted colour zones onto the body and face as a underlayer for the skin. This made the skin look more realistic and lively.
I painted face paint onto my character using a black mask. In design 1, I felt she looked too menacing. I liked design 2 however I felt it took away focus from her eyes, therefore in my final design, 3, I simplified this and moved them further from the eyes.
I collected photos of trimmings and floral designs and photobashed them together to create the pieces I will use to outline the cape.
I applied my photobashed elements to my cape and also added some as engravings to my gauntlets.
Cape Tearing
Given that my character will be swinging through trees, I added tearing to the cape to emphasize this aspect. To achieve this effect, I utilized opacity alphas and painted the tears using a rough brush.
Scars
In addition to the cape tearing, I incorporated a few scars on her arm and stomach, as though they had been inflicted by branches or monsters.
Weathering
I further included weathering, dirt, and dust to reflect her encounters with monsters and the outdoor environment.
Rigging
Once I grasped the fundamentals of rigging, I transitioned to utilizing Animation Studio’s Advanced Skeleton tools. Initially, I established a scene reference to maintain a non-destructive workflow. Subsequently, I imported the biped rig and aligned it with my character, allowing Advanced Skeleton to construct the controllers.
For the scoutfly cages and cape, custom joints and controllers were necessary.
I then binded my mesh to the rig.
Following rigging, certain issues arose regarding how my mesh deformed and bent, meaning weight painting was necessary. For instance, in the case of the leg, it lost some of its mass at the calf and knee when bent. Consequently, I addressed this by adding weight to these areas to restore the lost mass. This process was carried out throughout the entire mesh.
Animation
I developed my walking animation by adhering to the principles outlined in The Animator’s Survival Kit (2001). This resource offered valuable guidance on the proper positioning of the body in each frame, as well as insights into the shifting of body weight, thereby enhancing the realism of my animation. Additionally, I aimed to convey her personality through the walk by exaggerating certain movements and lifting her hand as she walked, suggesting a carefree and cheerful demeanour.
Scene Dressing
Final Renders