Getting confused with Foo the Fox

I've just had a weird thing happen. I've been working on some ideas for a couple of characters called 'Foo and Bah' (Foo, a small intelligent fox and Bah! his muscle bound bodyguard sheep. I'd been drawing the Fox character for a while and I was getting frustrated as I couldn't get a feel for his anatomy. I wanted to keep him basic and cartoony and as usual I was over-engineering his anatomy. I really do struggle keeping to basic shapes. Where some designers will put in a stick for an arm and it works perfectly I try to put in the full anatomically correct arm with bones, muscles, fat etc. I kept on drawing the Fox over and over and I seemed to keep coming back to the same basic shape and it just didn't feel right for me.

I was about to Google for some reference images and then thought I'd quickly model a fox with primitives in 3D and then spin it around to get the form or silhouette locked off. I opened my favorite modeling package and threw down some boxes and spheres in no particular order. I messed around with them for a few minutes and started to get a basic Fox shape together. Before I knew it I'd gone from primitives into detailed modeling, added a few colors that suited the Fox and started trying out different poses and facial expressions that I had struggled with in the pencil sketches. In no time at all I'd hit upon the right design and I was happy that the anatomy was right for this project.

It is quite liberating to do your concept work in 3D, trying out different shapes, making scale changes to limbs, trying different expressions etc. I used my 3D model as a drawing reference and sketched out five or six different turnarounds and I was pretty happy with every one. I chose one and inked it, scanned it in and did some quick Photoshop coloring.

All done I thought. I'd nailed the concept via a very unusual concept process. Now all there was to do was to use the reference image and make the 3D model....oh..wait...I already did that bit!. Doh! Very confused.com

EDIT:

Added his partner in crime tonight the evil henchman of the piece, 'Bah! the Sheep'. Be VERY careful tonight as Foo & Bah are after your Easter Eggs! Guard them with your life! If you haven't scoffed 'em all already. Happy Easter!

___________________________________________________________

Help me out with screen shots.

If anyone wants to help out I'd be ever so grateful. I want to put a screen shot and some images of all major 3D packages and wondered if anyone felt like contributing. I'm updating my old Sub-D Primer as part of my new Enter3D area and I would like to show some examples.

I'm looking for:

1. An interesting screen shot of your 3D program of choice
2. A wire frame shot of one of your models
3. A render if poss.
4. A few words about why you like the package in question.

Zip them up and fire then over to glen.southern@southerngfx.co.uk

Bear in mind that the Enter 3D site is aimed at 2D artists coming to 3D for the first time. What would you show or say about your favorite 3D package?

And if you REALLY love your 3D package, do a little video and send it to Youtube and fire me the link. Now that would be cool!

So far I'm looking for:

Silo
Blender
Wings3D
Lightwave
Modo
Maya
C4D
3DSmax
XSI
Mudbox
ZBrush
3DCoat

and I'm open to offers to add the ones I've missed.

If you look at the Primer Page 2 you'll see where this is going.


Thanks already to Warner for some Modo images and Dave Bates (as ever) for sorting out the scripting for me.

___________________________________________________________

Entering the Third Dimension (NOW OPEN)

Are you finding that your sketch books are overflowing with characters these days? Have you been wondering what some of those character would look like if they were a little more three dimensional? Well come on in and Enter the Third Dimension....

Q&A

Whats this Enter3D stuff then?

I've been doing tutorials and 3D training videos for a long time now. I've been working with more and more 2D designers and especially 2D character designers. More and more people have been asking about how to get their concepts into 3D. This new area of my website is designed to help.

What will I find there?

Help and support for one thing. I want to help anyone new to modeling get a feel for how subdivision modeling works and how to learn the basics. The new area of the site is broken down into:

An Introduction
The Basics
Some Projects
A Subdivision modelers Primer

I will use this framework as a place to keep my future tutorial videos. If you have specific requests then please feel free to add comments in this blog post.

Is it finished?

Nope. Not by a long way. I've been getting help and feedback from some amazing designers and I've been given some amazing character designs to use in future tutorials. The site is there as a resource for future modelers and a place to add new video content as I produce it.


Thanks have to go to Wes and the KURV guys who host all my stuff. The ever supportive Nevercenter Silo team for sponsorship and encouragement. For help with or for providing character designs and reference images James Yeah!, Moopf, Tado, Steve Cairney, Steve Talkowski, George Coghill, Lawrence Basso and many more to come. For constant advice and reality checks Wayne Robson, Dave Davidson. The multi-talented Glenn McGuire at Sparkle Media and Anthony Fillice my business guru and life coach. Oran Parker for design feedback. What would I do with out you all and the hundreds of others who I have the pleasure of interacting with on a daily basis. Thanks!

Follow me on twitter for updates.
___________________________________________________________

Entering the Third Dimension

I've been working on a new area of my website for a few weeks now. It's a new tutorial area and I'm hoping to fill it up with training videos over the next few months. For about a year now I've been taking commissions for toy work, both commercial jobs and fun projects. I've spent a little time improving my vector skills and even done a few physical sculpts from ideas that I've really liked.

I decided to set up the new tutorial area in response to lots of emails I've had from 2D artists who want to make the leap into 3D, hence the title 'ENTERING THE THIRD DIMENSION.' Rather than focus on one specific program the videos are made using a range of applications that do a wide variety of things e.g. Silo for modeling, Headus UV for adding UV's, Cinema4D for rendering, ZBrush for sculpting and texturing etc.

I've asked a few fellow artist to let me use their images and characters as reference material so I should be able to show how to make a wide range of characters and creatures and show lots of different techniques along the way. I want to keep adding to the new area in coming months so I've made it expandable.

The tutorials are broken down as follows:

-Preparing a concept image
-Getting the reference image in the viewport background
-Subdivision basics
-Box modeling v point by point
-Using primitives to build shapes
-Modeling in parts and managing objects
-Using material sets to color your characters
-Creating UV co-ordinates
-Creating a texture using a UV map
-Lighting and rendering

Project videos:

1. Basic Penguin toy character using box modeling.
2. Point by point modeling a small character from vector reference.
3. Using primitives to form a character and scene (Artwork by Moopf).
4. Using text in your creations (Artwork supplied by Steve Cairney).
5. How to UV map a complex toy model using Headus UV
6. Sculpting a toy with ZBrush
7. Setting up a toy product shot in Cinema 4D.

I'm hoping to open the new website area by the end of the month and I'll blog and twitter when it's released.


___________________________________________________________

CGTweetup and the dreaded lurgy

We held our December CGTweetup on Thursday 3rd December in Circo at the Albert Dock. This time we had a joint event with the cool guys from Draw-the-line and we were blown away by the attendance which topped sixty people. I put up a small gallery of photographs of the event taken by my photographer friend Gary Woodward.


A big thanks to our sponsors Nevercenter and also to the guys a Ballisitic Media for providing prizes. We're looking into doing our next event in February sometime and of course there is always the regular Draw-the-line event in Django's Riff on the first Thursday of every month.

I've asked Mike at Draw-the-Line if I could design one of the event flyers. I spend so much time doing 3D and I love getting to do 2D stuff. I made a start (ignore the dates on this one):





___________________________________________________________

First CGTweetup in Circo in Liverpool last night.

Last night was the first CGTweetup held in Circo
in the Albert Dock in Liverpool. I had a great evening and met some awesome talent including the Lee Carter (2000AD fame) and the amazing Raul Ovejero
There were plenty of 3D/2D new comers and plenty of up-coming talent. I'd like to feel that no one was left out. One of the highlights for me was Lee talking through some of his concept and comic work and explaining a little bit about his work flow. Thanks to the guys who sent in introduction videos which provided a little light entertainment at the start of the evening. If you couldn't make it or were a bit unsure if the venue was right for you then let me re-assure you that everyone was made welcome and I'm sure as the event grows that will be an on going theme, making people welcome!. I saw some great portfolios and some amazing websites on screen at the end of the night.

Ideas for the next event include having a drawing wall set up to get some of the 2D/concept and comic talent going art-crazy actually at the event. How cool would it be to win that piece of wall at the end of the night! We raffled off a Ballistic publishing book, `Character Painting 2` at the end of the evening and hopefully next time we can get a few more sponsors signing up. All in all a great night!

If you think it sounds interesting follow Anthony Filice on twitter or sign up at CGArtistDaily.

Some photos to follow soon I hope!

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Edge loops around a mouth

A friend asked how I created the edge loops around the mouth on my recent Rhino model. Doing written tutorials on a webpage does not compare to actually showing how you do it in a video. I've recorded a silent ten minute video of the process I use to create the correct edge loops around a mouth on a creature like this Rhino.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________