Modeling!

I took a break from animation recently to take an art test for a game studio.  It was an informal test, no NDA, so I can post these pictures here.  The model was based off a plastic toy and it was kind of a challenge to model the character in pose from photographs, but I liked the way it turned out.

Workflow - Video Reference

It has been almost two weeks since I put together my summer '12 demo reel, but I am already working on new stuff for my next reel (planned for the fall '12).  Rather than animate a vanilla walk cycle, I wanted to create something with character.  Originally, I wanted to work on a zombie walk cycle but I was already working with the Tanner rig, so I changed it to a wounded walk which would incorporate my idea of a dragging foot.  So with my plan in mind I headed out to the park on my lunch break and shot some reference.

Aside from the stares from people at the park, the shooting went very well.  I knew that I was going to act as if one of my legs was injured, but I wasn't sure what to do with my hands.  I came up with the idea of letting one arm hang, and this turned out to be great opportunity to showcase some drag and follow.  I really wanted to play this up in the animation.  I also did some thumbnail sketches before even shooting reference, this helped me play around with some ideas but my scanner is not working too well so I will post those later.