Summary

This was a challenging but ultimately very rewarding project that highlighted a lot of learning points and areas of development for me. 

Things I Enjoyed:

• Freedom of creativity- taking a semi-formed idea (Eshay-trash talking/eating ibis) and turning it into a completed and presentable model was fun and engaging

• Limitations driving alternative designs- the instantly recognisable curved beak of an ibis seemed like it would be a massive barrier to desigining interesting expressions. However, working with body language and facial expressions (especially around eyes and eyebrows) lead to an expressive model, which I only really played around with due to that initial creative design

• Making the final product "pop" with lighting and visuals- for a while, I couldn't get the final model to look as interesting as I wanted it to, but it was surprisingly satisfying to put together a more dynamic and interesting scene with a little extra work on some good lighting and the macca's box of fries. 

Things I Found Difficult:

•  Forgetting to duplicate the base mesh before sculpting one of the blendshapes. I made this mistake more often than I should have, and it ended up costing me a lot of time.

• I found weight painting very difficult and time consuming, especially considering my character's short, stumpy proportions. 

Things I Learned:

• Repetition and iteration on the many versions of the model did help me memorize and become comfortable with the workflow

• Stylised characters need bold, exaggerated shapes to work. In future, I should start by over-exaggerating my shapes and then refine as needed, rather than playing it safe too early.

Final thoughts: 

Completing this project has given me a new-found appreciation for the processes, challenges and skills artists bring to the table on the projects we work together on. I enjoyed pulling together a lot of different skills and techniques to deliver a final project that I'm satisfied with. 

Balodi, A. (2022, March 15). Creating blendshapes in Maya 2022 (blinking eyes) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3xj5BsBp8U

Leal, A. (2024, May 15). Stylized textures tutorial | Hand-painted style in Substance Painter [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT5PJKMPTdg

Hungry Team: Yolu's Tutorials. (2022, July 15). How to draw (paint) eyes? In Substance Painter [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_kRRC_9MBw

Nexttut. (2021, March 5). How to setup SSS in Substance Painter tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vNch9vZpEM

Nexttut. (2021, March 12). How to setup SSS in Maya tutorial: Subsurface scattering skin shader [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eZA-8qzTCE