Assignment 3 – Character Modeling – A New Challenge!

The previous week, we worked on our character backgrounds to create the character that we wanted to make for this assignment. But once we were done with those character sheets, we were asked to swap concepts with another student in the class! I was from here on just the “employer” of the student who was going to create Palo’h (Marcus Svensson) and I was now “employed” by Oscar Mohlin to create his character Etha. (Seen below)

This is Ehta. Ehta is  a small rodent-like creature called O’juh. But what differs from most rodents is that the O’juh is genderless and they are born and feed of energy crystals. They live in an Aztec-like jungle where they scavenge for crystals. Ehta is a young member of the tribe and is known as one of the strongest. He is also known for his naïveté and recklessness, which is his greatest weakness. Creating the notion of exploration while the tribe wants him to live the normal life of a O’juh. His strength comes from a root he found in a cave, which is unknown to the rest of his tribe since it is located in the forbidden-zone. Chewing on this root improves Ehta’s telekinesis.

Ehta has body similar to an ape which is covered in  long “mammoth-like” fur and the head of a desert rodent with large ears and eyes which are covered in  long “mammoth-like” fur. The O’juh has a glowing mark on their forehead which is made from the crystals that they are created from.

The O’juh are quick and agile and  rely on climbing on different surfaces to move around, that’s why they have developed fingers and palms and toes and the souls of their feet with the ability to stick to any kind of surface. Almost like suction cups! Their long arms helps them reach branches and such, while their shorter legs are mostly used as support and slow walking.

Whilst climbing Ehta can use his telekinesis to hold objects in the air, but this requires concentration, hence he always carries around a satchel made from leaves.

The game world where Ehta comes from is similar to Jack and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank and Super Mario Galaxy which are the three main competitors.

Oscar wanted me to follow the concept as closely as possible and keep it cartoony, but other than that he gave me free hands. He would like to see fur similar to mammoths and not too similar to rodents.

I was fairly nervous with this assignment since it was my first soft surface modeling project and I feel as this concept might be one of the hardest to do. But my knowledge will probably get me far and if (or when) I come across any bumps, I can contact Oscar and ask for his advice.

What I noticed from the beginning was that the fur of Etha affects the silhouette of the character, which means that some fur would have to be modeled and this would mean lesser details on other parts of the body. I will have to start modeling the body and head without protruding fur to see where I am at regarding the polycount. If I have some to spare I can add some fur, if not; I’ll have to solve it with textures. I will have to explore Mudbox to see what features it has and what I could do to save some polys.