Bangs

                               Introduction

Yes, I will be talking about hair once again this week, and hopefully, it will be the last. At first, I thought I was going to be done, I liked the hairstyle. But no, coming back to school from the weekend I ended up hating the bangs I made the previous week, I took this week to look at images of 3d character hairband strands and found a simple one that I can do and incorporate some of the stuff I wanted before in the other hairstyle.

Inspiration

My inspiration is just my usual two, Shonzo and Yoolie, but this time I really wanted to have more volume in my character's hair. The old bangs usually look too flat. Oh my lord, trying to make a hair look not flat made me want to cry. 

Brainstorming

So, I had to find a hairstyle of bangs that can fill in the middle, and are strands. I found a bang style that had both what I wanted. I had the idea in my head, but I could not find an image online for said hairstyle. But the middle part of this bang style was very close to what I imagined. 

Experimental

Ever since I had gotten help, and rewatched the hair tutorial video I understand that I did not have to make the hair go into the head like a scalp. I also have added more subdivision surfaces into my model since I have been a bit iffy on making too much so my laptop does not crash. At least I am not working with particles.

Process

**INsert photo* Reflection

I am glad I restarted. Again. I plan on working on my project over break since now I have a PC that can run blender faster than the thinkpads at school! Now... to make a hair bun.

Work Log:

Monday 12/13/21: Hate hair restart hair

Tuesday12/14/21: Couldn't figure out bangs trial and error

Wednesday12/15/21: Suffering at bangs.

Thursday12/16/21: Mr. Bomboy helped me with the hair thingy it worked.

Friday12/17/21:Started on back hair

Hair placement

 Introduction

Last week we talked about how I started to learn how to use curves to make hair strands and how they are the easiest way to start my process. Now I thought the hard part was over last week because once I knew what I was doing I can just start making the hair with the hair strand right? No, I had to figure out the hair separation of the character.

Inspiration 

Once again my inspiration is Shonzo and Yoolie, I tried so hard to try and mimic their style as usual, but I have a lack of experience compared to them. I have no idea how Yoolie makes their models, I can only see their final products on Twitter, but ShonzoI watched a lot of his 3D modeling progression and I have a general idea of how he just makes all the hairs thicker at the end and move them to the front part of the skull.

Brainstorming

I wanted my character's bangs to be like Sukidingels character model and I found this fanart that shows the front part perfectly. Though for the side hair and back I wanted it to look more like in the Tang dynasty era. Although this is not historically accurate to the time, this is how some people would dress up if they were cosplaying as if they were from Tang Dynasty China and I prefer it this way. 

Experimental

I have had trouble with the hair and how it bends. Basically every vertex I move it would ultimately make the curve flip 180 degrees and allow the backside of the hair strand to show. Though it may not sound like a huge deal, my hair strands had a bit of texture to them which needed to be seen. I eventually scrapped the texture and extra details and just stuck with the triangle hair **Insert photo for context** which is the most basic hair strand since Shonzo also only uses triangle hair strands. I eventually did figure it out and made the bangs which felt so good!

Process

Reflection

I felt I made it more complicated than it had to be, mostly due to when something goes wrong I try to undo everything and start over. I did eventually figure it out and I'm looking forward to continuing this with the last two parts of the hair.

Work Log:

Monday 12/06/21: Made more possible hair strands

Tuesday 12/07/21: Redid the hair strands because I didn't like them.

Wednesday 12/08/21: Placing hair on but it keeps bending weirdly.
Thursday 12/09/21: Started on mid bangs of the hair and finished them.

Friday 12/10/21: Finished front hair starting side strands.

Hair

                               Introduction

Hair is a part of our body and one of the most noticeable features when we first meet someone. Hair is also a pain to understand and make in Blender. This week I finally reached the part I was dreading most to model mostly because I had little to no idea what I had to do.

Inspiration

My inspiration was for my character to have hair, More importantly, Shonzo's way of making hair onto models. I love the way he can just make any 2D art into 3D especially with how the hair looks perfectly accurate to the original concept art.

Concept art

Final Product

Brainstorming

As I worked on Shonzo's way of making hair I had to find out what exactly does he do since he really only shows the blender window part of his screen and never the sidebars, I already knew what kind of hairstyle I wanted my character to have it was just about how I was able to execute it. I eventually found out by reading the comments on his hair video on how to make a Curve into a mesh and modifying it with a circle. Experimental

So, I ran into an issue when editing the model. I could not get the eyedropper to select the circle like I wanted. I also was stressed and smart enough to make a save right before I started. I then found a video from Yansculpts who shows the exact way that Shonzo does but in a more simple manner and actually shows his entire screen. I set off to work and it worked just as he said. 

Process

Reflection

I honestly found this to be a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I learned a lot about circles and curves than I thought I would. 

Work Log:

Monday: 11/20/21 Started a good chunk of eyelashes

Tuesday: 11/21/21 eYELASHES

Tuesday: 11/29/21 Eyelashes finally clean up and placement
Wednesday: 11/30/21  More clean up and placement

Thursday: 12/01/21 eyebrows and done

Friday: 12/02/21 hair :D

Eyeshapes

                               Introduction

I've been getting into character design and paper drawing lately and I have always had a fascination with eyes and eye shapes. Eye shapes are easy ways to distinguish one character from another. You can also tell who is a protagonist and the antagonist from simple eye shapes, Such as if an eye is more slanted and upwards most likely they would be a villain character. So, when I was making my model I wanted to make sure my character has the eye shape I wanted to capture for their personality and character traits. 

Inspiration

My inspiration for this whole idea is mostly anime. I especially like the show "Lucky Star" display their eyes. Kagami Yoshimizu, the creator of the anime, You can tell the character's personality traits and mood easily just by their eye shape in his art. I can also understand that the breakdown of the character's eyes is just simple circles or triangular-like shapes to make a character look or distant or friendly. 

Brainstorming

As  I was working on my character and thinking of her design. I asked a few fellow friends how I should make her and what kind of personality does the fairy tale I base her off would fit. At first, I wanted more of a slender eye, mature, and feminine kind of look. anime eyes. Then the majority of my friends told me that due to my personality and the story a more rounded eye and bigger eyes would help, but having a heavier eyeliner could help the structure I wanted. 

Experimental

So as I worked to make the eye, I realized I was going for a bigger eye shape it made my process so much easier. Vertexes were easier to see and placements than if it was smaller. I am very much satisfied with me using Hu Tao's face and eyes as a template since her personality radiates fun and friendly which is just what I wanted for my character.

Process

Reflection

Overall this reflection for the week really help me understand what goes into character design and how characters are made. I learned a bit from this week's investigation of how eye shapes work.

Work Log:

Monday: 11/15/21 I made the neck of the character today

Tuesday: 11/16/21 Fixing lines to make it look better.

Wednesday: 11/17/21 Started the inside of the mouth and finished fixing the vertexes.

Thursday: 11/18/21 Finished mouth and started eye iris.

Friday: 11/19/21 Polished the character's face and started the eyeliner and eyelashes.

topography

                               Introduction

Topography of the face is a concept I had to grasp this week. What exactly is this? Well, when making character models you have to understand how the face flows, and how the face might bend. This is especially important when animating a character or you could possibly see edges and faces go into each other in a weird way. I had to understand the idea that major parts of the face that moves in animation (mouths and eyes) have to have flowed around the mouth. Also, the face is a separate part of the head. 

Inspiration

There wasn't necessarily a single artist I like for topography. I have watched a few videos and looked on google for topography maps to see how the face flows. The first video result on google for me was Daniel Kreuter and his 11-minute video really helped me understand what exactly was topography. He also was the one to explain how the faces work in relation to real-life faces such as how wrinkles look or when someone smirks how their face and lips fold.

Brainstorming

I'll be honest. I was just flowing along in my tutorial brainlessly, but as I work and make edge loops I start to understand it a bit more. And how exactly the flow is around the eyes. I also started to understand the tips on how it's all polygon with 3-5 sides shapes, and how quads would be the best which lucky most of my polygons are.

Experimental

My experiment was making the flow, my quads are there my topography is there. But it's just not as clean as everyone else's. My polygon is 4 sides, but they are NOT squares more like trapezoids. I tried to make them more pleasing and even, but for some reason, I feel as if I would mess it up more and more if I move it. 

Process

The lines are not as smooth as I want them to be. It looks straight but very rocky. I had little to no 3 or 5 sides only 4 sided polygons!!

Reflection

Honestly, I feel like I learned a lot from this week's investigation since I kind of had no prior knowledge. I understand how it works and I honestly believe if I make another character I could possibly make it work out a tutorial and understand how the face works.

Work Log:

Monday: 11/8/21 I started to understand how the face works and followed Shonzo's tutorial. I worked 2x as faster as before. 

Tuesday: 11/9/21 Finished the eye part and understand how making faces work.

Wednesday: 11/10/21 One by one selected vertexes to make faces for my face. I know there was probably a faster way, but I DID NOT want to risk redoing the face again for like the 4th time.

Thursday: 11/11/21 Finished selecting vertexes finished the face YAYY. 

Friday:  11/12/21 Started the neck working slow, but I want to make this as perfect as possible.

Heads Week 11/7/2021

                               Introduction

Modeling heads for characters may be the death of me. I practically spent the whole week trying to figure out how to shape ahead with vertexes instead of sculpting. Although I might have to use sculpting later in the future, hopefully keeping it to a minimum, but overall I just wanted to make a character face using vertex.

Inspiration

Any 3D Vtuber artist can work as my inspiration, they are amazing at understanding polygons and how every vertex lines up with another. I am going to use Shonzo as my main inspiration since I am following his time lapse on how he makes his models. He would start with the chin then work towards the mouth and nose, then he would full make the mouth and start one the easy, and if I blink he would be done with the whole body. He makes it seem so easy and quick.

Brainstorming

As I watch Shonzo I try to think of ways that can help me remember what I can do too instead of just copying him. I want to understand the face structure for the model such as how the eyes are parted, where the chin vertex is, how the nose is super pointy and it looks like a fairy's face structure. I want my final face to be as perfect as I can think of which is like Hu Tao from Genshin Impact, but I want the side view to look like any standard anime character with no defining features for lips. 

Experimental

Watching Shonzo work his magic I tried my hardest to follow along. I would struggle to do some simple lips, I have never been more confused in my life than redoing the lips at least 3 times this week, I watched at least 5 different videos from Shonzo all of them varies from the different time he worked on a character, some can be from the summer of 2021 while some were from last year. I tried to find ones that would tell me what keys he clicked to do what he does in the video, but sometimes I would still get confused. Even setting it at 0.25x speed he still went super fast.  **Update at 11/7/21 I found a tutorial by Shonzo for the head and I'm going to embed it here**

Process

*Insert photo here on Monday* I worked on my face, I like the head shape so far, and I finally figured out how to extrude the eyes outward, which was a sigh of relief this week. I'm still trying to figure out the mouth situation, hopefully, by early next week, I am satisfied with the mouth. 

Reflection

This week was somewhat stressful and confusing, but I know it's only the beginning, as much as I wish that someone did a full tutorial, step-by-step on how to make a face with vertex without sculpting my life would be easier, but for now, I am grateful that Shonzo even had the function of telling us what keys he is clicking, so I would know what to do even if I was confused.

Work Log:

Monday: 11/01/21 Finally started the front of the face yay!

Tuesday: Made the mouth, unsure if I liked it.

Wednesday: Did not like the mouth redid it. Started a new time-lapse from Shonzo that could possibly be easier. I also made the eyes today yay!

Thursday: Redid the mouth again to the way Shonzo did it in his recent video, it was just as confusing as the one before, but I think it worked better. Made the nose bridge from the eyes to the middle of the face.

Friday: NO SCHOOL

Week 10/31/2021

                            Introduction

I've been interested in the Vtuber community for a long time. I'll be honest 3D Vtubing was not my idea first. At first, I really wanted to do 2D Vtubing and have a really cute character that did not look CGI or did look more resemble of an anime character. After looking through and seeing the prices of the artists on Twitter my wallet wanted to cry and I realized that 2D Vtubing was just going to have to wait till I had enough money.

Inspiration

The artists that I really like the artists in the 2D Vtuber community are Eruichu and Akairosu! I love their art style for their commissions they look very well done and polished. I love that they both do the rigging for their own artwork too. Their characters are very much so digital and flat yet they also seem like they can jump off the screens of our monitors. Although I would not be doing the art and rigging for a 2D Vtuber myself, it is still my preferred look when it comes to whether wanting a 2D vtuber or 3D. I want to make my 3D vtuber as close to 2D looking as possible. Using these two would be a great example of what kind of idea/image I want my final product to be.

of too flat

Example of  too much

Example too flat

Brainstorming

Although I am not doing 2D art for the models, I can try to recreate the feeling of 2D in a 3D concept with textures. I feel as if I need to make my textures more smooth as if it would be like for a digital drawing. Rather be a flat color like a 3D model. I feel like for some 3D character models the characters look either too 3D so you can clearly tell it is 3D compared to its background or it looks too flat to where the 2D looks more refined and developed than the 3D so you can have an obvious difference too.

Experimental

seen. 

Process

I have started making my model, but I am still currently in the modeling phase of making the actual base. I am planning on making the UV textures off on my own time so I can continuously figure out what style/shading I want my character to have.

Reflection

I am ready to start on my progress of working on the textures of the clothes and making the character base. I can't wait to study and see how the artists make their art and have them through their Twitter and youtube links.

Work Log:

Monday: Watching the last few videos on Vtubing and watching someone's time-lapse of making a vtuber female.

Tuesday: Asked my friend and I to work on a character base and made an interest board of everything I want my character to look like.

Wednesday: My new mouse finally arrive last night so I started working right away, I have made my character base torse, and legs.

Thursday: Fined the torse a bit, trying to figure out how to make the chest area without messing up my polygons.

Friday: Attempted on making the chest area, hated it, reloaded a saved file, and tried to get Adobe Creative cloud working again but I needed an update, but I couldn't update due to no admin password nor username.

Week 10/24/21

                            Introduction

I wish to study the program Miku Miku Dance (MMD) and its community. It's a community of animators and 3D artists that use Blender and make model parts then just mush it onto the model to make it part of the model; rather than doing the process of rigging. and creating textures.

Inspration

I'm on the internet a lot and on my Tiktok FYP it would have Genshin Impact character models dancing to some Japanese songs or just have them in animations which I wondered how. I wondered if people would go into Blender and animate the model dancing. I dove deeper to find out the program MMD. Kimagure and MagicalPouchOfMagic. Kimagure because they would post WIP of every little project they would work on and Magical because the whole video of Doki Doki Forever was one of the smoothest MMD videos I've ever seen. 

Brainstorming

Although I am not animating anything as of now( I want to see if I can finish this Vtuber before the end of the year) I love seeing character animations move super smoothly like this video by MagicalPouchOfMagic. I also love the use of lighting and character texturing that went into this project. It looks like something that took a long time to make.

Experimental

Although I have not started my process, I have watched multiple videos now on how to properly weight paint a part of bones so my physics for my hair and character will not be flying everywhere. I have also watched someone make hair so I do not have to make a bone for each individual strand of hair which can help me in the progress of making my character move.

Process

Have not started the process.

Reflection

Have not started the process. 

Work Log:
Monday 10/18/21; I watched half of the Rigging tutorial by Mako Ray. Learned about the importance of Weight Painting and how it affects each bone in the body.

Tuesday 10/19/21: Watch the rest of the rigging tutorial and understand different ways to make sure I DO NOT do the same mistakes Mako pointed out in his tutorial.

Wednesday 10/19/21: Imported Hu Tao's character model from Genshin Impact into Blender to see how the meshes were made and put together.

Thursday 10/20/21: Watched half of the final video of Mako's tutorial on a vtuber while putting together a character color palette for brush painting and base coloring.

Friday 10/21/21: Finish the 5.5 part series of Mako's Vtuber in Blender tutorial and watched a few other suggested videos that he said we should watch to get a better grasp. 

Week 10/17/2021

Introduction

This week I watched videos from this Vtuber called "Mako Ray". They make videos to give out great advice for people who already knew how to use Blender or just starting out. I decided that I wanted to make a character similar to the ones from the popular game called, "Genshin Impact." The game "Genshin Impact is an RPG fantasy world filled with lore and gorgeous aesthetics and characters.

Inspiration

Mihoyo's characters are taking Twitter by storm. He has worked on multiple games such as "Honkai Impact, Gun Girls Z, and Tears of Themis."  Two out of the 3 have 3D models in an animated-like form rather than realistic. Their characters are super cute and it truly looks like hard work for each individual character rather than a copy and paste.

Brainstorming

I do not have the artistic ability like a group of artists, but I can take inspiration to how to model the characters. Mihoyo actually releases his characters out to the public for his fandom to mess around with. If I ever want to figure out how he model's one thing I can always load up the model or see it on sketchfab to figure out what I must do to make it look the way I wanted it to.

Genshin Impact: Scaramouche by Alqueit on Sketchfab

Experimental

I have not yet started my character modeling process mostly due to the fact I want to finish watched Mako Ray's tutorials first then going through and rewatching it alongside me working on the model. He also suggested this for first-time makers.

Process

Have not started the process, but I can already tell that rigging and hair psychics are going to be the death of me.

Reflection

Have not started the process. Do not have a reflection yet.

Text and Image

We see text and images every day now, unlike before where art was not normally known to have words or photographs.  It is everywhere and it was used to convey feelings and ideas that might not have been talked about normally. Like Banksy, he is an internationally known street artist mostly known for his spray paints and is a mysterious man.    He uses text and images in his art mostly used as quotes or to make his spray paint have some sort of meaning or message behind the art. One of my favorite pieces of art from Banksy is "Laugh Now". I did laugh at this art and if you look even at a surface level you can see how Banksy is tellings us, the people laughing at the monkey, to be more humble because anything can change at any time. 

What have you learned about Text & Image?

I've learned that text and images help the audience to understand what the artist wants to tell easier. Though the saying goes "A picture worth a thousand words," but sometimes words are easier to understand. Text and images also tell taboo messages that not many people would have discussed publically at the time. 

How do contemporary artists use the concept of Text & Image in their artwork?

Banksy uses his art to tell his viewers social and political issues with the world. His art would make people stop and think when they pass by them on the streets. His simple one-word or sentence would help us ponder and think about how our world around us is working. Sometimes the text on the art is more than just words on a wall. It was always a part of the art, but now you can actually see it being a part and understand how the words being washed away means that everything we might do in life affects other people, but even if it isn't remembered forever we can still do our part.

How might you be able to use Text and Image in your own art?

There is not much I can use for Text and Image for modeling a character. But I have a singular idea right now is items that my character can wear. Graphic tees have words that can be a part of the art and that can be on my character to have subtle hints or my own personal beliefs.

Is there something that you found in your investigation that specifically interested or inspired you?

I will be honest, I didn't have much that would inspire me with my project, but this has defiantly opened my creative window to somehow add words to my art. I now take a great interest in street art. I loved it before, but now for example last Sunday I was in New York I actively look for street art to understand and enjoy. I don't think street art should be illegal, but at the same time, it's not okay to work on someone else's property. I enjoy street art more than I like to admit.

Layering

♔What have I learned about Layering♔

I have learned that layering is overlapping multiple artforms and images over each other making it once before pieces into something new and meaningful. I also learned that layering can come in multiple different colors with many meanings behind it while having no meaning at all. The viewers do not have to understand the process at all just the idea behind the artwork.

Hybridity

What have I learned about Hybridity?

We learned about Postmodern Principles in class, it is when combining two or more principles of art together to make an artwork or film. Although there are multiple parts to hybridity such as juxtaposition (Putting two or more different things in the same context to show similarities or emphasize difference), and recontextualization (Recombining found imagery to create new meaning) the general idea is two art forms make something new. Even though now combining art forms might not be a huge deal back in the 1980s it was!

How do contemporary artists use the concept of hybridity in their artwork?

Ross Ashton was born in 1961 and is best known for his stain glass look on sides buildings making the already existing building have art pieces that were never seen before. He has spent years studying and working with multiple visual media and all of this experience has helped him understand the relationship of artwork and structure, light and surface, and object and subject. His looks made it trending world wide and has had the opportunities to allow to use his skills on to multiple well known places and events such as the World Cup. Ross uses his knowledge of preexisting structure and well known artwork to make new artwork that seems familiar, but not at the same time. He would also use the building structure itself to compliment the art to make the building much more than just a project to make it more of an art work and seem more life like for the building.

How might you be able to use hybridity in your own art?

It is hard to say what it might be able to use hybridity for my project. I might be able to use the concept of 3D and 2D art at the same time. Making 3D art a lot more cartoony and seem more like a digital drawing rather than something you can tell that is 3 Dimensional. This is still a currently a work in progress idea. But the idea is make something that looks very animated and something you would see as 2D in 3D.

What I found that might be useful/inspiring for me?

What inspired me from Ross Ashton's art was that his art was super captivating, even in this day and age where projecting screens seems to be an easy thing he still made it look super clean and eye catching. I felt as if I couldn't look away from the art he was making and found it how the light and surface compliments each other in a certain way. His art can also be used to tell stories and events of what he was commissioned for which is what the concept/theme I am exploring for this year.

Concept theme

After exploring the Themes in Art for a week I thought about what I wanted to do, I came to a conclusion of “Visual Delight and The Arts of Daily Life”, but I couldn't think of anything that I really wanted to do that would complete this theme while doing what I wanted. Then after going through everything once again I finally settled on “Stories and History”, because I was going to model a character and relate her to the theme of stories and history, but mostly the stories and folklore part.

I want to mostly focus on Eastern Folktale or stories I’ve been exposed to since I was younger. Although Western stories have their own charm to it. I feel like I can have a personal connection to stories I’ve grown up with and the holidays I celebrate with. For my first project I wanted to base her off of a story that is famous in Chinese folktale, “Chang E” (嫦娥”). This story is usually told around Autumn for the Chinese Autumn festival where families would tell stories and eat mooncakes with their children. I’ve always been interested in Asian stories such as White Snake, Hachishakusama, and Momotaro they’re all stories that I would love to hear talked about more here and made into movies and other content for people to consume.

I currently have a Dell laptop and it isn’t the best for running blender or any face-tracking program. So I would love to take the opportunity during class to make something relevant and I can use beyond just the course. I have wanted to 3D model a character since middle school. I love the idea of being a totally different character in front of an audience, but going on stage seems too scary for me. Once I found out about the entire community of 3D modeling and character creating I wanted to do one. Designing characters and incorporating little things such as clothes or accessories to their outfits are very necessary to their personality and appearance. I’ve been on Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and more watching people make their characters and requesting artists for thousands of dollars to draw or model their characters. I was thinking I do not have thousands of dollars lying around, but I do have the ability to learn skills and I already know how to 3D model meshes and everything that is related to making a character in Blender so why not test it out? For my character, she will be wearing clothes from the Ming Dynasty in China since that was when the story originated from, but the twist is that her clothes have designs of the sky and bunnies to symbolize the other parts of the stories and multiple stories that co-exist around hers. Her hair will be more modern, but her color scheme will be very earth green to contrast her more celestial side for being a goddess. Maybe, if I have time I might make her another outfit, but I’m expecting this project to go at least for half of the year. I have so many more ideas when it comes to her backstory, relations to the Jade rabbit (which is another Chinese folklore), small details such as accessories, and textures for her eyes and body! I’m looking forward to seeing my idea come to life with this project this year and I hope I can make her a good one. 

Pew Pew

 

animation testing pt 2

 uh unsure why the getting up was not moving it was fine before the recording

Character Animation

 

Hoping to make one or two more animations and smoothing it out next week.

Progress for Character

 

Proposal

I want to make my animation a lot like the spiderman one you showed me in class, just more like a 3rd person pov. My scenery is going to be like a battle arena since my character is more like a fighting character. A lot like a fighting game like Mortal Combat or street fighter. It's more balanced with the scenery design and the light will be during daytime, like noon. 

SmallBot Animation

 

Running and Jumping animation

 

Running animation :)

Jumping Animation :)

Walking Man

 

Action Scavenger Hunt

 

As you can see here this character is crouch walking or sneaking. This can be used in video games when a character has to sneak past guards or in movies when characters have to be sneaky to steal something or sneaking out of their house.

This is an example of a kicking motion. It could be used in anything in sports games or in sports movies when the character is just light-heartedly playing soccer with their friends or family.