Modelling Fish Spirits

 A character that first appeared in my thumbnailing for Premise, I modelled these fish spirits using similar methods to other ethereal characters already completed for my final animation. I hope to use these models in groups to create visual interest. 

Above shows an example scene, where fish-like characters fly in swarms through the canopy. These characters will be seen flying around the majority of my compositions. 

I started with a cube, gradually molding into a worm shape. Although a simple silhouette, straying too far from my reference drawings at this stage would've completely changed the character. The accuracy of curves around the mass are important to its personality. 

I created pupils by extruding outwards...

...and created a transparent dome eyeball on top. I experimented with this arrangement for a time, but found it didn't match my design. I struggled to find a matte opaque material that created an outline around the pupil, as seen in my original design sheet.  

Ultimately, I decided on the same eyes as my other spirit characters. Simplicity was the better option in this case, although I spent a lot of time trying different styles and methods. The recurring eye style gives my spirit characters continuity. 

Once happy with the silhouette and eyes, I duplicated and deformed the fish into a few shape variations. These characters will be finalized with a simple worm/ tail rig. 

I made several adjustments to my model before rendering the above image, mainly, inverting the eyes. I also neatened the models topology.