Modelling Magpies

 A lesser character in my narrative, and yet, took the longest to model so far. It's anatomy required substantial research on real birds and existing 3D models. To be productively economical, I chose heavy stylisation. 

Visual planning of real and modelled magpies. Websites like 'Turbosquid' showed rigs underneath body and wing geometry, which was helpful. I decided to model winged and wingless copies in case I had rigging problems further down the pipeline. 

Orthographs were a struggle; photo references are all different subspecies, not mentioning individual bird subtleties. This meant each drawing differed.

From visual research, I knew the wings would be challenging. Using Spirited Away's Yubaba helped elevate unnecessary detail; her wings are malleable, simple and doughy. Incorporating this adds mystery; are my own birds real or kami spirits?

Above, Yubaba in bird form. Spirited Away (2001). The inspiration for my bird model wings. 

I started modelling the side view, being frugal with edge loops until the basic form was accurate from all angles.

The body was too wide for a time, but I strictly kept with my orthographs before making adjustments.

Modelling the legs gave me ideas for another character, Yin, who shares similar feet. 

I concentrated on character silhouette, rather than realism; its only seen at distance.

The tailfeathers were tedious; the shape was hard to capture as one mass using restricted topology.

Only when confident with the main body did I start the wings. 

The mirror tool allowed me to focus on a single wing, to be later transferred over. 

The wing has more mass at the shoulder, thinning outwards and backwards. The underside lifts upwards, almost like a hand palm.  

Ensuring vertices and main pivot were snapped to the centre line, I finally mirrored across the wing. 

Being unfamiliar with bird rigging, I kept a second model without wings to act as a grounded bird, just in case I can't get the wings neatly folded against the body. 

I then mapped-out my geometry UV's. In hindsight, I should've done this before starting the wings; halving the process time. 

Above, my winged bird render (T pose). 

Above, my wingless bird render. When textured and positioned on a tree branch, It'll look like its wings are folded against its body. This model may be scrapped for the one above.