Modelling Gin's Body

I began working on character Gin's body once happy with her head model. I hope to recycle this completed model in order to accelerate the construction process of my two other humanoid characters.

Starting with a cube, I formed a basic yet accurate body structure. 

I began extruding the characters obi-style waist belt, but quickly realized the topology had to be accurate before this stage...  

I went back a few stages, and worked with simple topology to structure the characters neckline. I was then able to add her obi belt. 

After the obi came the characters dress, using the extrude tool to suggest layered fabric. I then moved onto the arms. 

Starting with the extrude tool, I then circularized the topology and spent some time adjusting vertices until happy with the arm structure. I found the shoulder and neck to be most challenging, and had to experiment with the back and clavicle positioning. I remember struggling with this area of anatomy in Jetpack Jones (another model). 

The hand was another challenging area to model, but patience seemed to solve a lot of problems. Learning from previous mistakes, I fixed problems as soon as I found them instead of cutting corners. 

I used my own hand alongside existing model images as reference for Gin's hands. 

Luckily, I can get away with simplicity and stylization. This helps disguise my novice-level hand modelling. 

I decided to have her legs attach to her body geometry; fewer pieces as possible seemed sensible. I paid less attention to the upper legs, but made sure they had clean geometry.  

I strayed away from my otrthographs because of their inaccurate leg angles. Much like the arms, I spent a lot of time making small adjustments. 

I would alternate between the arms and legs to keep my interest. This also gave me a fresh pair of eyes. 

The feet had to strike a balance between real human anatomy and stylization. Understanding what I wanted and what I could scrap, yet still convey that this was a foot. 

Shoulder placement was important; a bone structure that frames the head. However, this area will be covered with feathers. 

I started modelling smaller details, but soon decided that texture maps might be more efficient...

I therefore decided to create Gin's belt with opacity and color maps instead of modelling these attributes. 

Moving on to Gin's robe. After much thought, I chose to have this as separate geometry from the body. I decided I'll rig the robe. 

I duplicated gin's geometry and used it for the base of the robe model. I then extruded details like her ribbon.

Finally, I modelled her ribbon details. All that's left to add is her feathered neck shawl, feathered obi accessory, and yuigesa (giant pom pom) on her back.

Above, a front view render of Gin's model. Her feathered neck shawl will be added during texturing.

 

Above, a rear view render of Gin. A yuigesa will sit above her back ribbon.

Above, a side view render of Gin. I need to fix the clashing ponytail and ribbon geometry seen on her back.