25/9/2024 - 24/11/2024 : (Week 1- Week 9)
Ting Wen Yi / 0361799
Game Art/Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Project 1: Character Design and World Creation (Concept)
INSTRCTIONS
Build your world (simple level) with Unreal Engine which follows your art direction and paint over it to further enhance and create uniqueness. You are also to create your character persona based on your proposed world. Define character crisis, strength, backstory (summarized), culture, class, skins etc. This includes creating its props to further support the characters existence. Below are the list of outputs to be produced:
- Character Silhouettes - for each character (MC, Minions, Creatures, Boss, etc)
- Value Studies
- Color Palettes
- Cleanup
- Facial Expression Basics
- Dynamic pose 3/4
PROJECT 1 : CHARACTER DESIGN AND WORLD CREATION (CONCEPT)
Character Building
After finalizing the sketches for my character, I explored several color studies to determine which combination suited her best. I found that an orange T-shirt paired with dark green overalls and white hair stood out the most. This color palette not only caught my eye but also complemented Cody and May's designs. Orange is often associated with creativity, enthusiasm, and warmth, which aligns with her lively, adventurous personality. The dark green overalls provide a grounding, balanced contrast, symbolizing stability and practicality, traits that are essential in her interactions with Cody and May. The white hair adds an element of uniqueness and purity, helping her stand out in a way that complements the other characters while still maintaining her individuality.
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Figure 1.1 Character Color Studies - Week 6 (4/11/2024)
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As this project involves exercise, I built my character in ZBrush, as I explained in the previous exercise.
In Project 1, I focused solely on character building, with plans to work on the environment and prop design later on.
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Figure 1.2 3D Progress (In Game Design) - Week 8 (12/11/2024)
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Figure 1.3 3D Progress (In Game Design) - Week 8 (13/11/2024)
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After modeling my character in ZBrush, I exported it to Blender for rendering. I added a felt-like texture to the overalls she’s wearing to give them a soft, fabric-like appearance. This material adds a cozy and realistic touch to her outfit and to represents the handmade doll effect.
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Figure 1.4 Adding Felt Effect - Week 8 (13/11/2024)
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I followed the color scheme from my sketch and applied the appropriate textures to match the vibe, bringing her overall look to life. Initially, I chose red for the buttons, as I felt it complemented her orange T-shirt. However, I decided to try blue instead, since it’s a contrasting color to orange and gives her a more playful vibe.
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Figure 1.5 "Real World" Doll Rendering Progress - Week 8 (13/11/2024)
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Figure 1.6 In Game Character Rendering Progress - Week 8 (13/11/2024)
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Character Posing
Since we needed to create a pose for the character, I started by researching the poses of existing characters in the game. I quickly realized that the character poses in It Takes Two are very minimal and subtle—nothing like the heroic, exaggerated poses you'd find in other games. The characters’ poses feel more natural and grounded, reflecting their personalities and the tone of the game. With this in mind, I wanted to make sure Rose's pose would fit seamlessly within the same style.
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Figure 2.1 Poses References - Week 6 (4/11/2024)
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To further refine my approach, I also looked into the types of poses a child might naturally do. Since Rose is a young character, I wanted her pose to reflect a sense of innocence and playfulness, rather than anything too dynamic or dramatic.
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Figure 2.2 Character Poses Sketches - Week 6 (4/11/2024)
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After sketching out three quick poses, I decided to go with the first one, which I felt best captured the balance between subtlety and expressiveness. To ensure the pose was anatomically correct, I used https://setpose.com/ as a reference. This tool helped me make sure that the body was positioned correctly and that the overall posture didn’t feel forced or unnatural, while maintaining correct anatomy.
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Figure 2.3 Set Pose Mannequin - Week 6 (4/11/2024)
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I worked on creating the pose in ZBrush, carefully adjusting it until I was satisfied with the overall anatomy and expression. Once the pose was finalized, I exported the model to Blender and render it out.
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Figure 2.4 Character Pose Progress - Week 6 (4/11/2024)
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After I rendered a zoomed-in version of the Rose character, I followed her style for the poster. I created it in Photoshop and added the It Takes Two logo.
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Figure 2.5 May Half Body Poster - Week 8 (14/11/2024)
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Figure 2.6 Rose Half Body Poster Progress - Week 8 (14/11/2024)
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I also did a full-body pose for the poster, similar to Cody’s, so it looks like Rose is seamlessly part of the game. I’m happy with how everything turned out; they go together really well.
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Figure 2.7 Cody Full Body Poster - Week 8 (14/11/2024)
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Figure 2.8 Rose Full Body Poster Progress - Week 8 (14/11/2024)
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Her shoes are made of sequins, giving them a fun, sparkly look, just the kind of thing kids would love to wear.
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Figure 2.9 Shoe Details - Week 8 (14/11/2024)
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Character Expressions
I did some expression studies and picked out a few of the best reactions that really bring out her personality. I wanted to make sure the expressions felt natural and matched her character traits.
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Figure 3.1 Expressions Studies Sketches - Week 8 (16/11/2024)
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After that, I modeled the expressions in ZBrush, which was fun because I could really play around with the shapes and details. Once I was happy with the models, I rendered them in Blender to see how they’d look with proper lighting and textures.
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Figure 3.2 Expressions in Zbursh - Week 9 (23/11/2024)
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Figure 3.3 Expressions in 3D - Week 9 (23/11/2024)
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Topology
I also did a quick topology for Rose's face and arms.
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Figure 3.4 Topology - Week 9 (23/11/2024)
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Character Refinements
Mr. Kannan suggested that I add a paint-splash effect to her clothes. Taking his advice, I added splashes of paint not only on her outfit but also on her face to enhance her playful personality. After refining my character, I rendered it from different angles and arranged the renders into orthographic views.
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Figure 4.1 Orthographic View (Real World Doll) - Week 9 (22/11/2024)
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Figure 4.2 Orthographic View (In Game Character) - Week 9 (22/11/2024)
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Figure 4.3 Final Poster - Week 9 (22/11/2024)
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Figure 4.4 Final Pose Poster - Week 9 (22/11/2024)
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To make it more realistic, as if Rose were part of the game, I rendered her from a different angle and edited her into the menu, integrating the real-world character I created.
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Figure 4.5 Real World Doll in Menu - Week 9 (22/11/2024)
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Figure 4.5 Real World Doll in Menu (Selecting Character) - Week 9 (22/11/2024)
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Figure 4.7 Project 1 Compilation - Week 9 (23/11/2024)
FEEDBACK
Week 9: Reduce noise on the clothes to avoid making them too busy. When there’s too much texture or detail, it can look overwhelming, especially when the character moves in-game. Instead, add stains or paint in specific areas to give the clothes more character, but don’t cover them entirely. The stains should look significant and purposeful.
REFLECTION
Throughout Project 1, I really focused on creating and refining my character, and I had a lot of fun with the process. Finishing the renders and the final poster felt amazing—it was such a relief to wrap up something solid after nine weeks. It really felt like a big milestone! I was also happy that the final result matched the original art style, which was a huge win. But, being a perfectionist, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. I got frustrated by small mistakes that made me go back and tweak the 3D model and re-render things over and over. It took up a lot of time, which made it harder to move on to the environment and props, especially since I was trying to finish everything before Christmas. Even though it was tough at times, I picked up a lot of new skills—especially in Blender. I sculpted the character in ZBrush, but Blender was key for rendering, where the lighting and camera settings helped me get that realistic look that fit the style I was going for.
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