Post mortem

  So, as I've covered in previous blog posts, we had five weeks to complete the character project. Two weeks for concepting in which after the first we had feedback to improve on for our final concept to be approved. This was an individual project and we had two 1024x1024 texture sheets and a 6k tri limit. In hindsight, I'm quite happy with the whole process, the reasons I'll go over in the following paragraphs.

  What I think worked well:

  In all honesty I'm actually quite happy with the project overall. This is the first project I actually spent a considerable amount of time (2 weeks) concepting and managed to paint up a final concept of the model. I liked the overall aesthetic of the character, and how it turned out in the end. I'm particularly happy with the textures on the model, I think they have sufficient detail and readability and fit the project brief quite well.

  What didn't work well:

  My topology. I briefly covered this in my previous blog post but I got in a muddle with the topology of my model. I went against my own intuition and decided to model the folds into the model, which I am aware messed up the topology to make it hard to rig. I'm also not too keen on the pose I decided to model him in. I tried to get an elderly man ambiance for my character so I modelled him in a stoop, however he seems to come across more stunted than stooping. I also should have made it more obvious he was older with the use of greying hairs. I also should have allocated more time for texturing as towards the end of the project as I found that I had to rush the last refinements such as the shadows on the face.

  What I would do differently?:

  As I've said before, I would completely redo the topology of the model to fix the rig of the model and in turn the deformation of the model. I'd also fix the colour scheme of the model. In my opinion it has too much green for a fisherman which should have more of a blue tinge to the design in correlation to the theme of the sea. I would have spent more tris on the accessories and more time in texturing them as well as they come across rushed and also don't deform properly with the rest of the model.

  So, knowing all this now, I'll redo the character project but limit myself to around 2k tris. I may change the subject matter to what I want, reconcept over the summer or in downtime between projects and reflect on what I've learned and how long the new project has taken me.