This is a collection of various characters that are mostly comission works for individual clients. Most of the people who come to me ask me to turn their 2D NFT character into a rigged 3D avatar so that they can use them in games and animations.
Role:
Character Artist
Industry:
Freelance
Duration:
N/A
Challenges
Accuracy: Making sure that the 3D version of the client's 2D artwork is true to the original.
Rigging: Making custom rigs of non-traditional skeletons and ensuring compatibility between game engines.
Texture Sets: Creating multiple sizes of texture sets from 4k to 256x256px for both performance and quality.
My Approach
Design Phase
Modeling: I use Gravity Sketch VR as my main modeling software because it allows me to use subdivisional modeling to create organic shapes efficiently and accurately. Using VR allows me to feel like I am sculpting and creating things with my hands rather than a mouse and keyboard.
Texturing: For textures I like to use Adobe Substance painter to paint on textures and materials to create stylized or realistic materials for each character.
Rigging and Skinning
Rigging Skeleton: Using Blender to create custom skeletons and bone hierarchy for each avatar.
Weight Painting: Ensuring proper articulation and bending of limbs to look and feel as natural as possible.
Optimization
Polygon Count: Ensuring that all models have a clean topology and a manageable polygon count for performance inside of game engines.
Texture Sets: Again for performance having multiple sizes of texture sets that the client can choose from depending on the requirements provided from certain games.
Conclusion
I have honed in my process for creating custom characters for clients from initial image to final rigged avatar. Utilizing powerful tools such as VR allow me to quickly and efficiently visualize and bring these characters to life. Character art is one of my favorite parts of being a 3D designer.
