[Mixamo Contest] - Jordan Preston - Explorer Alchemist (WIP)
Hey, what's up dudes. First poster here! I've lurked for a while just to catch up with the latest news and learn from others, but I've decided to make my debut and give this a go.
I'll probably post an update every day or so, depending on progress.
Anyway, before even thinking of what the character should look like, I wanted to come up with a relevant and believable character in regards to the Voynich Manuscript. So the first port of call was to actually go and look through the book! Reading it was fruitless, but there were lots of strange pictures of plants and people.. Strange, but life and plants are commonly associated with alchemy so that was a good starting point. I've totally been into the PS3 Atelier games the last few years too, so it's relevant to my interests.
Eventually there will be a neat character bio and proper back story (yay writing) but as of now the story is this: the granddaughter of an esteemed and recently deceased alchemist finds this book going through his study, and enthralled with the complexity of it all decides to learn all the secrets that the book contains. Being a normal 20 year old girl at this point however, she couldn't even read the book! Thus she follows in her ancestors footsteps and begins her journey down the path of alchemy, and a few years later has not only learnt of transmutation and object duplication, but has deciphered passages of the book itself. Discovering that the book holds information on her families past (and future) she heads out, guided by the book to find the secrets for herself.
So with the theme decided, I'm currently in the process of figuring out the clothing and item designs. I work super slow, so the 3D part of the project won't be happening for a week or so at least. Some quick sketches were drawn up to get some ideas on the types of clothing that would go well:
They're pretty rough, but get a bit more detailed as the ideas start to form. With a solid idea, an orthographic image has begun to be made:
I'm still not really sure about it yet, I feel like some detail could be changed..
I'll probably post an update every day or so, depending on progress.
Anyway, before even thinking of what the character should look like, I wanted to come up with a relevant and believable character in regards to the Voynich Manuscript. So the first port of call was to actually go and look through the book! Reading it was fruitless, but there were lots of strange pictures of plants and people.. Strange, but life and plants are commonly associated with alchemy so that was a good starting point. I've totally been into the PS3 Atelier games the last few years too, so it's relevant to my interests.
Eventually there will be a neat character bio and proper back story (yay writing) but as of now the story is this: the granddaughter of an esteemed and recently deceased alchemist finds this book going through his study, and enthralled with the complexity of it all decides to learn all the secrets that the book contains. Being a normal 20 year old girl at this point however, she couldn't even read the book! Thus she follows in her ancestors footsteps and begins her journey down the path of alchemy, and a few years later has not only learnt of transmutation and object duplication, but has deciphered passages of the book itself. Discovering that the book holds information on her families past (and future) she heads out, guided by the book to find the secrets for herself.
So with the theme decided, I'm currently in the process of figuring out the clothing and item designs. I work super slow, so the 3D part of the project won't be happening for a week or so at least. Some quick sketches were drawn up to get some ideas on the types of clothing that would go well:
They're pretty rough, but get a bit more detailed as the ideas start to form. With a solid idea, an orthographic image has begun to be made:
I'm still not really sure about it yet, I feel like some detail could be changed..
Replies
Thanks
I moved a few things around on the clothes, it's a bit less cluttered now. While the polypaint isn't an immediate issue, I prototyped a few different colour schemes to see what the finished product might look like. I'm liking 2,3 and 7 so far but it could look entirely different when it's time.
Here's how to register: Simply send an email to contest@mixamo.com and provide the following info:
Name: Your First and Last Name
Login: Your Mixamo login or associated email address
Source: Where you heard about this contest
Tools: 3D software you will use to model your character
Polycount WIP Thread: Your email must include the URL to your work-in-progress thread on Polycount so we can follow your progress
That's it!
We'll then provide you with free Auto-Rigging and animating on Mixamo and send you a confirmation. Thanks!