HOW can I ADD personality to my characters?

Charlie Milano, Norwich

To illustrate this, I’ll be using a character from one of my favourite cartoons: Samurai Jack.

This started as a basic speed sculpt but in order to take it further, I wanted to add a bit of personality. Samurai Jack is known for his scowling expression whenever he faces up to his arch-nemesis, Aku. So I tried to emulate that. In order to avoid dead-looking sculpts with lifeless eyes, it’s good to a give the character a back story or personality, whether it is well known or not.

I used the Move brush for the basic shapes and the Clay Build Up brush for the major forms. I then refined the sculpt with the Dam_standard brush and the Smooth brush to clean up rough edges. Something I tend to do a lot of is sculpt in symmetry. Once I’ve finalised the model, I save a morph target and use layers to move the model into a suitable pose. That way, I can experiment non-destructively.

The clothes are a big part of the character. I use the body to generate these before I pose the character. I mask the areas I need clothing on, extract and run Zremesher on the model. I can then use the Zmodeler brush to create seams or stitch lines if I need them.

Lighting is important for the story of the character. Even the best models can look dull if the lighting isn’t good. For my model, Jack is looking at Aku and the light is behind him. Since the scene isn’t a bright, happy scene, I use the light to accentuate Jack’s outline.

You can add details to sell the story; Aku is not visible, so I put a reflection of him on Jack’s sword for an extra touch.

While all the elements were adequate in this test render, the pose was dull and flat