Creating a character from concept art to fully animated!

Hi there everyone, I’m Samantha Burke, an artist of the team! I work on the character designs, character models, and animation for the game. You’ve probably seen the concept art I created for the NPCs for the game from previous devlog, so this week I’ll show you all how I go from the concept art stage to a fully animated character! 

I first begin by blocking out the main shape of the character, creating the body, arms, legs, and head. This part of the process is relatively simple, as the character’s body isn’t too complex. Their legs have a simple long, cone-like shape and their faces are a simple circle.  

However, while the shape of the character is simple, I still need to carefully add polygons and edge loops around the joints so that the character moves properly when being animated. Especially around the shoulders and pelvis.

Next, I start modeling more complex details of the character, like the hands, cuffs, and chains, as well as adding a bit more shape to the head to make it clearer where the neck ends, and the face begins.

I made sure to give the fingers and thumbs a blockier shape compared to the rest of the body just like in the concept art. This was a bit difficult though, trying to keep a smooth transition from the round shape of the arm to the square shape of the fingers. 

I then begin the process of adding textures to the model. The lore for this character is that they are a clay statue that has been brought to life and made to be a servant, so I made sure to keep this in mind while making the textures. I made the body clay-like, covered in cracks and scratches and the metal of the cuffs and chains old and rusted. 

I also decided to add a symbol carved on to the chest of the character in order to add a bit more detail to the body. This symbol means “Orilla” the name of the servants and can also be seen on the stone tablets if you look closely.  

Next, I add bones to every part of the model that needs to be animated. Yes, this includes every single link in the chains, which each has its own bone that needs to be added and animated.

Finally, I begin animating the character, starting with a walking animation. While animating the arms swinging as the character moves I also have to keep in mind how the chains move in reaction. I also need to keep in mind that the chains briefly drag against the floor while moving. This was a very time consuming process but I'm happy with the final result.