Adding Details

You now have a base design for Jim’s body and his head, so it’s time to add the details. Maybe you don’t know how to draw or paint, but don’t worry! The goal with these designs is not to make them look perfect. Designs are mainly just sketches and quick drawings that help you to understand the shapes of your character. Understanding the character and how its details are constructed allows you to translate everything into the 3D model.

For example, let’s say that you are modeling a watch. If you start modeling right away, maybe you’ll end up encountering some issues and failing. Maybe it won’t look right or realistic, and the reason is usually that you didn’t study the shapes. It’s always good to look for references and use them when you design something. You can even go ahead with only an idea in your head, but it’s recommended that you put it on paper (or a screen) so you can actually see the design and explore it before diving into the 3D modeling process.

Figure 5.5 shows some of the sketches made to define Jim’s clothing and the details selected for the definitive design. They were drawn from several points of view. The jacket, for example, has designs on its front and back. This is important because we probably wouldn’t need the back side for a 2D model, but in a 3D model every side is equally important!

Figure 5.5 Sketches of character design details, including clothes, earpiece, boots, gloves, and cap

There are rectilinear lines along the whole suit, maintaining the style and making everything look more elaborate than just a plain surface. The shoulders, elbows, and knees have padding, which gives the clothes the look of a uniform and is just what we want for Jim, since everyone in the future is wearing the same kind of suits.

Jim is also wearing an earpiece to listen to music or receive calls. The cap is also a personal detail to distinguish him from others and he’s going to wear it turned around, like a rebel. His personality can probably be reflected in the colors of his clothes as well. Maybe some parts of the suit will be a different color to stand out from the clothes worn by the rest of the people in his world; that will be explored later in the coloring stage.

The back side of the jacket has a small backpack where the suit’s electronic systems may be stored. The cut in the arms, above the elbows, seems to resemble what we see in today’s astronaut suits.

There is also another detail added to the suit. Jim put space exploration symbols on the chest and on the front side of the cap; these symbols, along with the uniform-like style of the clothes, makes him look like an actual space explorer. For those symbols, I used Saturn, which is a very recognizable planet and a known icon of space exploration.