Siren: Reallusion 3D Character Design Contest

[AdventDestiny]

So after completing the 30 Day Monster Girl Challenge, I was in the need for another significant project to occupy my time, and fortunately just a few days before finishing the monster girl challenge I found it! Reallusion, a company responsible for the creation of the iClone 6 animation program, is holding a contest for the creation and animation of a game character, with prizes ranging from a $2000 grand prize to various rewards from the other digital software companies sponsoring the contest.

Because of the amount of time I devoted to the monster girl challenge, I decided to bring one of them to life, and I chose my favorite character in the challenge, the Siren! I did three different takes on her in the monster girl challenge, and now I've begun work to flesh her out much more in order to create a three dimensional model and then animate in a short video. I've already gathered a list of animals to influence her design, as I will be taking a very biology driven approach to her. Still working on the details of the story I want to tell, but I envision it as a reimaging of the classic tale of the mythical sirens.

Here's a link to my official Polycount topic that's being used judge the participants, in addition to the completed animation;

http://polycount.com/discussion/174067/ ... ith#latest

I'll also try and regularly update this topic as I work through this challenge. Once I'm finished, assuming everything goes well, I'll have a completed character, an animation that will end up on YouTube [and will be my first YouTube vide too!], and hopefully a lot more experience that will help me on my journey to one day become a talented creature and character designer!

[AdventDestiny]

I decided to try and put together a cross-section design for the Siren, while keeping track of the various animals that influenced her design. For the most part I stuck to the original design I did for the 30 Day Monster Girl Challenge [twice], but modified somewhat to humanize her some more. I purposely left one side of her head bald to illustrate her skull structure, while making the hair on the side of her hair see through. I settled on giving her a petite physique, but not so slim to appear emaciated.

1. Stonefish: The structure of the fins on her head and back, as well as the venomous spines concealed within them.
2. Siamese Fighting Fish: The flowing fins that make up her "hair".
3. Stoat: The large round eyes that gives a distinctly adorable appearance.
4. Leopard Seal: The nostrils, which can be closed when underwater. Also her general swimming technique.
5. Piranha: Her teeth, plus the general aggression.
6. Great White Shark: The ability to partially project her jaws outside of her skull. Also influenced the contrasting light front and darker back.
7. Gray Wolf: Mostly for the pack mentality of the siren species in general.
8. Bengal Tiger: A combination of the retractable claws on her hands and the general stripe pattern [somewhat exaggerated].
9. Poison Dart Frog: The bright colors of that warn of toxic danger.
10. Crested Newt: The general build of the head and back fins, though its more based on a fish's fin. These fins can be retracted.
11. Chameleon: The colors on the fins themselves, which change color based on her mood and intent.
12. Rainbow Boa: The general scale patterns, as well as the amazing iridescence of the scales.
13. Black Mamba: The colored inside of the mouth, and its speed.
14. Exotic Birds: The sounds they make, beautiful and diverse.
15. Domestic Cat: Partly for the eyes that can shift from rounded to a slit, but mostly for the general mannerisms of a predator that likes to play with its prey.
16. Dromeosaurus [Raptor]: For the foot structure and the general movement patterns while hunting or chasing their prey.

Assuming that I finally get a hold of the special trial for Reallusion's iClone 6 and Character Creator this week, I can begin creating a custom human morph modeled off of this, than start sculpting it in ZBrush to enhance the features. I'll probably have to do some additional research on how to do the more exotic features, mainly the flexibility of the fins and her ability to stretch her mouth open wider as her jaws pop out of her skull, may have to use Blender for that, and pray their educational resources can get me started quickly.

[AdventDestiny]

Well, I've made some changes, which on the one hand makes my Siren more unique, but on the other adds a whole new level of difficulty to the challenge. I decided to scrap the head fin, because it just didn't appear to serve any purpose. Then, I decided to expand on the concept of her mouth being able to open wider like a shark's. This is a sketch for both her new design and her jaw when closed and opened:

Sufficed to say, trying to take the premade model I made in Character Creator and get the jaw to do this without destroying the original model's topology has been a nightmare. I'm still trying to figure out the various features in ZBrush, specifically a tool called ZModeler, which if done right should allow me to essentially subtract the specific polygons that I need gone to split the side of the mouth, after which I'll just have to worry about lining it up so that when closed, the slit is barely visible.

All in all, it's an enormous challenge, but hopefully all this stress will be worth it, at the very least I'll walk away with this with a much greater knowledge of how ZBrush works!

[[BRindustries]]

RAWR!
Yeah, that's a pretty big change you're making there mate, good luck with sorting all that out. ^owo^-b

[AdventDestiny]

RAWR!
Yeah, that's a pretty big change you're making there mate, good luck with sorting all that out. ^owo^-b

Thanks!

Recently I decided to design a mood board, something some of the other competitors in the contest have been doing; it was surprisingly simple to put this together in Manga Studios 5, and represents a more refined selection of references for what I want my final Siren design to be like. [I did censor the nude images, at least the most private parts aren't showing!]

I've also decided to start from scratch, making a new Character Creator model to build off of [never showed you guys the previous one did I? My bad!] The goal for the final design is create a creature that gives the impression of a nubile, petite, and alluring woman, which is actually a lure to get her preferred prey close enough bring down with concealed venomous barbs. Her preferred prey are humans, specifically men... I know, you guys generally hate monster girls that are mean and like killing stuff, but this is what I consider my kind of monster girl! Here's a new sketch I made yesterday, based off some of the pics from my mood board above.