DEVLOG #11
12 July, 2024
Author: Alex Crean, Alex Mills
Ski Lodge Murder Dev-log #11: Bringing Characters To Life With Art
Chracter Referance Sheet From WIP to Final
INTRODUCTION:
Every character begins as a mere idea- a spark of imagination.
This blog post delves into the artistic adventure of bringing our game's characters to life, from their initial sketches to the final textured models. This blog post tells all of our key secrets when it comes to characters.
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD... WARNING! THIS ONE IS A DEEP DIVE...
With that said, let's sketch out the process!
Character Texture Showcase from Concept Art to Final Texture (Created By Alex Mills)
CONCEPT STAGE 2: SILHOUETTE, SYMBOLS AND COLOURS
In this crucial secondary concept stage, we focused on defining characters' heights—essential for accurate modeling—and establishing block colors, which are key to effective texturing and further concreting personality — key for bringing life to our characters.
SILHOUETTE:
A character’s silhouette is pivotal; it defines their stance and demeanor, echoing their personality. We craft each silhouette to ensure it’s distinctive and dynamic, aiding animators and even voice actors who rely on these poses to deliver more authentic performances. Explore more about silhouette in our previous blog (#8).
SYMBOL/LOGO:
Every character has a symbol, akin to a personal logo, enhancing their recognisability and tying back to their core traits. Given a logo and a brief description of each character, you will be able to easily match up each character together (we tried with external audiences!).
COLOUR:
Colours set the visual tone of the character and colour theory. When designing characters, we don’t just pick colors that look good. We delve into color psychology to ensure that each hue supports the narrative and character dynamics.
Happy and outgoing gisela radiates positively, and therefore a bright yellow was selected. The colour yellow, by the physcology of colour theory additionally reflects "optimism, joy, enlightenment, but also for duplicity, cowardice, betrayal" (Haily Van Braam, 2024). Gisela may appear sunny and approchable, however underneath her innocent facade, layers of deception, hidden fears and hushed truth emerge - reflecting the duality of the nature of the colour yellow.
IT'S TIME FOR 3D:
In development, to save time and resources shortcuts are taken, for us our shortcut was to elimate the 3D modelling and use readyplayerme characters. Ready Player Me characters have the right low-poly look that matches our game aesthetic and have super good topology, meaning having several in one scene won't be too resource-intensive or affect performance negatively.
Readyplayerme allows for a wide range of customisability and so, based of concept sketches, referance photos, Alex Mills developed the different models
AS THE BRUSH SETTLES!
We hope you have gained a deeper understanding of how we craft characters and the dozens of hours of thought behind each of our creations! The journey from concept art to a fully textured model is meticulous and collaborative, involving careful consideration of colors, textures, and details to bring each character to life. This process ensures that every character not only looks great but also fits seamlessly into the narrative and aesthetic of our game. Thank you for taking the time
We'd like to end on the inspiration quote by Alex Mills "trust the process to the max" - April 2024.
FROM TEXT TO ART:
We've explained how we created early written versions of characters in this blog - a quick summary of this process is allowing each team member to submit a brief idea of a character- with an early description of their background, potential impact on the story, personality tropes and Sketch or Reference Image(s).
This allows our lead artist, Alex Mills, to create quick sketches, informed by a solid character foundation. These pen-and-paper sketches are where the real magic happens- unique traits and character personalities are formed and explored. Narrative elements, like their deadly sin, are considered and heavily implemented within their poses, expressions, and even their wardrobe choices. By focusing on these details, Alex ensures that each character not only looks distinct but also conveys their underlying motivations and conflicts visually. This depth of representation enriches the game's storytelling and player engagement.
At a quick glance the concept art is sketchy, rough and imperfect but it's doing more than just looking polished and pretty.
Alone readyplayerme characters can look very inhumane and give that uncanny valley feeling. Used a lot in games, film productions and animation, with readyplayerme characters, you need to make them stand out.
Early Character Concept Art (Created by Alex Mills)
The concept features key details that reflect the personality of the corresponding character- Leonardo (your Italian capo baston/underboss) has his luxury golden watch, gold crest ring and distinctive fedora. These objects all symbols of Leonardos's taste for the finer things and even if the accessories don't appear in the final game product, they are crucial for narrative/art to truly understand the personal values he embodies.
TIME FOR MAGIC!
Now it gets really fun- texturing these base models to really show the personality and life of each character.
FACE AND HAIR!
The texturing starts with selecting the base colour from the 2D referance sheet this foundational colour sets the tone for the entire character.
Rendered View of Ready Player me Characters
Base Colour
TAP TO SEE IN FULL SCREEN!
Final Cast Directly from Ready Player Me (Without Texture)
The Ready Player Me selection was a team effort, with constant checks by Alex Mills to ensure that the models lived up to their concept art. After this step, it's a no-return process, as models will be textured. Think of it as a waterfall—it's super easy to go down the waterfall, but climbing back up will be extremely difficult and time-consuming. Therefore, ensuring the models are perfect before moving to texturing is crucial.
Ready Player Me Customisable Showcase by Ready Player Me, Inc.
Multi-Step Character Process
Typically, the process starts with the eyes and face, as these areas are crucial in conveying the character's age and emotional depth. For instance, the color and detail of the eyes can tell a lot about the character. A yellow character with a tiny heart in their eyes can immediately convey innocence or subtle menace. The eyes are often the first element to be textured because they add significant life to the character. An all-white pupil can look eerie and lifeless, so it's important to get the eye color and detail just right.
Next, attention is turned to the hair. The base color is applied first, followed by a gradient. The darkest areas of the gradient are outlined to create depth, taking into account the direction of light and the shininess of the hair. This step is crucial for showcasing the character's personality – whether they have straight, well-kept hair that suggests meticulousness, or tousled hair that suggests a more carefree nature.
Eyes and Lips Close Up
Hair, Before And After
Subtle color variations, like using cream highlights instead of stark white, can indicate the use of hair products and add realism. For instance, white highlights might suggest a slicked-back style achieved with gel, whereas cream highlights create a more natural look.
FIT CHECK
The character’s outfit is textured to match the draft, considering the material’s age and wear. Shiny or matte finishes are applied depending on how frequently the clothing is worn. Texturing includes adding details like folds, metal parts, and fabric scuffs, giving a realistic sense of how the outfit interacts with the environment.
Permanent shadows and highlights are drawn to simulate a 3D appearance using textures rather than intricate modeling. For example, scales on a creature might be represented through a normal map rather than being individually modeled.
Painted Shadows And Extra Details.
Dinosaure Example: https://www.zbrushcentral.com/u/system/activity/portfolio
"Juicey Fabric" - Small Character Details
Infusing Personality Through Small Details
Small details are critical in adding personality to a character. These can range from unique symbols or logos to minor wear and tear that suggest the character's history and lifestyle. Good values in texturing ensure that these details are visible and add to the overall narrative of the character.
Experimentation with different textures and colors, in collaboration with an artist, is key to finding the right balance that brings out the character’s essence. By carefully considering these elements, characters can be transformed from flat, untextured models into vibrant, lifelike figures that enhance the story and engage the audience.
Just do that process for every single character you and Phew.. it's over, ah wait RIGGING, BLENDSHAPES, ANIMATION! ... (sigh) We'll leave that for a following blog-post!
Final Character Texture Sheet
