Making a 3D character model

For my Children’s Picture Book Illustration class that I am currently teaching at ECUAD, I will get my students to make a 3D character model and then use this model to draw their characters from various angles, in a series of movements as well as in different styles and moods.

Here is the 3D character I made in preparation for the class. I wanted to make it in a short amount of time, so not to make it perfect by any means since the point of the exercise is not the actual model, but how to utilize it. All you need is a glue gun, stuff from the dollar store and some found objects; in my case a chestnut for the head. The possibilities are endless! This is a great start for a character development exercise. … Or, you could of course also make a stop motion animation of your character once done…. i might give that a shot in a little while.

Here’s a quick little photoshot I did with my model. Not very good lighting of course, but the point is more to use the 3D character as reference for the drawn character and concentrate on angels, shadows, shots etc..