Character Modeling: Creating a Cartoon-Style Groundhog – Part 01

by David Ward

Hello and welcome to part 1 of the this character modeling tutorial series for Blender 2.6!

This character modeling tutorial series is on modeling a cartoon, ground hog character in Blender 2.6. In this tutorial David Ward takes you through the complete process of creating a cartoon character model, including all the steps, hotkeys, tools and more. A few topics and tools covered include: box modeling, mesh editing, proportional editing tool, mirror modifier, extrude, particle fur, and much more.

What is covered

In part 01 of this character modeling tutorial series for Blender 2.6, we begin box-modeling a stylized, ground hog character. This first part of the tutorial series we model mostly on the face and head, using the sculpt tool here and there to supplement the standard vertex modeling.

Here is a preview of the final result from this part of this character modeling tutorial series:

Character Modeling a Ground Hog in Blender

Up Next

The second part of this character modeling series will cover box modeling the rest of the character, including the body, arms, hands, feet, and more.

Creating a Ground Hog<>

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Discussion

73 Responses to “Character Modeling: Creating a Cartoon-Style Groundhog – Part 01”
  1. Jeff Drew
    Posts: 23

    Thanks David! This looks fun.

    #
    1
     Jan 20, 2012 at 2:03 pm
    • derli junior
      Posts: 5

      David Ward Hello, my name is Derli, I am Brazilian and I love your tutorials.
      I’m 13 years old, and one day, perhaps, know at least half of what you know.

      observation:
      Excuse my English, I’m not very good :)

      #
      1.1
       Feb 7, 2013 at 2:45 pm
  2. alec farai
    Posts: 146

    cool blud you got an amazing imagination, i respect that :)

    #
    2
     Jan 20, 2012 at 2:18 pm
  3. Jeff Bessette
    Posts: 256

    Damn I’m getting behind on my tutorials. Going to have to have a Cgcookie marathon!

    #
    3
     Jan 20, 2012 at 2:31 pm
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2971

      That’s what I like to hear!

      #
      3.1
       Jan 20, 2012 at 3:46 pm
      • Stacey Vohland
        Posts: 4

        You know what, that sounds like a new tradition..a BC 24 hour marathon. Call it, The 24 Hours of BC..

        #
        3.1.1
         Jan 20, 2012 at 4:47 pm
  4. Danny Kneip
    Posts: 175

    Great result so far, Dave!

    #
    4
     Jan 20, 2012 at 2:37 pm
  5. David de Best
    Posts: 31

    this is gonna be great!

    #
    5
     Jan 20, 2012 at 3:01 pm
  6. Vicens Juan Tomas Montserrat
    Posts: 16

    New great tutorial!! thanks David!

    #
    6
     Jan 20, 2012 at 3:02 pm
  7. Povilas N
    Posts: 6

    Realy nice

    #
    7
     Jan 20, 2012 at 3:05 pm
  8. Rebecca Fryer
    Posts: 1

    Lovely bit of modelling the GroundHog is really taking on character.
    I’l have to give this a try.

    Thank you, David.

    #
    8
     Jan 20, 2012 at 3:45 pm
  9. hugo hernandez
    Posts: 7

    I love these character tutorials. Will this be a series like the spider tut? please, more ‘organic’ modeling tuts. :)

    #
    9
     Jan 20, 2012 at 4:35 pm
    • David Ward
      Posts: 261

      Glad you enjoy them! Organic/character modeling is my favorite :)

      #
      9.1
       Jan 20, 2012 at 6:30 pm
      • Overton Loyd
        Posts: 4

        David thank you for generously sharing your brilliant craftsmanship. I was going along fine until the business of turning the duplicated sphere into eyelids. I found it hard to follow, but it looks like you selected a couple of edge loops…. not sure what you did to them after selecting them. Anyway, my lids ended with the “imprint” of the pupil still left on them.
        Any suggestions? What did I miss??

        O

        #
        9.1.1
         Feb 9, 2012 at 2:31 pm
      • Overton Loyd
        Posts: 4

        Never mind, I just figured out that I forgot to “rotate” the sphere before deleting upper half.
        However, I’m still confused about having to “select” edge loops of the sphere, instead of just Control L??

        #
        9.1.2
         Feb 9, 2012 at 4:01 pm
  10. Anglade Thierry
    Posts: 2

    Great, thx a lot !!

    Please, what soft are you using to see mouse & shortcuts in your vidéos ?

    #
    10
     Jan 20, 2012 at 5:47 pm
    • David Ward
      Posts: 261

      There’s an addon called “3D View: Screencast Keys” :)

      #
      10.1
       Jan 20, 2012 at 6:29 pm
  11. Jeremy Deighan
    Posts: 263

    Is that hair particles or just a texture to resemble hair?

    (on phone so it’s hard to tell)

    Jeremy

    #
    11
     Jan 20, 2012 at 6:06 pm
  12. jutomana
    Posts: 9

    Ugh i never first :(

    #
    12
     Jan 20, 2012 at 6:42 pm
  13. Tarjei Målsnes
    Posts: 10

    Awesome tut, Ward-sense! This is exactly the type of modelling I like to do :) Mine ended up looking kinda annoyed and confused :p

    #
    13
     Jan 20, 2012 at 6:48 pm
  14. Robert Dooling
    Posts: 27

    Thanks for the tutorial! I’ve always struggled with eyelids, Thanks for the cool technique on creating easy eyelids!

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    14
     Jan 20, 2012 at 11:26 pm
  15. Mike Pegelow
    Posts: 27

    Interesting as always, i like your style of box modelling. A while back, your Johnny Blender 3 series helped me alot!
    Thanks for the Tutorial.

    Btw: my first post being a citizen :)

    #
    15
     Jan 21, 2012 at 4:17 am
  16. Hans Erickson
    Posts: 14

    TY for your tutorials David – Keep them coming – BTW is this one going to be rigged as well??

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    16
     Jan 21, 2012 at 5:49 am
  17. David de Best
    Posts: 31

    in the preview of the final result the groundhog doesn’t have hands and feet,
    but are you going to do them in tutorial?

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    17
     Jan 21, 2012 at 9:10 am
    • David Ward
      Posts: 261

      yeah, that was just a trial/preview run, just to get the style and look. the final result will be a fully complete character :)

      #
      17.1
       Jan 21, 2012 at 7:07 pm
  18. Chris Thom
    Posts: 11

    Oh, go & buy a new keyboard for crying out loud. They’re not that expensive.

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    18
     Jan 21, 2012 at 10:50 am
  19. thomas speed
    Posts: 301

    looks like old punksatony phil, can’t wait hehheeee
    Salute to all you and BC !!!!
    Cheers

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    19
     Jan 21, 2012 at 11:23 pm
  20. Nicholas Tindall
    Posts: 96

    Looks cuddly; probably deceptive /nod

    Looks a fun tutorial too. Will get to in a few days

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    20
     Jan 22, 2012 at 6:21 am
  21. sumdudesblender
    Posts: 17

    Scaaaaaa–weet!

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    21
     Jan 22, 2012 at 10:04 am
  22. Alexander Rush
    Posts: 17

    My first comment on BlenderCookie!
    Thank you very much for this amazing tutorial, I can’t wait to see the rest. That and the spider tutorial are really a huge step for me, and that’s great (I’m pretty new on Blender). I’ve left my personal attempt.

    #
    22
     Jan 22, 2012 at 10:49 am
  23. Christopher Wells
    Posts: 12

    Wow! Fantastic first part, and lots of fun to model, can’t wait for part 2!

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    23
     Jan 22, 2012 at 12:18 pm
  24. Baptiste Bonhommo
    Posts: 3

    First of all I’d like to thank the all cgcookie team for the outstanding work you are doing.

    I do have a “methodological” question. I have a lot of difficulty with the first steps of box-modeling (until the moment I can figure where will be the different part…). I use to work with a lot of reference images in a poly-by-poly workflow.

    As I know that Jonathan is usually working with that poly-by-poly method, I was wondering what technique he would have use to get his groundhog…

    Thanks again.

    #
    24
     Jan 22, 2012 at 2:13 pm
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2971

      Hi Baptiste,

      For complex models I generally use poly-by-poly but for a relatively simple model such as this I would also use the box modeling method. Box modeling is good when the topology is simple.

      -Jonathan

      #
      24.1
       Jan 23, 2012 at 10:43 am
      • Baptiste Bonhommo
        Posts: 3

        Hi Jonathan,

        Thank you for your answer. I guess that I just have to do it over and over again :D …

        :) …

        #
        24.1.1
         Jan 23, 2012 at 12:45 pm
      • Jeremy Deighan
        Posts: 263

        Jonathan,

        Could you throw on a MultiRes from here if you wanted to get really fine detail?

        Jeremy

        #
        24.1.2
         Jan 23, 2012 at 8:50 pm
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2971

        You most definitely could!

        #
         Jan 23, 2012 at 8:56 pm
  25. Jake Veal
    Posts: 3

    Thank you for the tutorial. I only started with blender last week as it is a massive learning curve which I am sure I have just scratched. This tutorial was good for me as it got me a lot more comfortable as to what I am seeing, and what I should be seeing – which were not always the same thing. It took me 6 hours to do what you did in 40 minutes, but I think I got there.

    I’m not sure I would have had the insight to have done it from scratch, but following your example (and a lot of play – pause) I was able to get something I was happy with. Thank you.

    #
    25
     Jan 22, 2012 at 11:42 pm
  26. Gary Parkin
    Posts: 109

    I just checked in. Benn busy packing up my home to move. I’ll watch this on lunch! it looks like Johnny Blender has a new pal. :)

    #
    26
     Jan 23, 2012 at 11:16 am
  27. drxms
    Posts: 27

    Your a natural David, hope i can create something in 3d that looks just as good.

    #
    27
     Jan 23, 2012 at 11:29 am
  28. Jeremy Deighan
    Posts: 263

    Got mine submitted, I’ll do part 2 tomorrow. Let me know what ya’ll think!

    Jeremy

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    28
     Jan 24, 2012 at 1:01 am
  29. Julius Hernandez
    Posts: 8

    Great Tutorial! Now where is part 2 ?!? =)

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    29
     Jan 24, 2012 at 5:07 am
  30. Timothy Jonsel Ermitano
    Posts: 1

    Interesting…can’t wait to rig it!

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    30
     Feb 7, 2012 at 8:52 pm
  31. Behnam Karaj
    Posts: 1

    Thank you so much, awesome…

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    31
     Feb 12, 2012 at 11:28 pm
  32. nthsimulacrum
    Posts: 1

    Very nice as usual. One point though, when you first start off with your subdivided cube, why don’t you first spherize the mesh? This quickly gives you a smooth shape that you can quickly distort to form a good base.

    For any other readers, to spherize a group of vertices, hit alt-shift-s. If the mesh isn’t enclosed, like with a mirror modifier, it is a good idea to have the cursor in the centre and use the cursor as the pivot point by pressing “.” .

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    32
     Feb 13, 2012 at 1:52 pm
  33. Alince
    Posts: 1

    can someone please help me?
    everytime I select the cube with “b” from one side it dosent select all the other sides and i cant delete like that it drives me nuts and in the besic tutorials they said that b selects everything within the area of selection, can someone please tell me what to do?

    #
    33
     Feb 17, 2012 at 3:43 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2971

      Hi there,

      To select everything, including what’s behind the currently visible mesh, you must turn the depth buffer clipping by disabling “Limit Selection to Visible” in the bottom of the 3D Viewport. It is just to the right of the mesh selection modes. The other option is to simply switch into wireframe mode when you want to select things.

      #
      33.1
       Feb 17, 2012 at 9:00 am
      • Robert Moffatt
        Posts: 34

        Thanks a bunch for clearing that up! I was getting incredibly frustrated because I was following the mouse and keyboard commands on the vid but it still wasn’t working. I had even slowed the vid down to 0.2x speed to try and follow, with no success.

        #
        33.1.1
         Jun 23, 2012 at 5:33 pm
  34. Charles
    Posts: 26

    Hi Guys
    Does anyone know why my smooth shading tool might not be working when I try to use it?
    Thanks

    #
    34
     Feb 18, 2012 at 11:23 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2971

      Is your object/mesh selected when pressing Shade Smooth?

      #
      34.1
       Feb 18, 2012 at 12:33 pm
      • Charles
        Posts: 26

        Thanks Jonathan! That was the reason. Sorry about the beginner questions but only started Blender a few weeks ago. Perhaps this tutorial was a little ambitious for someone of my level. Anyway, your website has really helped me learn the basics of Blender and I will most definitely carry on using it for great tutorials. Thanks

        #
        34.1.1
         Feb 19, 2012 at 4:00 am
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2971

        No worries at all! It’s great to see you starting ambitious, it’ll help you in the long run. Let us know if you have any other problems along the way!

        -Jonathan

        #
         Feb 19, 2012 at 12:37 pm
  35. Sophie Pette
    Posts: 10

    Super Tutorial! Thanks!

    #
    35
     Feb 21, 2012 at 2:28 am
  36. Malick
    Posts: 6

    Excellent tutorial, I am new to Blender and am learning very fast thanks to you. I however don’t know how you were able to loop select multiple times by just hitting CTR + R. When I hit ctr+r I was only able to loop select once.

    #
    36
     Feb 21, 2012 at 9:12 am
  37. Paula Rosdatter
    Posts: 2

    Hi David, This tutorial series looks wonderful, but as I try to follow your instructions–right at the beginning, Blender is telling me it can’t apply a modifier in editmode, so I can’t apply the mirror. but in your video you are clearly in editmode. What am I doing wrong?

    #
    37
     Feb 24, 2012 at 12:13 pm
  38. Norm
    Posts: 6

    I went through the beginning 7 tutorials and thought I could jump into this one, but soon learned I can’t because either I haven’t learned enough yet or you are going very fast and not explaining each step you take.

    #
    38
     Mar 7, 2012 at 4:14 pm
  39. Norm
    Posts: 6

    yeah, this is way, way too fast of a tutorial. I gave it a econd shot, but I can’t keep up. Is there a slower tutorial for something like this, or no?

    #
    39
     Mar 7, 2012 at 4:19 pm
  40. Derek Prinzi
    Posts: 78

    Hey David, love your tutorials they help me out alot since im not that good with character modeling. Great job on this one!

    #
    40
     Mar 10, 2012 at 8:38 pm
  41. Angel Navarrete
    Posts: 2

    I’m having a problem @ 00:46 in the video. When I ‘mirror’ my box, it seems to add in only one extra row of boxes on the left side, when there should be two. I end up with a rectangle instead of a box with two columns on the right and one column of ‘shaded’ (no vertices) on the left. Is there a reason this is happening? I’m following every step that you’re doing in the video (thank god for that screencast keys), but so far (only 46 seconds into the video), things aren’t going how they should.

    Is there a setting I overlooked to make the mirror work properly?

    #
    41
     Mar 13, 2012 at 12:01 pm
  42. sarkhamy
    Posts: 35

    Does anyone here teach anime style modeling? I’m having a problem with the heads.

    #
    42
     Mar 14, 2012 at 8:52 pm
  43. MARK PICONE
    Posts: 37

    Always learn cool stuff watching your tuts. I remember watching a vid but now I can’t remember the shortcut where you can isolate a part your working on by hiding all the other geometry, like when you’re working on the eyelids.

    #
    43
     Jul 12, 2012 at 7:13 am
  44. John Davis
    Posts: 1

    When I create a mirror and I start to model, it sometimes leaves a crease where the two sides meet. How can I prevent this or get rid of it when it happens?

    #
    44
     Aug 5, 2012 at 1:53 pm
  45. jamador
    Posts: 1

    This is so much fun to watch. I’m looking forward to reaching your level of skill and comfort with the interface. I will be leaving some “user submitted images” soon.

    #
    45
     Aug 22, 2012 at 4:36 am
  46. André
    Posts: 1

    Great tutorial! I wish I was as good as you!

    One question. At 1:01 minutes you select the top right corner and seem to be able to select all points behind that point. How do you do that?

    #
    46
     Oct 26, 2012 at 9:05 am
  47. garvamatic
    Posts: 9

    love it! i tried this an a beginner and barely survived a couple months ago, but this time around i can do it :) and thank you for so much valuable info… wire on in sculpt mode might actually change my life lol. or at the very least save the life of an innocent wacom tablet.

    #
    47
     Nov 2, 2012 at 8:19 am
  48. derli junior
    Posts: 5

    i love your tutorials.

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    48
     Feb 9, 2013 at 10:28 am
  49. John
    Posts: 6

    Hello, I’m really excited to do organic character modeling, but for some reason my mirror modifier does not mirror right. I followed everything he had done, but my mirror modifier places my mirrored object on top of my object. I don’t know how I am in the wrong axis, please help! I really want to learn how to character model s:

    #
    49
     Feb 14, 2013 at 10:55 pm
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2971

      Hi John,

      The mirror modifier uses the Object Origin (little orange dot) as the symmetry center. You need to move your origin back to the center line. You can do this by placing the 3D Cursor at the center line, selecting your object in Object Mode, and then press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+S > Origin to 3D Cursor.

      Cheers,
      Jonathan

      #
      49.1
       Feb 15, 2013 at 12:55 pm
  50. John
    Posts: 6

    Nevermind! I was trying to mirror from a different side xP gotta pay close attention to those hot key view commands!

    #
    50
     Feb 14, 2013 at 11:04 pm

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