[ENDED] BC2-1803 - March 2018 Class Homepage - Creating Stylized Characters with Blender
[FINAL, FINAL] CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #7 (Apr 11, 2018): Thanks to those of you who have responded to the Questionnaire. The feedback is extremely helpful. If you haven't responded yet and you participated in the class - or even if you didn't participate - please fill that out and I will gift you 20 Breath of the Wild screenshots from my Switch.
[FINAL] CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #6 (Apr 9, 2018): We've reached the end of the homework extension period and this class officially comes to end. What a month! It's been a thrill to see each of you forge your characters, learn new things, share tips with each other, and offer critiques along the way.
This thread will be open indefinitely but it's officially at the end of it's "class lifespan" meaning I won't be able to commit weekly time to it anymore and I will unpin it from the forum topics list. I'll pop in occasionally if I see activity but you all are more than welcome to keep working on their characters here if you wish!
UPDATE: Closing post on page 44 and XP has been added to each participating account.
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #5 (Mar 28, 2018): Week 4's stream is archived and available via the Past Events button on the Live Event page. Also a reminder that I'm extending the 'deadline' of this month and will be keeping this thread alive through the end of the first week in April. Hopefully that gives you all a bit more time to get your characters done!
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #4 (Mar 26, 2018): Week 3, done! Thanks to everyone who submitted by Sunday. I'm quite impressed by the neutralization and retoplogy work I've seen. It's a lot of work and I can see that effort in the WIPs and especially completed submissions.
Week 4 - the final week - dives into adding color to our model, primarily in the form of creating textures. Check out this week's breakdown a little further down in this description and see you tomorrow at the Live Event!
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #3 (Mar 19, 2018): Week 2 is accomplished and I'm finally caught up on submissions! Thanks to everyone who submitted by Sunday. We have some impressive character concept sculpts underway. In fact, I have yet to bestow a grade lower than an A this week.
Week 3 continues our 3-week character building production. Specifically we're going to look at pursuing an animation friendly version of our character - both how and why we would do this. See you tomorrow at the Live Event! Don't forget to RSVP.
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #2 (Mar 12, 2018): Week 1 is done! Thanks to everyone who submitted by Sunday. It's been a lot of fun seeing your caricature work and concept art choices.
Week 2 begins the 3-week process of building a character based on the concepts we choose. Don't forget to RSVP to the Live Event tomorrow - See you then!
CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT #1 (Mar 5, 2018): Class is in session! Today officially begins the BC2-1803 class. Please check the syllabus below for Week 1's focus and assignments. Begin watching the pre-recorded courses if you haven't already and begin looking for a cool, stylized character design for creating in 3D this month. The first Live Event is tomorrow at 2pm EST - SEE YOU THERE! đ
SYLLABUS
Welcome to the CGCookie Class: Creating Stylized Characters with Blender! This class is designed to teach you everything you need to know about building stylized 3D characters. If youâre diligent in watching all content and hitting homework deadlines, by the end you will have a modeled and textured stylized character! Itâs an intermediate-to-advanced class which means youâll do best by having some experience with Blender and 3D modeling before committing to this class.
This is the second "Class" format where Citizen members are invited to focus together on a particular topic/skill for a month. Participation looks like this:
- RSVP and attend the Live Events
- Watch the courses outlined below
- Ask questions
- Submit homework
- Generally be active in this thread
WHEN? The class will take place from March 5th through March 31st
â WEEK 1: Understanding Character "Stylization" (March 5-11)
Abstract: Stylization is any deviation from realism. Thus itâs a broad spectrum from slight liberty away from reality to extreme abstraction of reality. This week we're going to sift through various examples of stylized characters, noting their qualities, and categorizing a spectrum of stylization.
Goal of the Week: Train your eye and mind to stylize your perception. Practice simplifying and exaggerating reality. Loosen up your sculpting approach (gestural sculpting).
Pre-recorded course to watch: Art of Sculpting: Caricature Chapter
Week 1 Live Event (Already happened and archived!)
Homework:
- Sculpt a caricature bust [post a screenshot, render, or sketchfab embed]
- Choose/create concept art for your character. [post an image of your chosen concept art]
â WEEK 2: Character Development & Sculpture (March 12-18)
Abstract: Story plays a big part in stylization. Not necessarily ânarrativeâ but background, personality, and purpose. The success of a character is strengthened by its developmental arc. The best artists create characters that are more than the sum of its pixels; more than the sum of its brush strokes and polygons; more than its final render.
Goal of the Week: Develop a story for your character; one that can fuel your creative workflow for the rest of the month. Then channel that story into the first stage of sculpting.
Pre-recorded courses to watch:
- Sculpting the Wrangler
- Chapter 1 & 2 of Intro to Character Modeling
Week 2 Live Event (Don't forget to RSVP)
Homework:
- Write a background for your character at least 2-3 paragraphs long (200-300 words) [share as a Google Doc if longer with a TL;DR summary at the top]
- Sculpt your character. [post a screenshot, render, or sketchfab embed]
â WEEK 3: Production-Friendly Character Models (March 19-25)
Abstract: At this point a decision needs to be made about our character sculptures: A) Leave it as a sculpture or B) optimize it for âproductionâ. Leaving it as a sculpture means itâs a static sculpture that can be painted, rendered, or 3D printed but not animated. Optimizing it for production means you turn your sculpture into a model thatâs easiest to work with up to and including animation. If you opt for optimization, this week is mostly a technical and problem-solving task. We need to both retopologize our mesh and also neutralize it if the sculpt is posed.
Goal of the Week: Understand the concept of âproduction-friendlyâ and practice retopology.
Pre-recorded courses to watch:
- Introduction to Retopology
- Chapter 2 & 3 of Intro to Character Modeling
- Chapter 4 of Modeling Realistic Characters
Week 3 Live Event (Don't forget to RSVP)
Homework:Â
- Do the Robo Orb Retopo Exercise [post link to your submission]
- If youâre maintaining a static character sculpture, just focus on polishing it to perfection.
- If youâre retopologizing your character sculpt, retopologize and neutralize it.
â WEEK 4: Painting Our Characters (March 26-31)
Abstract: Like Dorothy, our characters have so far lived in a black and white world. This week weâre leaving Kansas and adding color. Thereâs many methods for creating our character texture(s) including hand-painting, baking maps that accent the painting process (great for the less painterly character artists), as well as photo-sourcing. There's also a couple different formats: Vertex Colors and UV/Textures.
Goal of the Week: Get comfortable with painting textures.
Pre-recorded courses to watch:Â
- Basics of Digital Painting
- At least one other Concept course or tutorial
- Texturing & Shading a Stylized Character
Week 4 Live Event (Don't forget to RSVP)
Homework:
- Do the Axe Texture Painting exercise
- Paint your character sculpture/model.
- Present a final render or viewport screenshot of your character.
See you in March!
This thread is reserved for CG Cookie Citizens that are participating in the "Creating Stylized Characters with Blender" class. Its purpose is to serve as central communication for all participating Citizens (excluding Hobby plan Citizens) to ask me and each other questions and to post homework. As the instructor of the class, I will be monitoring this thread on a daily basis (especially Mon-Thurs) throughout the month of March to review homework and answer questions.
Free members are welcome to observe the thread but please respect that communication is reserved for Citizens.
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Matthew Ullrey (ullreym)
It looks like a great plan you've laid out. I can't wait to start.
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Glad to hear that Matthew! It will be a busy March đ¤
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Hope i finish my Sci Fi Helmet in time to work along side this course with my next project! this is what i want to focus on for my main modeling market.Â
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Cya in march then ^^
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March you say. I might have bit more time during that month to actually participate more. my sculpting definetly needs practice. :)
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If you (or anybody) can't make it in March, not the end of the world. Ideally I will run enough courses to repeat them periodically. So it's not a one class and that's it situation. That said, would love for you to be there for March!
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So the class is on Mondays? Â That's perfect for me. Â I work from home Mon, Tue, and Thurs so I can switch over to class very easily. Â I work at a pub on Wed., and Fri., so it's harder to get those days off.
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Sorry for the confusion: Live Events (streams) will still take place on Tuesdays like January's class. Though technically you can start watching assigned courses and start homework on Mondays.
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I can't wait for this!!!
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Do we have to reserve a spot or just show up? :-).
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For now it's just show up. I'll be keeping a record of homework submissions and grades throughout March so, I'll be watching you! đ
But eventually we will have an official class system with signups.
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Looking forward to it!
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Okay - I think I will be able to hop on this train in March.  I'll use this month to brush up. Can't wait!
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There will be some sculpting happening in the class - good pun!
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Cool beans, I've got a slow month at work in March, so ill try and get as much prep courses done to give me a half decent footing.
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Excellent! I look forward to having you in class, Darren đ¤
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Just going through some of the prep work ahead of time. Â and this is from a sculpting n00b perspective ( im firing way above my capability at present, nothing ventured nothing gained ;))
as things progress as they invariably do, if working through the prerecorded lectures (im just working through the characture, lots of fun btw heh), probably telling folk how to suck eggs, but thought it pop it in anyhoo the change revisions to the Dyntopo tool if your using 2.79 and wondering what the references relate to.
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/sculpt_paint/sculpting/adaptive.html-
Thanks for sharing that Darren. It's a good reminder to me to address that during the stream in March. Also I think it's quite cool that you're going through the pre-recorded material this month. Meaning you can solely focus on the live events and homework in March. #ProTip for participants!
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My biggest challenge, right now, isn't deciding whether to take the class in March... That's a no brainer. My biggest question is which project do I work on? Redoing my self portrait character (something I've been wanting to do for a while) or do I make my knight character for my Knight and Dragon project? Â Either would get a project (or at least part of a project) closer to being done :D
(And that's really only two ideas... I've got 3 or 4 others that could be a possibility as well :D )
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Both good ideas imo. My ¢2: Your Knight and Dragon project might get more mileage depending on what you envision for the project. A self portrait is a great exercise but it's kinda over when you finish. What's your Knight and Dragon project scope? Like is it a potential game, a short animation, something else?
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Guess I should have looked at this sooner :D
No, it's not for a game. Just for a still image. Or possibly image series.
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Count me in! Just ordered a XP Pen Artist pen display, very eager to get into some sculpting.
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Excellent! I've not heard of XP-Pen yet. They look like a good manufacturer. March is coming quick!
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Got it tonight, it's my first pen display. So far I like the build quality and feel of it. I could never get the hang of just using a pad and relying on a mouse was the worst. Doodling around in zbrush feels so much more natural. For a sub - $400 piece of kit, I think it is going to be pretty great.Â
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Actually watching the pre-recorded course Art of Sculpting: Caricature Chapter, could I please ask a short one?Â
When Kent you make the eyelids and in Blender 2.69 placing the 'Collapse Short Edges' flag (at 20:02) - in version 2.79 is that equivalent with Subdivide Collapse or Collapse Edges or Subdivide Edges?Â
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csehz The older "collapse short edges" is the equivalent of modern "subdivide collapse"
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I know enough to know I would just hold the class back. Â That said, I really look forward to seeing what comes out of this case.
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"hold the class back" is such a somber way to say that lol. Though the aim of the class may be more advanced than your current skill set, I'd still encourage you to try. Give week 1 a try and then decide for sure if you'll participate or not.
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I would give it a bash to see how you get on.
Im in the same boat pretty much. I've never touched sculpting or any of the character or retopology before having a shot at the melvin sculpt and going through the listed prerecorded lectures to watch.
I might be punching above my weight too, but i have enjoyed watching and working through the content listed that ive worked through so far :) Â learned heaps even from a beginners perspective like mine. Â My thoughts were " I'll give it a go as everyones gotta start somewhere. Worst that can happen is ill have to rewatch a few times and practice more"
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I'm really excited about this course. :D
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I don't see a formal place to RSVP, so commenting here. Looking forward to the class!
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Hi Ryan,
if you go to the Events item on the left menu, it will list all the upcoming and previous events.
looking at the March lineup, clicking on an event will take you to its page where theres an RSVP button on the screen in the middle that has the countdown timer on it.
https://cgcookie.com/live_streams/bc2-1803-week-1-understanding-character-stylizationYea its going to be interesting, least i can hopefully make it this time around.
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One day I expect to have a more formal class system with a dedicated class page/corner of the website. For now it's more of an honor system, but yes, RSVPing to the scheduled March events is the most official way for now. Being present and active in this thread - like commenting here đ - is the next best way.
I'm looking forward to having you in classstonewing! And thanks for the assist
oboshape đđťââď¸
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Even though school is keeping me pretty busy, I'll do my best to make it in March! I have class during the livestreams, but I assume I can watch the recordings after the fact.
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You can definitely watch the live streams after the fact. Sorry to hear you have class at that time - We'll miss you
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Tried a character. But why my viewport in blender became so slow?
Can't do any fine tuning?-
That's looking pretty good! What's your sculpture's polygon count?
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I have 1,083,111 faces. Is it too much?
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I nearly forgot about this caricature since it was posted so early - I'm going to count this as your Week 1 homework. And it's quite good! The neck's length is clearly an exaggeration, so in terms of caricature, I'd give it about 20-25% emphasis over the photo. But it's a good sculpture with recognizable features! B+ in my book đ
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How long do you expect each live-class to last? Can I fit it into a lunch break? ;)
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Usually each week's live stream is 1.5 hours. It's gone 2 before, but that's the exception.
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