Ideation
I started this project wanting to make an android character. I knew it would have its challenges because it would involve hard surface modeling and soft surface modeling in the same piece. I also knew I wanted to create a different kind of android, so I decided I would look to afrofuturism for inspiration. When first sketching out this character, it looked a little basic. I knew I wanted the hair to look like emissive tubes, but have them resemble locs. Another aspect I really wanted to include are legs that are see through so that the mechanics inside could be seen.
I thought about the design more, and experimented more through sketching. I also gathered inspiration from the costuming in Black Panther done by Ruth E. Carter, the biomechanical artwork by H.R. Giger, and several instances of androids in media. I also talked more with my classmates about what I could do with my design and what I could look at to help develop my design further.
Narratively, I didn't know what to do at first. I thought more about it and I decided that she lives in a post-apocalyptic world where humans are all dead and androids rule the Earth. She is an archeologist who specializes in human history, and she's trying to discover more about the people who existed before androids. She will find a Nokia phone that still works.
After sketching out more, I realized I liked a neck piece I made, and I also added beads. I decided that I could use colorful beads in the place of wires. I also figured out what the mechanics of the leg and arm should look like, and I nailed down the first iteration of a more fleshed out design. I still thought the design could have been improved. I wanted to change the way the torso looks, and I looked more at different motifs in afrofuturism. From that, I made more improvements to the design.
I nailed down a better torso design and I added clothing to help aid in asymmetry. I also added jars. In these jars are a USB, a blinky board, and human teeth. I also made some decisions on the model stand and the pose. The model stand will have a few Nokia phones scattered around, and the terrain will look canyon-esqe.
Character Turnaround
From there, I made a turnaround sheet for this character. For the color pallet, I had actually made a few and I took some of the colors I liked from them and combined them to make this final color pallet. It's a bit rough, but I needed to get it done so I could start sculpting.
Sculpt
I created a base sculpt of this character in ZBrush, and I took an arm that was already sculpted and I've exported it as an fbx. I'm going to sculpt the hard surfaces in Maya for now because I am more proficient in hard surface there. I've also duplicated the model and sliced off the leg and exported that as well to use. For style, I think I would like to go for a more stylized realism feel, so I exaggerated some proportions. It's still looking a little rough but it's a start.
Next Steps
I'll be continuing to sculpt. I'll probably be focusing on creating the robotic limbs next, but after that I'll focus on the hair and the beads. I want to create insert mesh brushes out for them both. By next week, I'd like to have all primary and secondary forms done, maybe some tertiary forms.