Time for another fanart in a slightly changed style compared to the original. This time Courtney Gears - a character from the Ratchet & Clank series. For now, the concept and initial version of the model with simple materials, without any details or textures.
For those who don’t know, here’s the original character:: https://ratchetandclank.fandom.com/wiki/Courtney_Gears
Current cover:
Oh boy, this project is going really slow. But I’m slowly finishing facial expressions. In the meantime, I need advice. Quick question - better with these stripes on the “hair”, or better without them?
Facial expressions. The character is not finished yet, there are a few small things left on the rest of the rig. Some mechanical elements can be really hard to rig. I’m still wondering if some of the already working elements should not be modified, because I have a better idea to rig them. We’ll see. I added some details on the whole model, so the previous close-ups are no longer up to date. I will post new renders with detail as soon as I finish the rig of the whole character and make renders with the whole body. Of course, any feedback is appreciated.
Nice! Are you using bones or shape keys for your facial expressions?
Thank you! Facial rig if fully based on shape keys. I just prefer doing it this way, as I feel it gives me more flexibility and precision than bones.
I guess the character is finished. At last. It took me a million years. To be honest, this character’s rig gave me much, much more trouble than I originally expected. Seriously, how many times I went back again to the same bones, shape keys, drivers, tweaking little things over and over again is a thing that only me and my computer know. Just rigging some things here is a whole separate topic. The best part is that a few times I thought everything was working… and then I started doing poses and it turned out in practice how many little things, specific combinations of bone rotations and so on I hadn’t taken into account. And the skirt - boy oh boy, simulating this outfit would be much easier than trying to rig this mechanical abomination in such a way that it would always line up nicely. But it’s done. I still have some plans for this character, but time will come for everything. Well, unless I change my mind ofc, heh. That’s it for now. Any feedback is very welcome, of course.
I uploaded project to ArtStation. If anyone is interested, here’s the link:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qee58L
Aaaalright. It’s time to get back to this project. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but currently the plan is to do animation again, like last time with Starfire. For that, I need to make a scene first. For now, I’ve made a blockout of the whole thing and I’m slowly cworking on final models in my free time.
As a reference, the original. And below my blockout and the current progress of work.
Probably all the assets on the scene are done. I think I’ll change some things a bit, play with the light, post-processes and so on, but generally I consider the scene finished. The mannequins in the background are placeholders for the dancers that I’m going to make later. The images displayed on the screens are also only temporary. As for the screens themselves, I played with the shaders a bit to achieve an effect similar to CRT TVs or VHS recordings. It was important to me because during the animation there will be one shot where the camera moves directly to one of these screens. So I figured it would be nice to work on it a bit. Now when I look at it, this space in the background seems too blurry to me, so I’ll either try to make a larger image for this purpose, or I’ll just try to solve it somehow procedurally. I don’t know yet. Below are some renders of the current work progress.
Man, I hope you animate her music viceo, I hope insomniac brings her back!
Actually, the whole reason I’m working on this scene is because I want to recreate her music video. Of course, it will require some work and time, but I want to do it. That’s my plan 
Very excited, You captured modern ratchet and clank’s style perfectly.
Thank you! I really can’t wait to start working on actual animation. But before I do, I still need to finish a few things. Keep your fingers crossed
hello I really appreciate your work and drawings and especially your silkies project which really motivated me to continue with blender although I still have a long way to go
Oh wow, thank you so much! Do you post your work anywhere? I’d love to watch your progress. I’m glad my work has motivated you in some way, but for me comments like yours really encourage me to keep going forward and try harder. Thank you, buddy!
I have just started with Blender only 7 months ago. The only projects I have completed so far are rooms, living rooms, kitchens, and classrooms. However, with your projects, I have realized that I am wasting my time, as I am interested in creating 3D characters. Since I already have the basics, I am now improving my drawing skills, which will be useful later on. Thanks to you, do you use social media? I would like to get to know you and, if possible, benefit from your advice when I get stuck on something
As long as you learned something about Blender or 3D modeling, I wouldn’t say it was time wasted.
Well, it depends on what counts as “social media” because I don’t know anymore, people use that term for absolutely every site these days. I have a few links here on my profile, let me know if any of the linked sites I have an account on work for you. Let me know if you are looking for a specific site.
Okay, your Twitter account should be enough. By the way,for your learning, did you buy any courses or was it self-taught?"
