Atio the Cowboy

"Atio" was my final project for an introductory 3D modeling class. I'm pretty happy with how he turned out! (Ha ha, get it? "Turned out?" Because I made a turnaround? Ha ha... yeah...)

This is sketch is basically when I settled on the design. The whole idea stemmed from creating weird shapes for faces in a sketchbook; I liked this particular "bent" face shape a bit. I thought it had a lot of room for good expressions. 

So he's not perfect! In retrospect, the topology could have used more planning. Modeling in that diagonal sash into a chest full of horizontal and vertical lines was harder than it should've been. But, as a character design, I like him quite a bit.

Then I scanned that into Photoshop, and tried out some colors, getting the above product. 

Those colors went directly into the texture, which added some big cartoony detail. Now, I don't think this is an A+ job for a UV unwrap; for example, why are the pants the same size as the head? Why is the belt buckle (right, halfway from the top) so large, and the boots (bottom right) so small? But hey, lessons learned.