Character Creation: Creating by Reference, Rigging and animation

 This blog post is a step by step walkthrough through my process of creating an animated character, detailing the techniques I used to create a coherent mesh and character animation.

Fig.1 Screenshot of female human reference

The poly modelling begins with a cube, using a reference photo in orthographic view to achieve proper proportions. I extruded along the body, scaling on a single axis to precisely control how every face appears. Where there was a need for more surface detail, I used Edge Loop to subdivide the faces.

Fig.2 screenshot of the arms and head mid-development in wireframe mode.

The limbs required a more intuitive approach to modelling as the arms/legs have more twisting, concave shapes. The model was inspected and adjusted in 3D at every transform.

Fig.3 Wireframe and smooth shaded model of basic female character mesh

After creating the basic mesh, I set about creating the specific character for the scene. Using my own concept art and a social media influencers look, I edited the characters body proportions and head shape to match the intended look. Additionally, I created the clothes by duplicating (CTRL + D) and inflating the base human mesh (Alt + S). 

Fig.4 The characters concept art sketch & the influencer post used as inspiration
 
To texture the character, I exported the UV Map into photoshop with the base colour. To contour, I  picked a darker higher saturated for appearance of the chin, lower cheek and ear. Additionally the toes and fingers using a brush, then gaussian blur is applied to define a 3-dimensional effect. The Facial features were drawn using a 2-5px brush, adding highlight and outlines using drawing techniques. Last of all I then mirrored the features with Free Transform, keeping the layers separate for future adjustments.

Fig.5 The characters textured 3d face and upper body clothes.

To animate the character, I created a Armature object for the character mesh. Using parent to bone with automatic weights, the geometry mostly conformed to the animation control. Afterwards the armature's influences were adjusted per bone in the Weight Painting mode. The clothes are attached to the mesh using the Data Transfer modifier, which transfers the skinning weights from the base human mesh to the clothes.


Fig.6 Character in a T-Pose showing Armature (Bones)

Fig.7 The starting "Full Stride" pose for the walk animation.


The character mesh is edited into a T-pose, and then the idle pose for the creeping animation is positioned. Using walking animation reference, the character animation was positioned at every 3-5 frames (School of Motion, n.d.). The reference was straightforward to apply, but adjusting the animation to create a realistic tiptoe walk in high heels was a challenge. Adjustments to the whole body (leaning spine, bent knees, Y position) were factored in to get natural movement.

Fig.8 The Skirt before and after using shape keys.

The skirt mesh was particularly problematic in how it often overlapped with the leg mesh. Because of the intended the low-poly aesthetic, it lacked enough mesh complexity to smoothly weight itself . To mitigate this and additionally add a elastic skirt effect, I used shape key feature. Multiple Shape Keys are used to control the left and right thigh movement.

Fig.9 The setup of the character in scene

With the walking animation finished the characters scene is linked into the environment as a Collection.
Some tweaks are made to the armature animation. Horizontal movement is applied to the scene with linear interpolation. This produces a realistic walking cycle with personality, flair and a aura of urgency.

References:

Influencer: sali, 2025 https://www.instagram.com/salialdigs/?hl=en

Walking animation Reference:  School of Motion, n.d. https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/walk-cycle-inspiration


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