Games Design – 3D Realisation – Sculptures

In our 3D Realisation lesson I had the option to choose a certain topic of interest. The options included Character Design, Prop and Object or Environment; I chose character design as I really want to improve my skills as I feel I am not as confident as I should be with character design as I am with the other options. Initially I was going to get my idea from a film/game/book but I then I randomly created a shape and my creation took place there. I felt more confident after this lesson as I discovered you can create characters easier when using shapes.

Above: The front view of my sculpture.

Above: The side of my sculpture.

Above: A view of the top of my sculpture.

Above: Another side view of my sculpture.

I think overall I definitely have room to improve but I am quite proud of what I have created. The main concept I would like to learn next would be how to get rid of any of the cracks and also smooth out more of the sculpture and maybe also add a bit of texture.

Sculptures are a great use of a design concept. From a sculpture you can see all of the textures, the width, height and length of the chosen subject and with the technology with have now, we can transfer our created sculptures onto a computer program and further improve the creation as well as add colour and put the image in a scene/environment/background. Sculptures are sometimes put into computers so that they can be animated, however, I like this animation created by sculptures with no use of computers at all.

My favourite sculptures include the ones from the Pixar Studios in Burbank California, Emeryville. I am interested in the works of Kent Melton and Greg Dykstra as they have created so many memorable characters over the years that we still know and love today. Greg Dykstra is mainly known for the sculptures of Remy from Ratatouille, whereas Kent Melton is known for The Incredibles characters and even characters from The Lion King. I really like their work because they look so realistic and they must put a lot of effort into each piece. Also they create more than one version of each character to show different poses, positions, facial expressions and my favourite of all is when a character ages seeing the difference using sculptures. Here are some examples of their work.

Greg Dykstra

Above: Dykstra creating one of the many Ratatouille characters as you can see the characters on a shelf behind him.

Above: One of Dykstras Sculptures being put into a computer and being manipulated.

Above: One of my favourite sets of sculptures. Carl Fredrickson from the film ‘Up’ being shown as a child, a young adult and elderly.

Kent Melton

Above: Melton holding a sculpture of Simba he created.

Above: The Genie from Aladdin created by Kent Melton.

Above: One of my many favourite Disney Pixar characters. Violet from The Incredibles.

Above: Tarzan from the film Tarzan

As you can see their artwork differs and varies. Melton creates Disney as well as Pixar and when Dykstra creates his artwork he creates a series of sculptures for one set film e.g. Ratatouille. Overall I really like their styles and would love to create work like they do.