Freedom Post #1: Princess

I have officially passed my classes and graduated with my MFA degree. I am now free to work entirely on my own projects and set my own deadlines while I look for employment.

The first task that I had to complete, however, was the 8-bit princess that I began for my friend's thesis project.

I knew that he had modeled the 8-bit male character's hands a very particular way, so I asked him to send me reference of them so that I could revise the princess's hands to match. I also asked for any other revisions that might be necessary for the character to function the way that he needed it to. Though he was pleased with the model overall, he expressed concern over the number of edges on all of the small cubes on the skirt. The final version of the model is to be outlined in black on all edges, in the same way that the 8-bit style dragon that I modeled for the same project was:

So many edges on the skirt would look very busy when outlined this way; hence, I remade the skirt with larger cubes. I also went back through the entire princess model cleaning her up and breaking her into appropriately animatable sections. This is the final product:

I'm fairly pleased with how she turned out. I think that I liked the look of her form a bit better with the smaller-cubed skirt, but I agree completely with the director's concern over the outlines. I think that she will look and function better for the film the way that she is now. She will also probably fit better standing next to the 8-bit male character in this simpler form, as the structure of his model is in much chunkier sections than the original version of her model. Besides, the director is pleased with her, and that's the main thing that counts.