Commando Rodent Gopher - Concepts + WIP
 

Hi. I just got my scanner working, scanned a few drawings and then decided to make a concept of a simple character to use as a test for poly modeling to try and improve my skills. I got the idea from a friend of mine who also is here on the SM site. He is working on this as well with me since we both made the ideas for the character. Anyway here are the concept sketches and a small wip. Worked on it for a good hour or so. My friend WounderGopher should be posting here too.

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/gopherrodentbiatch.jpg
we decided that farmer john rodent cant cut it so we turn him into a commando :mingun:
http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/gopherrodentbiatch2.jpg

heres a wip, ill be working on this tonight so ill update tomm.
http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher.jpg

c&cs are much welcome =)

Looking good...

Just a thought maybe make the feet a bit bigger will add a bit more character.

small update
 

Adjust proportions. Made feet bigger as suggested. And yes it did give it a bit more character :) Now i gotta make hands. I was looking at rodent pics and they have small hands. Im thinking maybe I should make small hands and ditch the hands on my concept. Anyway, I fell asleep last night but now im awake. Ill try and finish modeling by the end of the day!

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher2.jpg

Ahh. I think I need to make the eyes bigger and move it a little bit closer to the nose. More like the concept. And make the bucktooth bigger. What do you guys think?

hands
 

a shot of the hands..is it ok? what do you guys think?

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopherhands.jpg

Looks great! I like the drawings aswell :D
Are you going to rig and animate him? If so I would love to read how you go about it in this thread as i'm trying my first ever for the competition.

Scraggy

Im noob man..I dont know how to animate or rig. I just know how to put bones and do a smooth or rigid bind..And then im stuck there. But yes I will be animating him. Im gonna use him as the base for the animation and rigging chapters im gonna go through in the Maya4.5 Savvy Book.

update: hands are now one with the body..time to add ears...

So should i make the eyes bigger and move it closer to the nose?
Should the teeth go bigger as well?

Anyway, heres a quick render:

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher3.jpg

GREAT IDEA MAN! Can't wait to see more.

another update. created ears, attached the nose to the head. made seams for its clothes, well part of it. the neck area and the arms area. i still have to work on the pants and other stuff.

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher4.jpg

looking cool man! but i think the feet should be like in your drawing... with seperated toes.

small update: toes done, ears modified, and added a little tail.
now its time to work on accesories: equipment belt, watch, assault rifle, demobackpack, and nightvision goggles (maybe)...then its UV mapping time

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher5.jpg

Hey guys this is looking awesome, let me know if i can help you guys at all. You guys could model a few wiskers, as apposed to doing it with fur, which i assume is what you will do for the hair?

That i do not know..i will be attempting to do fur so it can have dynamics...If my comp dies out, ill try some other method

He's really jolly. His hands/wrists look a little small to be touting an assault rifle though.

Mmm i agree

Good point witchy, his hands AND wrists are alot larger in the concept, might wanna give him some muscles too, considering hes a commando.

Next as far as modeling you oviosly had the feet (i like the concept feet) and his body could use a bit more definition.

My gilfriend is doing a lil internet search on ground hogs and gophers to see if she can give you any crits like that (shes an animal lover = )

Just so you know, this is a picture of a gopher.

http://omegapestcontrol.com/gopher.jpg

They closley resemble the common household pets guinea pigs very closley. Because this is catooony you're allowed alot of creative liscense, but i would definately look at the shpae of its nose, cause the gopher nose is pretty pointed, and yours isn't really in the slightest. Also the cheeks are puffed out (like a squirrel or hamster with nuts in his cheeks) which provides a quite humerous, and rodent look.

Just trying to keep you ontarget as far as gophers go, maybe you'll decide its another animal.

This is a slightly catoony version of a gopher found in the HILARIOUS bill murry movie "Caddy shack

http://alphagerbil.freewebsites.com/gopher.jpg

vectorman: lol! yeah i got the idea to make it when i saw a screenshot of a gopher in the movie caddyshack with a sniper rifle aimed at it. hmm, maybe i will change the animal type to a cross breed: squirrel+hamset+rodent+nuts on the cheeks :)

witchy & zykotik: thanks for the input, i will give it a try and post how it looks. I was thinking kinda how ants carry heavier weights than their body so i thought this lil guy could carry and rifle, but yeah i think i will make his hands a bit bigger. and yeah he does look kinda jolly, but i changed the looks of the eyes, i think he looks meaner now, what do you think:

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher6.jpg

also presenting RodentSR1 Assault Rifle / Scope

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopherrifle.jpg

and a shot to show how big it is compared to mr rodent
http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopherrifle2.jpg

Haven't had much time to work on it, just a few minutes here and there cuz im really busy right now but here is what ive got, its just the head but i think its coming along pretty well.

i like it man :) but may i suggest the following improvements? to make him look meaner like ;)

hehehe, nice one zykotik, i am gonna add that right now :)
i think its officially not a gopher anymore because of the nose. oh well it looks cool.

drozador: keep at it man, you gotta catch up to me :) i think youres look more evil and more to the concept. i like it!

I don't really think you have to change the breed, if you made some changes similar to this example (below) then it would be a little more gopher-like. Also the ears should be less like a human and more like a mouse's: very thin, kinda rigid and flexible, and sticking out a bit. Simplified a bit: Less attached to the head, more sticking out.

forgot the image

update: ive been reading some astral projection books..hehe so here are my work for the day...i UVed and attempted to texture map...i gotta confess...I HATE THE WHOLE PROCESS OF DOING IT!...i think, this will be the last time i will UV and texture a model..ill just be modeling from now on because that is my target...a character concept guy / modeler / animator...yeah i still suck at animation but i like the process of doing it..anyway heres the stuff:

http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher7.jpg
http://www.noise-iye.net/sm/commandogopher7wire.jpg

c&c..dont mind texturing..it sucks

hahaha wicked he look kick-ass :D!

love the way you followed my suggestions almost exactly :D!

Nice job man! Yah Uv mapping is hard. what happend to making his arms bigger? also you could soften some edges on the rifle.

I made his arms bigger but it didnt match the look. It looked to awkward to have a big headed guy with a small ok built body..and then BIG arms heheheh. So I kept it cartoony. As for the gun, yeah I didnt soften its normals yet. I will though.

Right now im on the character animation section of the book im reading so I can learn how to make this guy move. :)

I like texturing, so maybe I'll help you out some day :)

yeah, uv-mapping aint fun, but painting textures is :D

Painting textures is alot of fun for me!! I just hate the UV mapping part :)

Good :)

you know i will map stuff for you too man!!!

to funny. Mean little guy.