Finished model and changes to design.

This was one of the final images I used to help guide my model design.

Once I started modeling however I noticed I had to do a few changes to the design, the hooves looked a little bare so I added some slight hair to them, added in the linen held in place with leather on her legs, removed the earrings as they looked weird with the hair parts and the antlers I couldn't figure out how to do the wooden effect in time so I had to make them normal antlers again. however as Deer were seen as mystical beings by Celts the Third psychic eye could still fit in with what I wanted from her.

Here are some screenshots of my progress with Zbrush

 

The end result I am very pleased with! through frustrations and sleepless nights I think my very first finished model looks great! One thing I would have changed would be to work on the zballs a bit more, like creating the side bag, the skirt, the hair and horns as these were all difficult to build up with clay and snake hook alone!

I feel that once I get the hang of zbrush I won't find it so frustrating, Hopefully the program will crash less for me in the future :)

Drawing over Z-brush screenshots.

I found this method pretty fun, I'm not sure whether it would be recommended but seeing the clothing like this is quite handy, if a little messy. I combined the wrapped legs from one of the concepts as I felt it would add to the bottom half of the outfit and make it look a little more naturey. I'm not sure how the metal bit will look so might have to change that once I get creating in z-brush.

Hair/Clothing concepts.

From my last post here are the ideas for clothing I have tried

The top third image is the one I will choose to concept further, I really like the first attempt in the bottom row so expanded that a bit further as you couldn't see the deer legs which is one of the key parts of the image. For the hair I was torn between blonde and brown, blonde because to me it adds to the whole innocent look, but the brown would look more natural in a forest enviroment.

The brown definitely looks better as it's almost fawn colour which fits in well with the deer image, I'm thinking of adding freckles onto her face to create the colour of a deers coat.

I think she's beginning to look quite sweet

Hair/Clothing ideas

Realised I needed to do more character work and had no idea about what clothing I needed to make, also that I could realistically create with my skills in Z-brush. First I went looking for Druid/Pagan clothing from the Iron Age and found these.

I will avoid the colours of the bottom image as the whiteness is a symbol of purity and chastity. I think I took more insperation from the 4th and 5th images mostly from the 5th one as it looks more religious. With hair for women in this age it was either styled loose or braided I will still be using the idea of a long plait.

Character information.

Finally getting round to posting my character information, such as name, religion and so on.

General Characteristics

Name: Enora
Appearance: Enora has very fine features on an extended heart shaped face, in the center of her forehead she has a small third eye. long brown hair that is tied back often in a ponytail and woven with lillies. She has blue eyes that are large, a long deer-like neck, she has legs similar to that of a deer which end in cloven hooves. She is quite tall.
Dress: According to her Religion, Enora wears white clothing, not too revealing with modest jewellery.
Gender: Female
Symbol: The Doe
Race:  humanoid (human with deer features)
Pronunciation: (ay-NOH-rah)
Name Origin: Breton
Name Meaning: St. Enora was the wife of St. Efflam; both took vows of chastity after their marriage, yet remained together for the rest of their lives.
Parents: Not born, created by the horned God Cernunnos.

Spiritual Characteristics

Animal: Deer (specifically a female deer)
Religion: Druidism
Devotion: Lives alone and only allows the purest of people to visit her home. Was bless with a third eye to detect the purity of people and reveal their hearts.
Virtues: Chastity (specifically Purity)

More work on the model

It's coming along nicely, was going to try and keep her human feet but it would look weird with the deer legs ... so she is going to have toe-toed hooves like deer have. The hands have been a challenge! I can't wait to start shaping this girl nicely, the more I use Z brush the better I am getting, I think the biggest part will be sculpting the antlers on her headband.

I've started on some colour schemes to go into the research portfolio, as the model doesn't need to have colour on it I want to give some kind of idea to what her colouring would be.

Beginning to build.

I am a little bit bad with Zbrush as I am with Maya. Me and 3D don't seem to get along to well. I feel with time I will adjust to it, as it's something I don't have any experiance with really. Starting to form the Deer-Lady body has taken me awhile and a lot of grunting!

I want to keep some human aspects to it, and have deer elements aswell, I don't want to go full blown fawn with the legs, I will do some research into the way deer legs look when they stand up. I'm finding the hands very tricky to do, especially as when I try to move parts they go a different way, must get to grips with the 3Dness of it all!

Sticking with an idea.

Last Wednesday, after a group critique session and asking my group peers which choice was a better one, I have decided to completely stick with my deer lady. This will be the last time I think on this as hand in draws nearer I can't keep changing my mind. In my opinion the results I got with the silhouettes were stronger and looked more to the brief than the mermaid did. Also from the reactions from peers the deer lady looked better.

I also got some better ideas for the deer lady, the antlers on her head made people think of Christmas. This played on my mind, how could I keep the antlers but make them less Christmasesque. A fellow student mentioned making them out of twisted willow branches with natural symbols of purity embedded in them and into them. I have seen Willow branches shaped into deer before, I then looked up the symbolism of willow.

"The Celtic meaning of willow has a long history of symbolism associated with metaphysical and ritual practices.
Specifically, the willow wood has been (and still is) used in ceremonies intended for enhancement of psychic abilities, honoring the moon as well as increase the essence of love in our lives.
Many uses and associations came be traced back to our Celtic ancestors' observations of the willow tree in their natural environment. Druid priests, dryads (priestesses), bards and ovates all recognized the willow's affinity to watery domains. Flora and fauna in close connection with water are considered dwellers of the psychic realm, and symbolic of inspired imagination."

As I want to involve the 'third eye' into my design this would work really well, the psychic abilities from the willow could power up the Deer ladies third eye and her power to detect only the purest of people. For the next day I think I'm going to do more work on a back story and why this character chose her Chaste way of life. Also I will work on character costumes.

My course leader advised me to never abandon an idea as throughout my time at Norwich University of The Arts I might want to use this pure mermaid idea again in another project. As I've already come a fair way with this character idea I think this advice is very wise.