Texture

planar mapping is good but it leaves ugly strech marks on the sides, I then did planar mapping on the side faces so their texture looked ok aswell. i found it easier than unfolding as the texture i was using lent itself to this, I also made the sides be on the darker side of the texture so it looked like the seams of the fabric, i later added thread to it to add effect

the seam

I had a lot of trouble with the skeleton, as I couldnt get pole vectors to work, therefore i couldnt point the elbow where i wanted it to.

Modelling

delI started modelling from a polygon cube, extruding and moving vertexes to fit refrence images I had previously drawn. It took some time as i had to make sure it didnt look too blikish, also i had to make sure there wern´t any triangles in the mesh, as This causes problems when you smooth out the model. i also tried to make sure the faces where all of similar sizes to make things easier for myself when the time came to UV map.

I created the model from the feet up. the first thing i did was to create a poly cube, then I duplicated it as a special object, making it an instnace of the original, so whatever I did to one it would also be done to the other. this way I only had to concentrate on modelling one.

After I modelled the body I modelled the face, I didn´t make the eyes or the ears, the ears i modelled separately and the eyes where to be done in a different style, almost like buttons.

The next step after I modelled Cornelious was to texture him. first thing I did was to extract some of his extremities , like his arms,feet and head from the rest of the body. The reason for this is to make the mesh a lot simpler for when I want to UVmap it.

I applied a checker texture to it, this allows me to align and resize all the squares . as this prevents the texture from beign distorted.the picture above was the first time i tried to uv the head, I split it up into loads of parts and it took me a very long time to fit all the suares together and make it all look perfect, only after did i realise that I could use the tools to help me do it a lot quicker, like  the planar mapping and cylindrical mapping. also the snap points to horizontal and vertical plane helped alot once I learnt about them!

The texture for Cornelious is something like a sack, but I have been in Colombia for holidays where i have seen a piece of clothing called Ruana , its something used mostly by farmers, very similar to the Mexican poncho in shape, but it is made of raw sheeps wool, some of them look really nice and I think it would look even nicer than the sack image I was thinking on using.

Personality

Here are a few images i have found to represent Corneliuses personality.

Cornelius is a wise older gorilla, he has seen it all, yet he enjoys food , drink, and smoking best of all.

He also has a bit of a dark side, being The smartest animal in the zoo, he wants to bring enlightenment to other species, to make them as civilised as he, but he can sometimes be a bit ruthless in his pursuit for enlightment, setting up a standing army of monkey followers who follow his every command and attend to every need.

His reign of the Zoo is bordering on a dictator ship even if he does'nt realise it.

more Research

After finding my first concept drawings I realised that i was going for a kind of big fat gorilla version of the PG tips Monkeeehh

I also like the woven texture he has , as this cold work pretty well with the clay mation style part of the brief, as even though its not clay, similar material has been used in stop motion films

Research

secondary research:

Design

In the brief one of the main points is that they want the final piece to look like a clay motion model. this will affect the way it looks as the material has certain drawbacks and limits, the lips and eyes are the most noticeable ones.

The first design feature I thought about was the eyes, I didn't want it to have the classic claymation eyes,

opting for this look:

rather than this:

I also found this video and i really liked the red character, especially his hands. i like the way they are made and the way they move.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuUTkvfPpsA