The Texture

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So I opened up my U.V map in photoshop and started drawing on it. To give me an idea of where things were I drew with the UV in black first and then removed them when it came to applying it to my 3D Maya model. Of course it was a mega case of trial and error when it came to marrying up the points on the texture with the right points on the model but I got there in the end.

Rigged and Bound!

Here's my skeleton rigged and bound. As you can see I've put him in a rather bizarre pose to illustrate this.

U.V Map!

After modelling it I created a U.V map. After a little trial and error all it really entailed was selecting an appropriate edge loop to cut along and one to fold out from.

My Maan

I just realized I haven't really laid out my character's backstory yet so just to clear things up...

Maan Budakhan is completely human and at the age of fifty seven he was a victim of the Bhopal crisis. For reasons unexplained he was the only survivor and now at the age of eighty four he has not aged at all thus suggesting that he has been made either immortal or simply rejuvenated.

Maan appears throughout the game, to offer advice to the player character trying to find his wife who has reportedly run off to the heart of the site of the incident, with a cult. This cult believes that the incident was the first effort by their unseen leader to wipe out the major religions of India and ultimately ushering in a new age of human existence where there are no differences of faith to divide people. Ultimately Maan's role is to show the player character-a Hindu-the fact that in the grand scheme of things all theistic religions might as well be the same and that they can never lead or protect you, to or from life's various pleasures and pains.

Maan doesn't need to eat but he sleeps whenever the pain of existence gets too great for him. On these occasions he resides within the area surrounding the wreckage of the plant and the plant itself. He possesses no superhuman powers in particular however as a result of the incident he is very strong and doesn't loose a fight, nor does he feel any physical pain. Although he is close to blind he is still able to sense more than most due to all his remaining senses being heightened. He still regularly suffers punishing emotional flashbacks that cause him to wreck all in his path for brief periods. On these occasions, if he is near any other life-forms, he anticipates this and retreats to a deserted area of the plant.

Image Plane With Colour Scheme

Thought would add a few colours and make him so that I can use him as an image plane in Maya. I think I'll still do a few more drafts of him though and some concept art.

Version 1

Just finished my first version of my mentor. For now I'm naming him "Maan". Havn't decided on a colour scheme yet though...

Doodle Development

Here are my developmental drawings for my character based on the images I've been looking at.

The Bug

Whilst insects may have little intellect with which to be taught, there is one bug that looks like he is a mentor. I felt that the Praying Mantis looks as if he has lots to say yet abstains from saying it to his fellow creepy crawlies; waiting for their own desire to learn to motivate them and come forth to be taught. I think it's just his knowing face combined with a rather clumsy body that suggest to me his wisdom despite an odd appearance.

Dhalsim and Ghandi

Here are two rather similar characters that are slightly more familiar to many of us than Buddha. Both are skinny Indian and (usually) pacifists. Ghandi I feel is a little more inspirational to my character design as unlike Dhalsim he did have a great deal more power hidden within is scrawny body. Dhalsim does most definately kick ass and looks like he does aswell. Still, he does look quite mystic and intrigueing, a quality that I want my character to have.

The Buddha

I can't believe I didn't mention this person before. The Buddha is probably the epitome of the qualities I've outlined. The facial features on the original Indian Buddha are the kind of thing I think I'm after at the moment: calm and understated. The Chinese laughing Buddha on the right isn't nearly as modest yet his light hearted expression is still a sign of his inner peace due to supreme knowledge and wisdom and thus equally befitting of the character I've got in mind.

Mapping Mentor's Minds

In order to give myself a slightly clearer idea of what traits I want my character to have I've drawn a little mind map of what mentors mean to me, whilst baring in mind my thoughts on the people I've just discussed.

My Mentors

These are characters who are inspirational to me and thus I have pictures of them on my bedroom wall...

Starting from the top left going clockwise...

Jan and Rainy from the film Into the Wild are a hippy couple that the main character runs into on two separate occasions. They don't appear prominently as mentors during the film and it is definitely arguable that they are even mentors at all! For me they symbolize an enlightened way of living. They don't concern themselves with anything that isn't entirely necessary or beautiful all they need is each other, their van, their dog a little money from selling bric a brac for petrol and other supplies and most importantly the sky/trees/open road in general. They are some of the happiest people I have ever come across. Into the wild was based on a true story I have you know and whilst I'm certainly not sure that the real versions of these characters were akin to their film portrayals, I know for a fact that their is a thriving community of these sorts of people throughout California and the rest of the world. I.e there are lots of real life Jan and Raineys.

I first came across Norman Cook when I was about ten when I bought his album "you've come a long long way baby". To this day he still is one of my favourite artists and on top of all that he has a chactacter I can't help but look up to. As well as being a throughly successful yet modest d.j, he has a unique form lovable, child irrevence that is rarely found within anyone who commands any form of respect.

Finally we come to my favourite character of the lot. I certainly by no means watch the O.C any more but Sandy Cohen the philanthropic, surfer lawer originally from the streets of the bronx still holds a special place in my heart-and on my wall. Sandy Cohen is just ethical and not a poncy preachy way either. He always knows what to do and is always right yet perfectly accepting that he could be wrong. Everybody loves him for it whilst he stopps it from going to his head and carries on stopping everyone around him from loosing theirs. He's also a real man on a level deeper than the overly confident, macho apha male type. No surprise that his wife's smoking hot then!

Edgy Mentors

These guys are still mentors in the traditional sense, yet they have a certain edge to them. They are slightly imperfect if you will, as is usually the case with all things edgy.

The character on the top right is the mentor of the protagonist Mathematician in the film Pi. At the start of the film we learn that he was once searching for patterns in the number Pi, however the task became so great he went mad and suffered a stroke. Thankfully he since gave up the search and retired to a life of quiet study. Later on in the film similar misfortunes come his way. In this way we are presented with a highly talented character who is still nevertheless human.

D.J Professor K (bottom right) in the game Jet Set Radio is a different case. He is merely an experienced D.J and general ghetto dog who's seen a lot of things come and go. Whilst the rest of the game's main characters are running around enjoying their youth on roller skates, he is preaching a ghetto gospel in the form of fresh phat beats and pearls of hood related wisdom on his pirate radio station like a really gangster Stephen Fry.

Next we have Morpheus who needs no introduction unless you've been living an a cupboard-if he does need an introduction then I suggest you go find a cupboard, climb in and stay there. Although at the beginning of the Matrix trilogy he seems to be the all knowing man with all the answers he soon becomes a bit of a Maverick and seemingly less and less important and more of a vehicle for ushering in talent rather than actually coaching it. Still, despite his abilities eventually paling in comparison to numerous other characters he still retains a certain level of knowing and value that is of more significance than the overly obvious attributes of his co-evils.

Woody (top left) is a character in This is England who is the leader of a bunch of benign northern skinheads. At the start of the film he meets the film's protagonist-a twelve year old boy-who he cheers up through showing him a few somewhat mischievous yet perfectly innocent ways of coping with growing up in the unlucky half of Thatcher's Britain. Woody is a person who possess similar qualities to traditional mentors yet has aspects about him that make him more human than any of them and thus the viewer can identify with him more easily.

Traditional Mentors

Just been given our game art brief to design a non player, 3D, humanoid, game character archetype using Maya. I thought I would pick a mentor type character so to start off, I'm looking at a few examples, some more obvious than others.

Traditional Mentors

When I hear the word mentor the image of a wise old man is the first image that comes into my head. Usually this man has a beard and usually wise old men with beards are also wizards or Jedi. All these four characters I feel have an immortal quality to them, juxtaposed with their seeming weekness. Yes they may appear to me withered old men but all of the above kick some serious arse and wild more power than any pretty boy protagonist. They also have a huge level of humility within them which is especially prominent considering they possess skills and traits that any normal person would show off and brag about. This I feel goes hand in hand with their underlying calm confidence: not only are they highly skilled and wise but they are so calmly aware of it they only exercise their talents when needed.