Splinterlands Art Contest Week 209: Antoid Platoon - Rigged and Animated.

Great day everyone!!!

I am here to present to you my entry for the Splinterlands arts contest, after months of just being a spectator.

I was not able to create any art for the past months as I was stuck learning two things - art and writing. I cannot do art and writing at the same time as they are my kryptonite (especially writing).

Anyway, after constantly being bugged encouraged by @rowell and @eustace-kidd to produce some art again, I decided to give it a try. 😊

Btw, my current interest in the field of art is to be able to create 3D game assets that are compatible on major game engines.

I chose Antoid Platoon for this weeks contest as it is easier to model. The main body took me just a few hours to create. However, I was not able to finish it early though as I was stuck on how would I model the hands and feet.

It took me a total of 3 days to finish all of this as I forgot many functionalities of Blender - especially the Rigging and Animation process. 😅

So here it is, I hope you find them within your liking.

Antoid Platoon in Idle Animation Cycle.

I only managed to create two animations cycles as Rigging and Animation is still pretty new to me.

Idle Animation Cycle [transparent background]

Walk Animation Cycle [transparent background]

Art Process

The same as my previous works, my art process starts with 3D modeling then rigging & animation, shading (coloring), and then rendering.

3D Modeling

With the reference on the side, I blocked the main parts of the model using cubes. This helps me gauge the size and proportions.

After that, I shaped them.

Next, I also blocked the hands and feet.

I proceed to shape the feet.
While I am shaping the limbs, I have the Splinterlands card and a real image of an ant opened on another tab for my reference.

I did the same thing with the hands.

Next, I added a sphere for the eyes. For the teeth, I used a cube that I scaled and added some geometry to get the tooth shape.

I then moved in re-creating the palm as I am not satisfied with the first one that I've made.

I added the antennae last as I almost forgot about it.

After that, I adjusted the main parts of the body and then adding a cube with subsurf modifier as a link between them.

Once I am satisfied with the body of the ant, I then added a two handed shield. I made it like this as Antoid Platoon is generally used as a tank in battles. 😊

The shield is made from a plane that is shaped and extruded to make a simple shield. I also added three thorns to give it an additional detail.

I then let Antoid Platoon hold it with its two right hands.

Next, I made a simple spear and a sword for each of its left hands.

This is how it looks after making it hold all of the objects I created for it.

Rigging and Animation

Next is the rigging process. This took me a very long time as I am reviewing and learning at the same time. I forgot about Inverse Kinematics too so I needed review it. 😅

After I place the bones (rig) and checked that it can deform the mesh (character) within acceptable levels, I started with the animation process.

This is another process that took me a long time as I keep on unintentionally overwriting my walk and idle cycles. I needed more research and experience on this field. 😊

Shading

For the shading, I did not use any complex nodes. I just used the default one, modified the color and other properties as I see fit.

I forgot to add the background so I added after I shaded my character. 😅

I started with the ground by using a plane subdivided and then deformed to give the impression of a basic ground.

I added stones and a wall too from the library. I didn't bother remaking them as I am running out of time. Anyway, my concentration on this work is on character modeling, rigging and animation.

I give the environment a darker brownish color.

I noticed that the environment lacks life so I added a tree from the library.

Here is all the elements on my scene with their colors in cycles.

Rendering

I used cycles in rendering which give it a better shading/color with the expense of longer render time.
I render all image sequence in Blender and then made the gif image using Krita.

Closing Words

This art took me 3 days to complete but I've learned a lot of things. I did not managed to create a character with perfect topology that is game-engine ready but this is a good start.

That's all for me now. See you again in the next art/character that I would make. 😊

Thank you for taking the time reading and viewing my work. I hope that you liked it.

Still don't have a Splinterlands account yet?

All images are mine with the exception of the Antoid Platoon (copyright by Splinterlands) reference image added within them.
For the animation cycles that I've created, feel free to use them on your post if you like it. 😊