Behind the Scenes: Watermelon Chickens

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Hello, Pixel_Lime right here. I am from Ukraine and I’ll quickly be turning 23 years previous.

I’ve been finding out 3D graphics since I used to be 14-15 years previous, however I wasn’t keen about it. I used to be extra desirous about drawing on paper and portray on canvas. I assumed that if I discovered how to attract in 2D, it will be simpler for me to be taught 3D.

In 2021, once I turned 21, I turned actually desirous about 3D and determined to be taught Blender as a result of it is open supply and has improved a lot since I first tried it a few years in the past. In all probability one of the primary causes I selected Blender is the Grease Pencil and the power to stylize 3D in cool methods.

INSPIRATION

I have never executed any artistic work since February 24, 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine modified the whole lot. It is laborious to get impressed in a state of affairs like this.

Nonetheless, as 2023 started, I wished to create one thing new in Blender.

I used to be impressed by the lovable illustration by stefscribbles.

watermelon ? pic.twitter.com/Uo7crWZoMM

— Stef (@stefscribbles) July 16, 2020

MODELING

I modeled objects utilizing easy varieties.

The top, ears, tail, costume, legs, arms, watermelons, leaves, and different parts had been made as separate objects to make it simpler to animate later.

TEXTURING

I like to attract textures myself, so all textures had been hand-painted within the Texture Paint tab. I attempted to attract the textures in order that they seemed like the unique illustration.

I hope the Blender builders will add layers to the Texture Paint quickly as a result of it isn’t handy to attract the whole lot on a single layer.

So as to add extra particulars and make the strokes appear to be an actual brush, I used the comb pack by Omar Faruq Tawsif. This method made the objects look much less flat.

GREASE PENCIL

Including Grease Pencil strokes is my favourite step. I actually love utilizing Grease Pencil in Blender.

To make the strokes keep on with the objects whereas drawing, I set it up like this:

I added the Noise modifier to animate Grease Pencil strokes. (For the scared watermelon-chicken, I used three steps to make it twitch quicker.)

OUTLINE

To finish the cartoonization of the fashions, I added an overview.

If you do not know how one can create an overview in Blender, take a look at this video; it helped me at one time.

Right here is the characters with the define:

OUTLINE RENDERING

I like how the Grease Pencil strokes look in Cycles; they appear just a bit higher than in Eevee, particularly when the strokes undergo the objects. Nonetheless, rendering in Cycles with an overview provides a visible bug 😢.

To repair this concern, I used nodes to create the define materials.

ANIMATION

I prefer it when my artwork appears to be like vivid, and including some wiggle provides a way of liveliness. I used the Easy Deform modifier in Stretch mode to deform and animate every object.

The Grease Pencil’s Noise modifier helped me as as a information for animating the objects, syncing the animation with it.

To make the wiggling appear to be a frame-by-frame animation, I used Fixed Interpolation Mode.