Theo
Character from Root Note Thesis Film
Final
Wireframe/Sculpt
Theo is one of the three main characters in my SVA senior thesis film. He’s the drummer in his band, as well as the one responsible for filming the band’s new music video. He’s logical, grounded, and the backbone of the group.
He is 20 years-old with black hair in locs, tied in a half-up, half-down style. He wears a rust-colored vest over a white button-up shirt, and a simple pair of gold hoop earrings. His brown platform shoes with accent yellow stitching are inspired by Doc Martens. When designing his outfit, I wanted something that blended an effortless, casual style with a bit of sophistication to reflect his fun, but analytical personality.
Theo is definitely the character I’m most proud of. I had so much fun with this sculpt, especially the hair. Kind of oddly specific, but I’m absolutely in love with how the side profile of his face came out. Throughout the process of creating this film, he is definitely the character whose design I changed the most (see his original concept art below lol), and I really struggled to come up with a design I was truly happy with. Everything from his hairstyle to his outfit changed dozens of times, but I’m incredibly happy with the final version.
The model was sculpted in Zbrush and retopologized in Maya. His clothing was all created in Marvelous Designer, as well as simulated in Marvelous Designer for all animated shots in the film. His shoes and accessories were modeled in Maya, and all texturing was done in Substance Painter.
The wireframe shown includes the temporary clothing I added to the rig for animation purposes, not the final clothing out of Marvelous.
These character turnarounds were lit in Maya, rendered with Arnold, composited in Nuke, and edited in After Effects.
Original Concept Artwork
