Monster (Midterm Project)

My idea for Monster stems from my desire to make video games.  This product is the rough version of what I hope to turn into a (computer) video game that will make you think about life.  You will play as Monster, in his world.  You and Monster know that he has good intentions, but because of his appearance, most of the others in his world are afraid of him.  Some will immediately attack you, others will run or hide.  Your reactions towards the other people of his world determine how Monster grows as a being.  Fight back towards people who are trying to hurt you, and Monster will begin to look more and  more monstrous (his behavior will be linked to his appearance, which technically would be more of a metaphysical representation).  Simply ignoring the others isn’t enough--everyone is afraid of Monster, and as you travel further and further, your enemies will become more and more hostile.  The only way to save Monster is to be undeniably good to everyone around him.  One wrong move can set you back a great deal.  It will take a lot of good deeds to win over those around him.  

Sketch and "storyboard" (explaining that the model will be still and the camera will be moving around it).

Early render of the model. 

Some more progress.  Also added polar bear fur but gave it different coloring. 

Finished model. 

Starting to add environment. 

Finished environment. 

Camera along a motion path.  

Enlarged the motion path and switched into the camera's perspective.  

Rendered view from the camera's perspective. 

Expanded the environment and the motion path to gain a better perspective.  

Overall, I’m happy with the way that my project came out.  For the final, I’d like to work on rigging him and animating the actual character, though.  I do feel that I didn’t have the necessary skills to do everything that I wanted to do.  I think if I had a better grasp of Maya, that this project would have come out differently, but am not sure how it would have looked (since I don’t know what the skills are that I’m lacking in the first place).  That, of course, will come as I gain more experience with animation and modeling.  I’m still learning the capabilities of myself and the program, basically.  But as far as my current capabilities go, I’m pleased with how everything went.