Some new 3D Challenges

I'm kicking off 2 different challenges with a total of 3 characters.  I've been needing a project where I can practice making believable females (mine always come out sorta mannish).

First up is the Femme Fatales Modeling Challenge over at CGTalk.  I'll be modeling Lucy Lawless and her sidekick Renee O'Connor from their roles in Xena.  Here's a snapshot of the pile of refs I'll be working from for Xena (Lucy Lawless).

I'll Probably shoot for a slightly older Lucy, somewhere between how she looks now and a couple of years ago on Battlestar Galactica.  I like the idea of a slightly more age separated Xena and Gabrielle.  Warrior princess and innocent sidekick, the way I feel the series started out in season one.

Next up, Gabrielle.  Not much to change here, I'll see if it's possible to make her a little younger without ruining the likeness.  I prefer the season one costume design but I'll try to re-design it using the slightly better materials from later in the series.  Leather and metal wherever possible.  Also I must not have watched much of the show because I only ever saw her with the staff as a weapon.  I might model the sais and put them on her but she'll be wielding the staff.

The Competition over at CG Hub is to make any Post Apocalyptic character.  A little broad of a topic for my tastes, but again because I need the practice modeling females I quickly decided to model a Female survivor who has returned to earth long after whatever apocalypse has taken place.  She'll be decked out in a beat up hazmat / space suit inspired by The Divide (one depressing as hell movie), with some biotech inspired by the comic Prophet.

Looking at them now, my refs are a little scattered.  I can briefly walk through them.  Items: big dirty cleaver survival tool, assorted items from space capsule survival kit and not pictured might be some scavenged things  tied onto her back. Face: I haven't quite settled on the face, but probably will be dirty and freckled with bright blue eyes.  Helmet: I was originally planning on ditching the helmet for a biological system like the blue goop shown in the Prophet comic, but I'm worried about readability.  If I have to explain it to everyone it's not going to work as a standalone character design.  The comic employs a lot of exposition.  The helmet then  will have to be more of a glass dome design with several tubes that might look worse for wear.  Weapon: I like the guns from The Divide, but a nice clean gun wouldn't really be astronaut standard issue, if I get everything done in a timely manner I might look into making a P90 or other compact sub-machine gun.  I do like the bio support system from Prophet and I'll probable copy the effect of it trying to replace a lot limb, but I may avoid the alien claw hand because it might require too much explanation.