“I’m blue today”
Gabby
So you’ve sculpted a kick-ass character for your movie, but you are having second thoughts about your colour palette…
You clearly haven’t spent enough R&D time concept-arting your characters so now you’re stuck with a million questions… But! You do have something to test your colours on… so it ain’t all bad… right?
This is definitely me right now. But its okay because I have the time to NOW think more deeply into it.
So… who ARE my characters?
Gabby Meanwell
She is Emily’s beloved puppy, the family’s first Papillon dog and is pampered thoroughly. Gabby is very much a house pet and is surrounded by fluffy toys. However she believes that she is meant for something bigger. She is also overly ambitious, and learns the lesson that you may have to fight for the opportunity to do something you love, especially when you are a little different from the industry’s “status quo”.
So what colours do you think of when you see a young, naive, tiny dog? What colour collar would she wear? Or would you go full blown and put her in sparkly doggy clothing?
I’ve been through a few paint jobs on Gabby now and I certainly prefer the silvery greys and bright whites in her coat. I UV-unwrapped my retopologised sculpt and painted her coat colours using Blender’s Texture Painting feature.
It’s not your standard Papillon coat colour either, which would suggest she is an underdog, and maybe seen as a bit special towards her owners. Not quite a fully white Papillon, as they are automatically disqualified from Kennel Club competitions as white dogs can hold certain health complications. I originally liked the half brown half white patch coat, but it strayed quite far from a traditional Papillon’s symmetrical markings on the ears, and I didn’t want to make Gabby completely detached from the breed. I used a real references too for inspiration on rare Papillon coats.
Coat colour isn’t the only consideration either – toys, clothing, bedding, food can all portray her character. I am still brainstorming ideas currently but in the next few months you’ll see her character develop through her belongings so stay tuned!
All works of Gabby shown here were designed, and sculpted in ZBrush, and textures, retopology, grooming were made in Blender by Sarah Brawn. The design and sculpt of Gabby was inspired by real life images of Papillons.
Images of work owned and copyrighted by Brawni3D and you must request permission prior to use.
You can now contribute to the production of Little Dog by donating a biscuit to Gabby!
How about a giving her a treat and see what she does?
Buy Gabby a virtual biscuit and watch her eat it!
Brawni 3D 