I was assigned to Team Hercules and we decided to combine it with a Despicable Me/Illumination Studios art style. Eventually these designs will be used in a VR game. This assignment had us build both the interactable character (Hercules) and the player's hands (Megara) out of basic shapes.
Hercules (Interactable Character)
Starting with references, my main inspiration for this character blockout was the character Stronghold from Minions: Rise of Gru and Eduardo Perez from Despicable Me 2. I also looked at classical statue depictions of Hercules, often shown with a beard and wearing the Nemean Lion skins. To pull from real life, I looked at Olympic shot put athletes, specifically Ryan Crouser to see what a strong body physique looks like.
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| PureRef board for Hercules |
A lot of Illumination characters have a larger upper body, and then very tiny feet. I wanted to keep this exaggeration with a broad chest, and then contrasted with tiny legs. Since Hercules is known for his superhuman strength, his hands also needed to be large and bulky. |
| Hercules Print |
Megara (Player Hands)
Most human characters in Illumination's movies have small hands, with a few exceptions. For women they are also more slender and longer. I also looked at traditional depictions of Megara and other women in Greek art. In my research I also learned about the 'Herakles Knot', which is a wedding symbol on a gold armband.
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| PureRef board for Megara |
I kept the slender hands for Megara but also added a torus, perhaps to incorporate a bracelet with a Herakles Knot into her character design later on. |
| Megara Hands Print |
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| Everything uploaded to Perforce |
