Low-poly Legoshi
A model of Beastars' protagonist, Legoshi. I wanted this low poly to have a style similar to the anime with its distinct two-tone shading on characters, utilizing both static and dynamic shadows that make most frames look 2d. For this I researched 3d cel-shading techniques and dabbled with Blender's amazing shader node system beyond the default principled BSDF.
References of character are used to begin modelling with ideal shape and proportions in Blender.
Appendages such as mouth parts, hair, and hands are created and joined/parented to main object. Body is further detailed to match form of character before adding clothing.
Clothing is modeled and the underlying parts of the body are deleted to reduce tri count. Edges around knee are altered for future rigging. Normal orientation is checked and corrected prior to completion.
Finished topology.
Tri count: 16,036
In Substance Painter, the model only requires 3 texture maps: color, opacity, and ambient occlusion. The AO map is where the model's static shading will be manually drawn. The pupil made in Illustrator will be on transparent UV's separate from the sclera.
Cel-shading achieved through Blender's shader nodes. Since the textures are simplistically stylized and don't require calculating reflections and whatnot, the scene can be rendered in EEVEE instead of the more intensive Cycles.
Example of lighting.
Turnaround of model in its current state.