2d Stylization for 3d creations.

 The closer we get to the day of submission, the more I start to realize that I will not be able to render this is in a photorealistic way as it will simply take way too much time. Because of that, I started to research some ways to get over this problem and found that stylized shading would solve my problem. So I sat down and developed some stylized shaders and renders that make 3d look as if it were 2d. 

I took an already existing character from one of my favorite animated music videos and got to work. I started by poly modeling the character and adapting them to be suitable for stylized shading. I also again used a reference board to plan everything.

Wireframe view of character.

I continued by developing materials and lighting that worked for the goal I was heading for, simulating the look from the characters in the music video. Flat colors and line work were two things that I was sure I wanted to nail for the character.

Stylized viewport shading.

Now that I had nailed the look of the character, I rendered it out as a turnaround animation and put it into after effects for compositing. I added a background and made it turn with the character. Then I added some film grain effects and softening to help clean up the overly perfect look that 3d gives.

After Effects compositing.

And it's done! This was a complete contrast from the last study I did, but overall a very worthwhile one. Now I'm sure I won't have to worry as much about rendering, and I know that for more still things like backgrounds I should be able to use a more complex look as it will all be mostly composited together in the end. Anyways, here is the final product!