Designing game characters for 2D & 3D with Blender & Godot

Reset the scene by deleting the default content, then model the head as a cube in Blender, using edit mode, loop cuts, and a mirror modifier to shape the head.

Continue refining the head by adding edges and bevels, using vertical edge selections and loop cuts to shape the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Move vertices to adjust the form.

Shape the eye area in Blender by selecting vertices to form a semi-circular eye, inset to define eyelash and pupil areas, then extrude to create eyelashes and adjust the pupil.

Create the mouth in Blender by selecting mouth vertices, entering front view, extruding inward, and adjusting edges, then add a loop cut and fill the mouth opening.

Adjust the head base to be rounder by selecting vertices and edges and moving them with G. Use proportional editing to reshape the jaw efficiently.

Select the ear area, inset, then extrude to shape the ears, and mark seams along the hair area with edges while checking the mirror modifier.

Assign head materials in Blender using material preview to apply skin, eyelashes, eye, hair, mouth, and lip materials, and shape lips with loop cuts.

Refine the head shape in Blender by adjusting eyes and jaw with proportional editing. Preview with a subdivision surface to see how the face rounds, planning further tweaks.

Continue adjusting the vertices of the figure to ensure a rounded shape when applying the subdivision modifier.

Apply the mirror modifier and edit mode in Blender to smooth and refine hair, jaw, and cheek areas with the smooth vertices tool, and toggle subdivision to verify changes.

Adjust the head by shortening the jaw with proportional editing, moving vertices toward the center. Refine the cheeks, eyes, and eyelashes to finalize the head base.

Polish the figure by shading smooth to create a polished surface. Extrude and move the hair area, assign hair materials, and add a loop cut to separate hair from skin.

Adjust the area that separates the hair from the head by selecting edges and vertices, shaping it from square to curved, and toggling the subdivision modifier to verify changes.

Create long hair geometry by extruding the edge faces and smoothing the new area, then refine by selecting hair material faces, switching to vertex selection, and smoothing vertices.

Create long hair for game characters by extruding the bottom faces, adjusting edges, and extending hair near the ears and back, using Blender’s extrude and move tools.

Elongate the hair, add vertices with loop cuts for smoother geometry, assign the hair material to faces lacking it via seams, then smooth vertices and verify with the subdivision modifier.

Finish adjusting the hair area by elongating sections and moving edges to create a more rounded look for your character in Blender.

Learn to create a cel-shaded black outline using a dedicated material, solidify modifier, and flipped normals. Place the outline as the last material and enable backface culling for edge visibility.

Create the neck by editing the model in Blender: center and move edge loops, round the neck area, scale it thin, and extrude faces downward to form the first neck.

Select neck lower faces and extrude downward to form the base for the body. Merge the center vertex to reduce the number of vertices, then extrude again to continue shaping.

Extrude the lower neck, separate it into an independent body shape, then apply grid fill, subdivision, and materials (including a temporary green body color) across both figures.

Toggle subdivision to preview neck changes, delete left vertices in x-ray view, apply the mirror modifier with clipping for symmetry, then mirror and undo with ctrl z as needed.

Create the game character torso by shaping the shoulder, trunk, and hip using extrude, inset, and loop cuts, then position arms and legs with precise edge moves.

Shape arm and leg extremities by arranging vertices into circular forms, extruding faces to form limbs, and flattening ends and tips for proportionate 2D and 3D game characters in Blender.

Adjust the crotch and limb areas to smooth the model, selecting edges and vertices and moving them with G inside the figure’s limits, then round arm tips.

Adjust a feminine 3D body model by editing vertices and edges to shape hips, chest, and bust. Use subdivision, loop cuts, and axis moves to refine contours.

Model hands and feet for game characters by adjusting shoulder edges with g twice, then inset and extrude, and refine legs with loop cuts and y-axis scaling.

Add a skirt to the model using loop cuts and extrusions, then smooth and refine by moving vertices and edges to eliminate sharpness and align top and bottom vertices.

Assign materials to the body in blender, using loop cuts to separate areas for skirt, sleeves, pants, feet, skin, and detail lines with green, orange, yellow, red, and blue.

Define the knees and elbows by adding loop cuts, moving edges along y, x, and z axes, and using proportional editing to shape the toe and feet.

Duplicate the base body with shift d, enter edit mode on the copy, use x-ray mode to enlarge the torso, and adjust the arms and legs before exiting x-ray mode.

Adjust the second model by elongating the body and moving edges and vertices to create a slightly larger female figure.

Refine the second model's torso by smoothing the pointed areas, apply the same vertex smoothing to the skirt, and readjust the height by moving the selected vertices.

Add the solid modifier to verify how the body looks with the black outline, then repeat the same steps to apply the material and modifier used for the head.

Add edges and bevels to folding areas by inserting loop cuts in the torso, elbow region, knee, shoulder, foot, and hand, then bevel these edges for a folded character mesh.

Modify the small body to add edges in the areas that will be folded, as part of designing game characters for 2D & 3D with Blender & Godot.

Duplicate the head and rename the figures, then apply the mirror modifier to the small and big bodies before joining the head to their vertices.

Learn to prepare the neck area by matching eight vertices with the body, using inset and extrude operations, merging at last, and deleting faces for a clean connection.

Join the body and head, then adjust the neck by moving the body and shrinking neck vertices to fit the hole. Bridge the neck edges to connect head and body.

Repeat the steps to join the head and the body, using the disconnected head copy and the large body, for designing game characters in Blender and Godot.

Adjust the mouth area to prevent overlap with the jaw and neck by flattening inner mouth faces along the y axis and lifting them up along z for the model.

Set the origin to the center of mass using the surface option, then press Shift+S to move the selection to the cursor and center the figure in the scene.

Place a new armature inside the semi-transparent model using wireframe and x-ray views; in edit mode, extrude bones from the root toward the neck, head, and hip.

Create an armature by forked extruding bones for the arms and legs, mirroring across the body and placing neck, shoulder, elbow, knee, and foot bones to fit the figure.

Position bone tips near the edges and verify with subdivision and x-ray mode. Then select model and armature, press Ctrl J, and set parent to armature deform with automatic weights.

Explore applying inverse kinematic in Blender to control armature-driven movement, set up bone names, remove deform relations, and configure constraints with a 2-bone chain for efficient posing.

Adjust bone influence in edit mode to fix skirt deformation by editing vertex group weights, selecting hip and leg bones, and assigning weights to guide deformation.

Continue adjusting the skirt weights in edit mode, fix crotch stretching by adding loop cuts, then refine vertex forces and move leg bones to verify the skirt moves correctly.

Add poles to inverse kinematics to gain precise elbow and knee control, configure pole targets, adjust pole angle, and verify pose by resetting bone positions.

Create the armature for the small model by applying the same bone placement steps used on the large model, placing bones in the areas that will be folded.

Develop inverse kinematic skills by following the steps used to set up the small model, applying them to designing 2D and 3D game characters in Blender and Godot.

Adjust the lips and add teeth by inset and extrude, deactivate vertex group weights, hide bone names, and apply a tooth color material, then smooth lip vertices for a mouth.

Add teeth to the large model by applying the same steps used for the small model, fixing the mouth and enhancing character realism.

Add a black outline with a solidify material, then build cel shading using diffuse BSDF, shader to RGB, and a color ramp feeding material output via principled BSDF for hair.

Add red to the color ramp; use the eyedropper on disconnected node color to make the illuminated area red and the dark area black, then adjust hue for cel shading.

Copy nodes to the clothes material, paste them in the work area, connect ColorRamp to the material output, and use Principled BSDF as a base to define red clothes.

Apply material adjustments by pasting the nodes and configuring colors across the remaining materials, refining textures for 2D and 3D game characters in Blender and Godot.

Apply the shared materials to the small model and avoid reassigning nodes, then add a black outline by creating a dark material and applying the solidify modifier.

Adjust the second model by duplicating the skirt material to a unique copy and changing the color and shades of the skirt on both the small and large models.

Create and store animations with the armature using the dope sheet and action editor, save the T pose as a new action, then stash it as a nonlinear animation.

Create a new Idle action, position the arm bones with arms down, copy to the opposite side, and save frame one with location, rotation, and scale, then stash.

Create a run/walk animation in Blender by posing the armature in pose mode, using a ground cube as reference, and saving the first position with location, rotation, and scale.

Polish the leg-crossing walk by adjusting frame 4, moving the model up, and reorienting limbs; copy the pose to opposite side at frame 10 and verify with location, rotation, scale.

Polish the walk cycle by saving the penultimate frame at frame 14 and deleting the last frame after adjusting location, rotation and scale, then stash the animation.

Repeat the previous steps to create animations for the second model, applying the same workflow to the small model.