Single Elf Female, Part 2

Having made a naked base model of a female elf as mentioned in my previous blog post, I set about to gearing up the elf model. There are many ways to design the armor and weapons of humanoid creatures, so I wasn’t sure at first on which direction to take my design. I turned to Google to see how other artists made their own renditions of elf women. Inspired by pictures of scantily clad blood elves, I initially thought of dressing my model in a bra, miniskirt, and boots. The design turned out to be rather bland, so I abandoned it and drew something that I should have done earlier – a silhouette of the elf.

The elf whose silhouette I drew is the type that an evil wizard would try to summon. This elf is of the Unseelie Court, whose members are feared for their malevolence. She is a veteran of the Wild Hunt, when unseelie folk would ride across the sky and kick up dark storm clouds that often heralded catastrophe or death. Her horned helm reflects her wild nature, and the layers of her black leather armor are like the protective plates of some draconic beast. Nevertheless, the elf is as beautiful as she is cruel, more akin to the creatures of Guillermo del Torro than J.R.R. Tolkien.

Instead of filling in the details of my 2D drawing, I went straight to modeling the armor in 3D. The final result is shown below. I decided to do away with the armor on the upper arms and thighs because I liked the effect of more skin showing.

Now that that’s done, it’s time for me to model the bow. From there, I will go straight to animating the elf.