Low Poly Character
I completed this project in june 2026, using a character from my graphic novel.
After I learned the fundamentals of Blender modeling, and I felt confident enough to bring my own character into 3D. I chose a low-poly style because it is a great way to grasp UV unwrapping, texturing, and character rigging better.
The Character - Amano Mio
Referance sheet
The first part of the process was creating a character sheet. I drew front and side views of my character using a low poly base.
Modeling
Next, I moved on to blocking the basic structure and defining it as I went on. I followed my reference sheet closely.
UV Unwrapping & Texturing
I unwrapped the character's mesh and projected the pieces onto a drawing I made. This was my first time doing it and I had to overcome a lot of mistakes, but eventually, the model looked how I wanted it to look.
Facial Expressions & Texture Mapping
I wanted my character to be able to change his facial expressions. I sketched out a few different emotion variations—like neutral, scared, and happy—mapping them directly to the structure of the face mesh.
Driver Bone Setup
used a node setup to shift the texture mapping coordinates. To make it easier to control during animation, I set up a driver bone. That way moving that bone along the Z-axis switches between the different drawn expressions on the 3D model.
Animating
For the final step, I brought my character into the stylized Japanese room scene I built previously. I used the Graph Editor and Dope Sheet to keyframe the rig controllers, bringing the model to life with a custom animation.
Learning Outcome
This project was a massive step forward for my 3D workflow. By taking a character entirely from a 2D sketch to a fully animated 3D asset, I gained a deep, hands-on understanding of the entire production pipeline.
Working with a low-poly base forced me to focus on clean topology, while overcoming my initial mistakes with UV unwrapping taught me how to properly plan textures. Additionally, setting up a custom driver system for facial expressions gave me invaluable technical problem-solving skills in Blender.
Result
Behind the Project
