Hey Guys!

I'm currently working on my assessment for Natcoll, which is "Model and Rig a character in Maya"

My original idea was to make a shadow juggernaut, but as I was having to mutilate the concept to fit into the brief I have changed to a different character.
Plus I want to be able to make tutorials on the juggernaut when it's finished :)

I'll also try and record timelapses where possible which I intend to upload here.

So Let's begin

Day 1

This character is a female teenage reaper.
My goal is to create a character that is very feminine, and child-like (cute, not sexy)
Yet have some aggressive qualities relating to the 'reaper' side of her.
I also want to achieve a 'Disney - Pixar' feel to the character by adding large eyes, and over exageration on everything. such as adding clusters as well as blendshapes to control the mouth, allowing it to be stretched and pulled to virtually any shape.

I would also like to somehow animate the character between cute/innocent, and evil/aggressive.

So I have done some work on the concept,
Though I am not entirely happy with the result, I know where it's going and won't have any trouble modelling from this concept.

By following the suggestions of Eli this charater now has a very brutal look to her, this is great for when she is in an aggressive stance, but for her cute/innocent side I will need to fix this.
I am thinking about using blendshapes to animate the blood down the cheeks as well as a control to animate the style of eyes so I can transfer between glowing white eyes and calm normal eyes.

I have used the chinese symbol of death on this model and have repeated it in several places. As this character is essentially 'death' I feel she should wear the mark. I've used the chinese symbol as I felt writing 'death' in english would look odd.

FURTHER NOTES (for my reference later):
With the symbol in her head I'd like to have this less of a 'tattoo' and more painful looking, such as if it was caused by a branding iron (red hot iron used to brand cattle)
Her shoes should be dainty high heeled boots,
Her skin should be paler (more dead looking), yet remain young looking. perhaps I can animate this texture between reaper/innocent modes
She is very slender, when I feel she should be skinny, I want the ribs to protrude a little more. Not to the point of being annerexic, but closer to it.
When modelling I need to keep in mind this is a very young girl (about 15), Use smoothed skin, non-developed breasts, and not very defined muscles.
I need to find somewhere for her to put her scythe, I can have it dissappear into smoke, attach to a clip on her back, or transform into a different weapon (such as a sword attached to her forearm)
The lipstick is a little dark and makes her look older, I may animate this between modes as well.
As her thighs are exposed I'll need to use maya muscle on this area, Children have not developed rigid muscles so it will jiggle a little when she walks.

And without further ado, here is my concept:



Any comments/suggestions?
Leave them below!