When Heimat Berlin asked if we would be interested in creating a cute fantasy forest creature for their client Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken we didn’t have to think about it for very long! Required for both print and animation we knew this would be a lot of fun and something our character team would fall in love with. You can see a full case study below which outlines some of the key stages of development this character went through, along with the final animations. We are pleased to announce that Stagley received the Best of 3D in Creativepool 2016 Annual Awards!

We started with quite an open brief for the character design. The client had a few examples they liked but no initial designs for us to use as a starting point. Luckily our illustrators love nothing more than having free reign when it comes to concepting characters. So off they went and started furiously sketching out all manor or weird and wonderful creatures. 

Through several rounds of character development with our 2D artists we were able to narrow down the type of character the client liked. So it was now over to our 3D character team to start modelling and sculpting him. Here you can see a simple angle study along with some initial style frames where we have dropped in a couple of background plate options. This just helps to get a better sense of how the character will look in situ and what kind of environment and lighting is going to work best.

Such a key and prominent element needed a full scale exploration phase all to itself, so we modelled a variety of antler designs, ranging from quite a traditional looking piece, to others that were slightly more creative.

As for the fur, the client was looking for a bright, well groomed finish to their stag character, with a touch of fantasy to it. So we went with a neat short fur, but with some variation around the chest where it is slightly longer and thicker, and some rather intricate golden veins running throughout. We tried a few colours but settled on a warm light brown which glistened once we had the lighting just right.

We knew from the start that motion was a key requirement so we modelled the character in its entirety so not to limit ourselves. A rig was added once we had the model locked down and we could then begin to explore various movements and sequences. This could run in parallel with the latter stages of the print production, with the animation model being updated with the correct fur once that was signed off. Our little ‘Stagley’ found himself being used across print, digital and online platforms.