Well I guess she’s getting down!

This is the fun part. Experimenting and learning new stuff. My character Nia needs a prop. Like Ujima has his tool belt and Kuji has her books. What better for a young child than a doll. Not just any doll but this Ashanti Akua’maa. It’s purpose is to help teach young girls how care for a newborn and to ensure healthy children when the time comes. So I thought, what if the doll could be posed? What if it could move on it’s own? Ohh, I’ve got ideas, so many ideas.

Making African 3D art

I downloaded this 3d object online from a company called TurboSquid. Then brought the model into Blender to texture and rig. Rigging is where you actually add bones, allowing movement and animation. I’m no expert at Blender. It’s not my main program, but its power and open source status is a winning combination. The more I explore the better I get. I hope to one day make Blender my main 3D program. For now I use it to create props, clothing and other 3D assets to be imported into Poser.

The resulting assets are a part of what your see in my artwork for Kinara’s Children and others. My other forays into modeling and texturing include my Afro Care Kit and these African masks. I won’t go into details because the process can be complex. Maybe I’ll elaborate in future posts if readers request it. Just know that the resulting creations allow me to have control over my own unique vision, a vision that is not always catered to in in most 3d content marketplaces.

So what to you think?

This is a part of how I create African 3d art. If you find this kind of behind the scenes info interesting to you drop me a message in the comment section. If you just want to see finished Kinara’s Children images, chime in. If you think I should stop experimenting (ie, having fun) and finish the doggon book I’ve been promising… uhm… I’m listening. Really, I am.