Atlantic Pickleball Club – Gully
When AI just couldn’t cut it, we stepped in to really make this 3D character fly!
We’re always excited to create 3D characters, so when we were approached by some friends of ours at Foxmeadow Creative to make one for the Atlantic Pickleball Club, we were all in! After having some trouble getting just the right look for the character, they came to us to see if we could add a little more life into their little guy.
And who was this little guy? Gully the seagull! No hands, all feathers? Yeah, we could see why this might be a little challenging, especially when he needs to be playing pickleball! They shared some AI renders of the character that provided some general ideas as to the look they were going for, but Gully still didn’t feel like he was ready to jump out of the screen and into a game.
We started with a conversation about Gully himself. Who he is, what his dreams are… The hard hitting stuff we all think about when looking at seagulls. We learned that he is lively and determined… And of course, always down for a game of pickleball. So we needed to make sure this character felt like he was in motion at all times with a competitive, yet fun-loving vibe.
That’s when we started sketching. And boy, did we sketch. We created a range of character designs, from the most exaggerated proportions to a more simplified form. This helped us narrow down some of the main physical characteristics he should have.
We then created another design that included just the favorite parts from that range. This led to a full turnaround sheet for the 3D modeler and a whole array of action poses for Gully.
When we actually got into the 3D model, we had to think about what these final poses would look like beyond the sketches, so rigging was very important – especially if we wanted to add motion to him later!
This project was so much fun, from beginning to end. And anytime we get the chance to make something cooler than AI, we’re pretty happy. 😉
We’re so excited for Gully to be out on the courts, inspiring Pickleball players to pick up their rackets and just have fun!
