3D Modelling

There are two major 3D modelling techniques that are typically used, 'Box Modelling' and 'Extrusion Modelling'.
Box modelling is when you start with a box and then start to change the surface of the box and start to mould it too what you want. Box modelling is more used for single, rounder models such as helmets. this method is good for keeping track of the number of polygons and concentrating on one sole piece.

Extrusion modelling is when you start with a box but then extrude the faces of the box to make something that way. Extrusion modelling is used for models that have multiple extremities so that you can extrude out parts and edit them.

Autodesk Maya is 3D computer graphics software that lets you create 3D assets to use in things like video games, movies and TV. Cinema 4D is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application. Blender is a free and open-source 3D graphics program.
All of these programs are almost the same just with different focuses and tools, Maya is more focused on making models and texturing them, which goes nicely with another program like the Unreal Development Kit (UDK). However that isn't to say that the other programs are useless, Blender is very good at rigging up a 3D model for posing and expretions and Cinema 4D has lots of tools to help with lighting and staging for animations.

Photoshop Final

Other Artist Insperation

Dan Paladin originally stared as an animator on Newgrounds, creating flash games such as Sack Smash 2001, Chainsaw the Children, Dad n' Me and most notably Alien Hominid, later forming the Behemoth with Tom Fulp (the creator of Newgrounds). The Behemoth are responsible for making Castle Crashers and BattleBlock Theatre, two very imaginative and unique games.

The mood of Dan Paladins art is usually very comic and chaotic, using bold lines and vibrant block colours as not too be realistic but more fun and expressive. Being digital artwork it is hard to say which program was used to create Dan Paladins artwork but all of it still has the same bold feel.

This artwork is done by a Japanese artist going by the name Hanokage, the manga artist responsible for doing the illustration for the 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' manga book series. The subject matter in most of this artists artwork seems to be more parody or 'fan art' than original subjects or characters.

The mood of this piece is very light and cheerful with the colours being mostly light or pale with not many dark colours there at all. The colours of everything actually move from yellow, in the bottom left, to red, to blue, on the right, this gives the picture a nice easy flow and doesn't make anything look too contrasting or out of place, it also makes the use of space seem more open because of everything fitting together, when in reality its quite cramped and chaotic. The lines used vary from being quite thick to being very thin giving some areas a much bolder look to make things like expressions and actions stand out more.

This artwork is done by Dan Mumford for the album 'Abandon Ship' by Gallows.

 This is a very cluttered and chaotic piece of art with lots of thick lines breaking up the singular colours of everything. The subject its self is quite grotesque and vicious but the bright colours and thick lines give it a slightly cartoon like feel and overall sharpness and punctuallity. This artwork was origionaly scetched and outlined with pen before being coloured and edited on Photoshop.

EYECAM 3D Model development screenshots

Comparing 3D Animation

The term ‘rendering’ in 3D modelling is given to the process in which a 3D model or environment is displayed in 2D space. Video games have to render in real-time, so they are constantly processing what’s there and displaying it afterwards. This is why 3D modelling for TV and movies can be of better quality as it doesn’t need to be rendering every frame in as short a time as possible. When a 3D animation is pre-rendered it means that they have rendered the image ahead of time so that they don’t have to do it ‘on the fly’ as they have to in games. This gives pre-rendered frames an advantage in quality because they don’t have to waste processing power on continuously rendering. 
Real-time rendering has to react immediately to the players input and is vital in games design so the player can feel the immediate result of their actions.

In the film industry they will use pre-rendered images to make some movies. Because of movies moving forward on a predetermined path, they don’t have to render what is happening when the movie is playing, as it will not change from displaying the same thing each play through of the movie.
Like a lot of video games, movies have quite large budgets for the production of big titles as well as long or far away deadlines, which should, in theory,allow them to be of a higher quality.

In Advertising a lot of the time they will use 3D animation for adverts on TV or pictures for magazines, billboards etc. Adverts use pre-rendered 3D animation to make whatever they are advertising more appealing to their target audience. Advert animations can differ considerably in quality according to how much money the company has put into the budget for the animators, meaning that they may come out with quite a complex, high quality animation or something that just gets the point across. These animations will usually have quite a short production period because of how short they are, but also because they need to stay topical and up to date with whatever they are advertising.