Decided to give it another twist, and started to work on a "Baby" hippo, and  here is the result so far:

BlenderGuru is hosting a Christmas image competition,and since i was working with hippopotamuses i thought to use them.

 Go here to find out more : Blender competition

Comments/suggestions are welcome as always.

Small adjustment... made some ridges in front of the face to insert whiskers.
First attempt at direct mesh painting.
Removed clothing items, and added modified back feet.
Made small adjustments to the glasses frame in order to allow anchoring on the back of the ears.

Added a couple of shirt cuffs and reworked the legs and feet, also added glasses , everything needs major adjustment thou :

What is would be your grade about "character nicety"  1 to 10 ?

I was not pleased with the overall look of the hippo (and the stork also, and... and...) , so i started  to sculpt a different head for my hippo.I´m aiming for a more realistic character and also it to be an "elderly" hippo.
 The body will also be "upgraded" for the more realistic look, skin sagging on the front legsand all over the body , as it is characteristic in this animal.
 So this is what i come up with , about 2 hours sculpting (head only in Blender):

I´ve also made a paintover , to start working on ideas for the environment , will start with a "forest of the fear", ence the haunting trees:

The hippo model was an early one just to get some basic proportions...

Comments/Critics are most welcome, as  i´m looking for ways to improve the main character´s appereance.

Changed the "Staff of Balloons" for a more bamboo look ,or at least i´m trying to make it look like so :o)

A small update :

- Major changes to the stork, feet, wings ,beak
- Added the "Staff of balloons"
- Changed the saddle to a saddle-branch.
- Updated the hippo teeth, mouth and tongue.

Been thinking about soap media , so doodled a simple soap bar, i think i´ll arrange several hanging on the side soap-on-a-rope/bunch-of-balloons style.

In the meantime a preview of the model:

Stork basic model done, but there is room for a lot more improvement.Here are the pics:

Made a quick sketch of a stork , maybe it´s nicer than the chicken :) ? 

I´ll try to model it next with lowpoly  geometry :

Been updating several thingys : 

• divided the saddle  into 3 layers , added 2 strapping belts with metal holders for the wooden soap container, and a lower belly strap
• Small teak on the front toenails, also added  a small tail.
• Added some more detail to the ears, made them lean a bit further
• Thinking of adding on the opposite side of the hippo some cans of detergent for refill :P
• Not sure what kind of bird to use as shooter, instead of the chicken maybe a stork ?

Been studying the soap recipient and decided to go for a wooden look (even if I had second thoughts to go for a metal one as  written in the sketch). The problem meanwhile is how to strap it to the hippo, so after some browsing for horses saddles images and sketching i came up with this:

Next the saddle will have to gain more shape, need to add leather strips , seat , buckles and so forth , before i can start texturing. (the chicken is only to give it a sense of  wrong scale.

First sketches

Decisions not fully taken :

- Begin drawing base shape and also deciding locomotion methods ( Flying is one possibility ).
- Character is able to shoot soap bubbles. Why ? i don´t have a clue, but sounded nice though. How to shoot ; equipment to shoot with ; type of containers for the watery soap and how they are strapped .

Also decided that the hippopotamus will have a feathered colleague responsible to shoot.A chicken maybe?

Hippopotamus project started!

Today i finally set foot on starting this blog, one  that will cover my efforts to pursue better knowledge of  3d tools and techniques.
Because i needed a goal to keep me focused on this main objective , i chose  to use an hippopotamus as the main character. I will use it as a means to enhance 3d model skills, texturing etc.

The final goal would be to use it for a small game.

Main tools are Blender , Guimp and maybe Inkscape - basically will use anything that is opensource - both because economical reasons, and to try to add merit to these already wonderful software packages.

And so the adventure begins...