Hanna George

Centaur

This was a project for a class on designing and sculpting characters for animation.

The pitch we decided to pursue was a centaur inspired by the crisp militaristic look of some women’s fashion around the 1890’s. I consulted lots of reference images to help condense and strengthen the idea into a compelling design that made practical sense.

I aimed to combine the function of horse footwear with the aesthetic of Victorian-era boots
Notable changes from the initial pitch are the introduction of a partially shaved hairstyle reminiscent of a mane, and the removal of the skirt-like blanket in favor of a practical set of straps more closely resembling horse tack.

I sculpted the centaur in ZBrush, retopologized her in TopoGun, created a mouth bag in Blender, and created a UV map in Headus.

The clothing was drafted in Marvelous Designer. To aid in achieving the desired shapes, I consulted real historical patterns, like those in the 1895 Keystone Jacket and Dress Cutter by Charles Hecklinger.

I created custom curve brushes to make the hair and straps. From there, it was simply a matter of adding more detail.