 | | | | 20 November 2006, by Paul Hellard
Andy Hickinbottom is like the rest of us. He is creative, with a knack for ‘cartoon’ characters and drawing generally. Logo design became a first love in his teens and he steered his education towards the dream of working it into a career. A hard won graphic design degree at university took up his tertiary years. After graduating though, 3D loomed ahead and Andy was transfixed.
“I realised the potential for this new media through things like ‘Toy Story’, ‘Reboot’ and ‘Babylon 5’,” explains Andy Hickinbottom from his home in Birmingham. “I foresaw a more interesting and exciting career making 3D animation rather than plain ol' brochure and logo design. I’d been doing 3D, self-taught as a hobby since 1993 and didn’t want to let this goal slide.” | | | | |  | | | | |  | | | Andy Hickinbottom’s sense of fun in his models is clear. The expression studies are sharp, crisp and full of life. “I enjoy all of my projects, otherwise I wouldn’t want to do them in my spare time!” says Andy.
“I was really surprised at the reaction I received with ‘Bunny Girl’ and ‘Office Girl’ - I had no idea they would prove to be so popular. My main reason for creating them was to manifest some inspiration I had after seeing ‘The Incredibles!’” Andy is planning to create a short film involving ‘Bunny Girl’, ‘Office Girl’ and ‘Office Nerd’. “Its all storyboarded, set up and modeled. Now, I just need to find time to brush up my animation skills and animate it,” he adds. | | | |
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|  | |  | |  | | Andy says there’s no point of making an excellent model when it’s badly posed and lit, and just shown from a single view. This is clearly why a lot of Andy’s characters are seen as a series, an array of different poses, expressions. “A variety of carefully planned poses are the standard on my model renders so I can convey the character's movement and mood,” he says. “Most of the time I never animate my characters, so this is the next best thing to showing them off effectively. It’s also very important not to rush it. Sometimes I spend days just subtly tweaking the curves or proportions on a character's head or body. Its all worth it in the end if it looks like the way you imagined it to.” Autodesk 3ds Max is Andy‘s weapon of choice. He has a high regard for it’s modeling tools and he says the whole integrated toolset is easy to use. | |  | |  |
|  | | Artwork, anime art and figurines, games, places and films. Andy is inspired by lots of things. “When I see something inspirational I start to get ideas about characters,” he says. “The ideas develop subconsciously and then I suddenly become curious as to how the idea would look like in 3D - and when I think its going to be worthwhile, I start modeling. I find it quicker and easier to rough out shapes and ideas in 3D as I go along. On a few occasions such as 'Tokyo Girl' and 'Raena' I tried to sketch up costume designs and details over screen captures of the base body before I begin modeling to ensure I head in the right direction. Usually I just design it as I go along, using a mishmash of inspirational references as a loose starting point." | |  | |  | | The latest pink girl, is straight off the streets of Shinjuku in Tokyo, inspired by the teens of Harajuku. Andy loves Japanese culture and society. “I admire their respect, politeness, efficiency and enthusiasm,” he explains. “Japanese graphics and visual art have very exciting and contrasting styles that are unique to the country. I like the balance of the old and the new. You can see old gardens and temples one minute, and then a neon-filled, cutting edge wonderland the next. I would love to work in Tokyo for a games company like Capcom or Konami.” After a few attempts to be published, Andy's 'Tokyo Girl' is featured in Ballistic's EXOTIQUE 2. | |  | |  | |  | | “Sometimes I get two or three ideas in my head bursting to get made into 3D,” says Andy. “Its very frustrating when you have no ideas, then several come along at once and you have no time in which to realise them! You just have to pick the most promising one and go with that.” Andy always has a lot of plans. At the moment he wants to finish his short film, learn ZBrush and normal mapping, improve anatomical modeling skills, learn advanced shaders and lighting, learn advanced rigging skills, take up drawing: All that good stuff. | |  | | | | | |
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