As mentioned in my last column, I’m on a mission to 3D design some characters from WebComicName, one of my favorite spots on the internet. For the first go-around, I made a fun little necklace with the Custom Pendant Creator because it’s a tool I’ve grown pretty comfortable with. The learning curve isn’t steep, and because it generates a 3D design from a 2D image, it’s — dare I say — nearly effortless?

Wanting to sculpt a figurine of my little pink blobby WebComicName friend meant I was going to have to rely on my own (very limited) skills. Fortunately, our community manager Andrew had authored a DIY tutorial on 3D modeling your own D&D miniature, which I used to walk me through the basic design process. The guide was incredibly useful in teaching me how to select, rotate, and connect shapes to form a bigger, more complex shape.

One thing I had to learn about 3D modeling is the incredible patience one needs for the whole process. While I’d used Sculptris to create BearPig earlier this year, I was using it this time to fine-tune my Blender model. I kept getting frustrated when trying to make the design smoother and smoother because it got a bit tedious rounding out all the flat planes. As always, my colleagues were extremely helpful in suggesting little tweaks and adjustments to my design. Andrew even suggested I give my little blob friend a fun little butt. Challenge accepted:

I continue realizing that in 3D design, some things that seem easy are actually much, much more difficult to pull off than I’d have thought. Most recently, I’ve struggled with attaching color to my little pink blob guy. After watching a YouTube tutorial on setting color to an object, I managed to turn him a lovely little pink. But, the real challenge has proved to be drawing on the face. I researched how to unwrap colors on a cube, but identifying surface facets are significantly more difficult on something without edges.

I’d thought I was successful in drawing the face on using the “grease pencil” but when I moved the model, the face kept flying off! After using this roadblock as the excuse to delay this post for long enough (thankyouverymuch), I’m asking you guys for your advice! How the heck do I go about (permanently) adding a face onto this cute lil’ dude?