more images

rotating view

Sorry for the crappy camera work. it was late night and i just wanted to get it rendered.

All done

Haven't done much else these couple of days but i have finally completed nelson.

now before you ask, i know that nelson has his right arm missing but i have left it in purely for presentational purposes and also it will make selection and texturing easier.

One more thing that i have purposely left out is the hair I'm not sure what would be the best way of adding it. i can either make it like the way some of you added it to your heads or i can mould it on as part of the head like in the cartoon Monster House.

I think i need some sleep.

seriously stressful weekend

this has been a crazy weekend iv done nothing but sit in my room like some crazy geek and developed nelson.

at least I'm nearly there not much now only have the legs and shoes to create.

in this image you can see that i have completed the jacket and refined the cuffs also i have added his shoulder things and buttons as well as giving him his medals.

very very difficult, my eyes are burning!

nelson development increment 3

extrude and shape the jacket further

nelson development increment 2

defining the jacket by bringing one part over the other

nelson development

refining the body shape and extending out the arm

images galore

here are some images of nelson showing his development as i slave all weekend

I think I want to cry

Wow I think everyone has underestimated the level of work that needs to go into nelson. I’ve been working on him for about ten hours and I’m not even half way.

Every image on the net of Nelson looks different and is low resolution and also they only contain the top half of his body and the ones that do have him in full view are ones where he is not wearing his battle attire this is beginning to become very frustrating.

Everything involved is either organic or fabric which means every crease or fold has taken ages to create. That stupid hat for instance, though might look simple to the eye, took ridiculously long to mould. Unfortunately this is not one of those items like canons which can be created in minutes using blocks or cylinders and then disguised with a texture map. It will be time consuming and will be difficult to create and I ask you guys out their, when you look at the images please don’t just glance at it and say its good or bad, STOP and think about how you would create each individual piece and how long it would take YOU to do and if you figure out quick fix tricks let me no.

O ye before you ask, it should be finished by the deadline I just wanted to let you no that this is no easy task and well basically just wanted to have a little moan

Wow I feel better already.

Stay tuned for future miseries and more images involving the development of Nelson.

last of the face

right this is the very last thing to do with the face and from now on its all about nelson.

look for future posting for the latest in the build up to Horatio Nelson.

things that went wrong

iv noticed that even though behind the scenes things have been hard and frustrating on the blog it looks as though everything went fine and dandy however unfortunately even the simplest thing can become annoyingly difficult.

Here are just a few of those things.

uv mapping

Use the unwrapped mesh as a guide in Photoshop stretch and edit your face till it conforms to the mesh guides. The result should look like the image in an earlier post under UV mapping

uv mapping

On the drop down modifier select UVW unwrap and select edit in the panel.
In the panel will pop up your unwrapped mesh. The mesh should look like the image in an earlier post under UV mapping

uv mapping

Add the modifier UVW mapping, select cylinder and on alignment press Fit.

unwrapped maps

I’m not sure if this is the official way of mapping but it worked for me and for others that I’ve shown it to and so thought id show everyone this time round.


Start by opening your head and make sure that it has been mesh smoothed with at least two iterations.

storyboard 5

25) Still in first person view nelson vision impairs and his hand becomes blurry. Small black borders close down indicating nelsons eyes closing. The audio deepens and sounds more drowned out.

26) The camera view continues to be in first person and it falls down to its side representing his head falling onto the deck.

27) His vision blurs and his eyes start to close even more.

28) The screen blacks out but the audio still can be heard in a drowned out tone. Writing fades in and out on screen and says how the battle was bravely fought and how nelsons unorthodox battle strategy helped win the war. Then finally still with continuous soft music the end credits scroll up.

Note: that this is just some of the main bits and the in between has to be filled in also this does not necessarily mean that this is the final story if any one has a more dynamic way of showing some scenes or better ideas leave your comments if enough people agree more revised story boards will be drawn up.


I hope that this helps clear up the story plot and also helps everyone to visualise the different scenes and camera angles.

storyboard 4

19) An even closer view of nelson. Into his eyes.

20) Chain linked canon ball rips apart masts.

21) Shot of French ship exploding.

22) The sharp shooter spots nelson and takes the shot. Nelson jerks back as his body takes the full impact of the shot.

23) He falls to his knees and holds is hand over is bullet wound.

24) The camera goes into first person view and nelson takes his hand off his wound and looks at the blood dripping from his hand.

storyboard 3

13) The canon ball fires through rupturing the side of the French ship and destroying their canons. The view is from the front of the canon ball which means that it will not be necessary to show what its breaking apart but instead the flying shrapnel.

14) Shot of more carnage. Man gets hit by cannonball and smashes through ship.

15) The first shot of nelson on deck. Points orders at his men.

16) Man gets thrown overboard.

17) Closer shot of nelson revealing his expression and emotions.

18) A shot of man firing canon a demonstration of the power of canons and the recoil.

storyboard 2

7) French crew boy brings over heavy bag of gunpowder to the canons

8) The French ships begin the barrage of canon balls as the English ships get closer.

9) Shot from left side of French ship. View of British ship getting closer.

10) View from French ship as British ship sails closer.

11) The British ships start firing back and French man is shot of some rigging.

12) View from British canon hole. Shows the side view of French ships and their canons firing past. The British canon is aimed and fires.

storyboard 1

hi guys iv finished the story boards i apologise in advance for the crude drawings but hopefully it will still make sense and give everyone a good understanding of the story plot. Also i have annotated every storyboard, describing whats happening in every scene.

1) Voice over as Horatio Nelson draws down the battle strategy.

2) Nelsons hand moves away from the paper and the camera zooms into the paper and fades out as the real battle alignment.

3) A shot from the HMS victory side camera right up against water with view of French ships in the distance.

4) French crewman spots the British fleet in the distance.

5) The crewman cry’s down to notify the rest of the crew.

6) The French ships canon shutters swings open and canons pop out. Camera sweeps past as shutters uniformly open and canons are prepared.