How often do you need to model a working threaded screw? "Not very often"- you might say. And while I agree with you, I'd like to show you how to model one anyway because I think there are some really important modeling concepts to be learned here.
This tutorial assumes you know at least basic modeling techniques in Maya.

Create a polygon helix using the default settings. To make sure it is on default, open the Create Helix option box, then select Edit>Reset Settings. This will create a helix with a lot of polygons.



Too much, right? Yeah, most of the time this is way too many tris. Reduce the number of Subdivisions Coil to any number of your choosing, but I would recommend a number that creates a perfect '+' sign when looking down on the object (such as 16).



You might notice the coils are crashing into eachother. That's ok. You'll end up with something like this:


Now we need it to be 'screw-like'. Right now is it like a spring, but we're looking for something that is threaded. First go to the Inputs section of the helix's Attribute Editor. Change the Height to 1.7. Now the coils have lined up almost perfectly and we can start to see the makings of a threaded screw.


There's a bunch of geometry we don't need in the middle that we're going to get rid of. The easiest way is to go to the top view and use Lasso Select tool to select the faces we don't want which is all of the face except the outer ring like this:


Delete! Now all we need to do is merge the points were each thread meets the one below it. Select all the vertices. The select Edit Mesh> Merge option box. Set the threshold to .009; that should merge all the points you want and ignore the ones you don't.

Now you're done! Well, not really. To make it a real screw, you have to scale it down vertically and also duplicate and merge it a few times.


I quickly finished this one off like this:

And I made one like this last year:


I hope you found this tutorial helpful, thank-you for reading.

I had the idea for this concept last year and I made an image using vectors that I thought was pretty good (at the time). Looking back on it, well, it wasn't that good. I still loved the concept, but I knew the execution needed a lot of work. I really enjoyed making my Monster painting, so I decided to re-do the piece using some of the same techniques.





Hope you like it!

So I've got a new digital painting today:





This is a completely different style from what I normally do. In this piece, I was looking for a storybook look- bright colours, bold sharp shapes and small simple details. I went for this look because of the 'story' that was being told in the piece.

This idea came to me, as many of my ideas do, in my sleep. I awoke with an image of a child inadvertently waking a monster by mistakenly pulling on its tail. I didn't know what the monster or the child would look like. After a few sketches, I came up with this concept. I chose a little boy instead of a girl to add a little more interest (a girl picking a flower is more obvious).
I made this in Photoshop, but I used the pen tool for all of the shapes. The gradient shading was done with a soft round brush and selections from the pen shapes.

If you're a child of the 80's like me, you are very familiar with Little Golden Books. While I was creating this piece, I kept thinking about these books and I was trying to bring in some of these elements, but with a modern 'me' twist. One element I desperately wanted to incorporate was the gold and black pattern binding on every Little Golden Book. So I chose a gold colour and then used the colour picking site kuler to choose the rest of the colours. To echo the black pattern in the gold binding, I added a subtle pattern to the sky and grass.


I think I'll call it "A Nap and a Snack." ;-P

"Drew" is a bit of a departure from the other kids. He's not a geek or nerd, but still he is an outcast. Drew hangs with the nerdy kids because they're the only ones who don't judge him. If these kids were in a real cartoon, I envision Drew popping in with a depressing quip here and there. Drew is your typical emo kid- brooding, moody, quiet and creative. He comes from a good family, and really has no reason to be as unhappy as he his. Don't worry, Drew will grow out of it...



Drew's design again demostrates how posture conveys emotion and the general tone of the character. When I am designing a character, I first think about his/her confidence level. This helps me determine posture. I then think of other traits the character possesses and refine the posture a little more. I draw out some basic shapes (triangles, circles and rectangles only) and then form them to a 'posture line'. These steps produce a 'pose' that very much conveys the characters feelings. The image below shows this process:




Again, I did a bunch of research on what 'emo' kids where, so Drew is wearing skinny jeans, boots, a wristband and a 'zero' t-shirt. He has a classic 'emo' haircut.


Here are the kids together. What character is coming next?..

I have been having so much fun creating these characters- designing them and developing background stories and characteristics. I keep having ideas for more and more characters, and thus, Wesley came to be:


Wesley is a super computer-geek. He's a computer genius. However, Wesley lacks confidence and he is introverted, choosing to shy away from conflict rather than confront it. He's incredibly awkward as he hasn't grown into his height yet.

For Wesley's design, I really focused on posture and pose. Wesley's design features very few circles, as he is a very slim boy; triangles and thin rectangles are featured more heavily in his design. His eyes and head are tilted downward and I think this conveys his low confidence and shyness. I gave Wesley a polo rather than a t-shirt and dress shoes rather than sneakers, as I think Wesley would try to 'dress up' a little more than his peers. Buck teeth, glasses and a classic haircut complete the design.

The image below demonstrates my process with Welsey. First I started with basics shapes and then 'bent' them to follow the posture line (yellow) that I drew in. I worked with some differnet facial features and I have a shown a few below.


I think it's important to make sure you do not become 'married' to work; that is, you have to be willing to make changes. I felt some of Aaron's features weren't working, namely his face and shoes. I made a few changes to Aaron's design:




I expect a few more characters will come to mind. In the meantime I hope you enjoy these three.




Thanks for reading!

So I decided Stacey needed a play-mate. Introducing Aaron:



Aaron is a geek. His 'likes' include: D&D, computers, video games and junk food. He's a little bit of an airhead; he does well in school but is lacking street sense. Aaron has lots of loyal friends and he's an all-round happy guy.

Again, I used basic shapes in this piece, but featured the circle as well as the triangle. With Aaron being overweight, the circle is the perfect shape to start with. Here are some of my initial sketches:


The initial sketch features only circles and triangles and you can see how these shapes become the final product.

Aarons facial features were difficult. In the initial sketches I did (see above), he was appearing more monster-ish and he looked a little like an ogre (especially when coupled with his posture). I turned to the 'net to find a face I liked. I used this a a reference for Aaron's face:



I used the same execution as in the 'Stacey' piece- tapered lines, straight against curve and shading.


If Stacey and Aaron were to ever be animated, I envision the backgrounds to be simple pastel colours and outlines that aren't quite straight, similar to the cartoon Clone High. Incidentally, Clone High is an amazing cartoon, especially design-wise. Check it out.

Stacey and Aaron together:





Hope you like them, I had tonnes of fun making 'em!

I had a dream, well, it wasn't so much of a dream as a vision. I woke up with a vision of a character and I decided to design it!

Her name is Stacey and she is a geek. She's 12-13, and really into computers, science and math. Here she is:




For this design, I spent a lot of time thinking about the qualities a girl like her would possess. She would be skinny, and certainly not curvy and shapely. And she wouldn't be 'in shape', or have any visible muscles. Her pose would need to reflect her awkwardness and well as poor posture (from sitting in front of the computer). I imagine she has an inherent confidence; she is smart and she knows it. She's popular with her other geeky friends and has fun with them, and enjoys her geeky endeavours.

As for the design, I wanted to utilize basic shapes such as the triangle, which I featured heavily. To add even more interest to the design, I used a lot of stick straight lines against rounded curves for a contrasting look. Here are some of the working sketches and designs that show my process.





As for the execution, I used tapered lines on the entire design for more visual appeal and it also alludes to the triangle shapes featured in the piece. The shading features the same 'straight against curve' idea, and adds to the depth and liveliness of the piece.

Hope you like her, and thanks for reading!