The sassiest pigeon you ever did meet. They’re strutting their stuff and judging you without missing a beat. All assets made from scratch, this pigeon certainly knows how to make an impression.

Don't let the strut fool you, this pigeon will become your best friend for a measly crumb. With all assets crafted from scratch, Glubbo the pigeon was a fun exercise in designing, rigging and animating something that oozes character.

Drawing up a concept

To begin, I explored with ideas of what Glubbo should look like. I knew I wanted to follow a cartoony style and use a palette that wasn't based on actual pigeons. I explored a variety of body shapes and sizes until I settled with the design seen below.

Drawing up a concept

Model and Rig it

There was a lot of fun in modelling and solving the problem of how Glubbo should open and close their wings. I settled on having two models that could be switched between. This would give more freedom in posing and make it easier when rigging as I wouldn't have to worry about geometry clipping.

In addition to that, I also made it so that the head moved freely from the rest of the body, allowing me to animate the head separately and have more control over the head-bobbing that pigeons do.

Model and Rig it

Strut your stuff

This is where I had the most fun, crafting each step to have character and conveying the attitude I wanted. I spent time referencing actual pigeon walks and using it to inspire the movement, as well as pushing the poses and movement to create something entertaining.

Once, happy with the walk cycle, I felt that it needed a little something more to add interest. Since Glubbo is strutting their stuff it made sense to have them stop and look you up and down, much like the original pigeons that inspired this whole idea.

Strut your stuff

Take center stage

Satisfied with the whole animation and creating a seamless loop, all that was left was to render it.

Since this was an exercise in character animation and design, I felt a simple environment would help showcase my work better. Since the colour palette of Glubbo was colour and featured greys and blues, I felt that a warm peach background would contrast and allow for everything to pop more!

Take center stage

Strut your stuff with a new creation.

We can't all have the swagger of Glubbo through life but we can have amazing animations that tell our story. From characters to products I can help create something filled with charisma.Get in touch and get that rockstar feeling Glubbo the pigeon has.