Thats
right, I said a cylinder. Why a cylinder? Well because the human or horse
or dragon or alien or insect or (insert anything organic here) form is cylindrical!
Why in the world would you create extra work for yourself by having to tweak every
face that you extrude from a model into a round shape, when you could have started
with a round shape in the first place.
There are two cylinders you can
use, the 6 sided and the 8 sided. 8 works best, but if you are going for really
low poly, 6 will work. The reason 8 works so well is that the human body is divided
into regions, much like the earth. There is a left and right side, and a front
and back. the 8 sided cylinder will give you a line dividing the character down
the center (useful for mirroring over) and a line down either side. The remaining
4 lines give you the 3/4 lines that define the roundness of the shape.
Ok, now on to a real world example. In true cooking channel fashion, I have
a model already completed to the exact point I want to illustrate. How convenient!
Place your cylinders in front of your reference images (always use reference images).
Scale them to the basic length and size of what they are going to end up being.
In this instance, the light blue is an arm, the green the torso, and the yellow
is the leg. for now, dont mirror the torso yet.
This
applies to high poly modelling too: I cannot count the number of crappily
made models I have seen here at school and on the internet, where the wireframe
looks just like a checkerboard. The lines do not follow the contour of the muscles
and body at all. This results in poor deformations, as well
In
this step I grab each cross section (a cross section is the ring of vertices or
edges traveling perpendicular to the tube, and fibers are the lines and vertices
traveling parallel to the tube) and scale them to fit that part of the reference
image. Do this in both the side and front orthographic viewports. the arm
and torso are finished, but the leg is still only halfway done. Not only does
it need more definition, but it also has a case of "tube syndrome".
(tube syndrome is when the cross sections remain perpendicular and the fibers
remain parellel to the original cylinder.
If you notice in the arms
and the torso, the cross sections have been rotated to better fit the item they
are defining. In the shoulder they rotate to define the deltoid. In the torso
they rotate to define the chest. Doing this can add loads of definition to your
model, without having to add more poly's. On the leg, the cross sections
have been rotated to define the buttox from the side, but from the front, they
are still very much flat. they still need to be rotated to help define the leg.
as
slower rendering times, because you have to add more and more cross sections to
get the desired shape. This way will take longer, but it will yeild superior results
to an object with "tube syndrome". You will have to massage and carress
your model into having proper topology in it's surface, as well as its wireframe.
But people who take this extra time, are the ones who have great models, instead
of mediocre models.
Notice
how much better the leg looks, now that the cross sections are rotated to help
define the leg. It is subtle, but it makes a big difference. Once your cylinders
are in their rough proportions, and you are happy with them, Split the torso down
the middle and mirror it over, so that you only have to do everything once. I
combined the three cylinders so that I could join them.
In
this picture (left), I am showing how I define the stomachs on all my characters.
The cross section orginally traveled where the red line lies. The yellow line
shows where it has been pulled to. This allows you to define the lower edge of
the rib cage, and the obliques (V shaped muscles traveling towards the groin)
Here
I have further defined the abs and the obliques, as well as the lower edge of
the ribcage.
Now,
proceed to page two for more on the front and a go at the back of the model!
Start
with a Cylinder
Notice
how much better the leg looks, now that the cross sections are rotated to help
define the leg. It is subtle, but it makes a big difference. Once your cylinders
are in their rough proportions, and you are happy with them, Split the torso down
the middle and mirror it over, so that you only have to do everything once. I
combined the three cylinders so that I could join them. 
In
this picture (left), I am showing how I define the stomachs on all my characters.
The cross section orginally traveled where the red line lies. The yellow line
shows where it has been pulled to. This allows you to define the lower edge of
the rib cage, and the obliques (V shaped muscles traveling towards the groin)
Here
I have further defined the abs and the obliques, as well as the lower edge of
the ribcage.