Killer Whale Complete

Here is the complete final model of my Killer Whale.

First, i found a reference picture online and put in on a plane. I then created another plane and placed it infront of the refence. This plane was then shaped into the main body of the whale.

Next i extruded the plane to get it into the shape of a whale's body.

This is what it looks like when it is mirrored.

I then extruded the fins of the whale out. In order to do this I extruded it once, angled it a little then repeated it twice more.

I then extended the size of the fins a little.

I then did the same with the dorsal fin. I extended the plane and then extruded it.

Here i started to work on the tail fin thing. I extruded a small section of the end of the body.

In order to get the tail shape, i had to use the same method as the 2 fins and extrude it several times while angling it inbetween each extrusion. This took quite some time as highlighting the correct vertices and moving them into the correct position proved to be quite a challenge.

However i got there in the end!

The reference plane was the deleted. I then solidified the mirrored section so it became one full object.

A few adjustments were made to make it more Killer whale-like. For example, extending the size of the dorsal fin and tail.

Next, i had to add the texture. To do this I unwrapped the model by using UVW mapping. This seperated the whale model into several sections. I had to find out which bits connected to what and weld them together.

Then came the annoying task of having to draw the white bits of the whale myself onto the mapped model. As you may imagine, this took some time...

However, the work paid off! I then finally added a material effect to make it look more glossy and get a wet effect.

I am very pleased with the model. Hopefully if i finish my next model fast enough, i will be able to add a background to this one. :D