Bobby the Bald-Faced Hornet
Cartoonish, Cereal-Box nature of the hornet
Cartoon hornet, shift to realistic toward the end. This is tactical for the final shoot. Most of the motions are done with drivers and curve modifiers, the eyes are 100% material and meant to mimic the twitches of a real eye, while following the camera.
Earlier work, before touch-ups
Bobby, rendered with maximum realism
Realistic version of the same hornet
In case anyone's wondering where I could be going with this personal project...
Cartoon and Realism versions of a Pittsburgh-area Bald Faced Hornet.
I have to say, I know I'm usually alone in this, but hornets I get. They're assertive builders. You mess with what's precious to them, with their nest, family, or well-being, and they will kick the crap out of you even if it costs them their lives. (I've been told that it's my spirit animal, which makes a lot of sense.) They came to mind when I watched a random 1990s cartoon ad for a children's cereal... this is a personal project, but it's one I think I'm going to have to finish one of these days.
Personally I'm primarily a programmer and writer, and a lot of my time has been eaten up by getting Worley (slightly expanded for flexibility) and Voronoi noise to work together on terrain generation in a novel way, and writing a book about that... but then, now and again, a guy has to take a break and do something fun and stupid!