Blender Character Modeling and Gravity

Question

Working through some modeling courses for Blender and had a couple of questions. Still fairly new and not sure on terminology (hence my trouble googling this) so forgive me if these are already asked and answered...

1: In character modeling, I see some models with their arms straight out from the body at a 90 degree angle while others have the arms angled what seems closer to around 35-45 degrees. I was wondering what the difference was in respect to modeling and rigging and such?

2: When I'm drawing the model sheets for characters, I was curious about whether or not I should "draw" gravity's effects on them. Specifically the arms again. If the model's arms are spread away from the body, I'm used to having the sleeves drape according to gravity but it seems this isn't going to translate to the model once I get rigging and the sleeves will look off. I'm thinking that I should either draw the sleeves as if gravity isn't a factor, or draw them as if the arms will be at the character's sides?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Modeling a character with its arms by its side can cause issues at two stages. While modeling or sculpting having two disconnected parts together can make selecting and moving each part separately harder. Then while rigging the character, it can make it harder to specify which parts follow each bone.

Whether you model a character with arms straight out or half way down is mostly a matter of taste, each helps the modeling/rigging process. Some people suggest the more relaxed pose is better as the mesh is closer to the normal position so there is less stretching around the shoulder.

As for drawing a modeling sheet, draw them in the position to be modeled. It's not uncommon to have the side view of a character with the arms moved to the side to keep the drawing clearer to read. You may be interested in this CGCookie tutorial on drawing a modeling sheet