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I am trying to model the "root feet" in the picture below.

enter image description here

I have used a bezier curve for the body -

enter image description here

But since bezier curves cannot branch, how should I continue the "feet"? I've tried blocking them out with multiple curves, but then I don't know how to combine them while maintaining good topology. Any help, advice, or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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    $\begingroup$ If there's something to be learned from the sapling tree and ivy generator addons, both of which use curves to generate objects that branch a lot, is that the way to go is with separate curves. If you don't want to convert this to a mesh, it shouldn't matter much. If you do, maybe curves aren't the best way to model this object (or you can just use mesh modeling techniques to combine the rootlets). $\endgroup$
    – TLousky
    Oct 21, 2015 at 6:41
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    $\begingroup$ If you want to go with easily edited base structure and still have good topology on the model, maybe just a skeleton of edges, skin modifier and subsurf on top would be the way to go. $\endgroup$
    – hjaarnio
    Oct 21, 2015 at 6:47

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If you want it to branch you need to use a mesh, not curves.

If you want your mesh to have an all-quad topology, here is the simplest way:

Forking roots simple topology.

You can then further subdivide the edge rings to add detail and round off the roots more:

Subdividing Edge Loops, then scaling down on Z

And with some additional fine-tuning of vertices and edge loops you can get something like this:

After some fine-tuning

If you really want to use Bezier curves I recommend using the Sapling Add-on, which is packaged with Blender and just needs to be enabled from Preferences. It's ideal for making trees and other branching foliage. Although for a character such as the one you posted, I would model it as a mesh.

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    $\begingroup$ Wow, this is some good topology info! You made me rethink the whole process and realize hand modelling the roots isn't as intimidating as I thought. I'll have to give it a go without using curves. Thank you! $\endgroup$
    – keeweee
    Oct 22, 2015 at 19:01
  • $\begingroup$ @keeweee Great! Glad I could help. :-) Yeah, having it as a mesh is much better in this case, especially if you plan to rig and texture it. $\endgroup$
    – Mentalist
    Oct 23, 2015 at 3:59

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