How to model Bobo the Blenderbug in Blender 3D

We will be modeling Bobo the Blenderbug (pronounced: Bowbow). Bobo is a software bug, specifically a Blender software bug. Which of course is going to provide us with no end of fun when we progress to the animation stage. His natural environment is any computer capable of running Blender. Which of course means, he can be found just about anywhere.

Since I have let my sketching skills become rather rusty, I normally base my models off photos of action figures and other toys and then adjust as wanted to create whatever I had in mind. But for this tutorial, I wanted a really simple character for us to play with. So first off no laughing at my sketch! I promise Bobo will look much better when we are done with him.

Okay, I cheated, even I had to laugh at my sketch a little, okay a lot. So after I got my sketch into the computer, I retraced the lines and cleaned up the curves for a nicer look.

When you open Blender, go to View>Background Image. A dialog box will pop up. Click on "Use Background image" and then "Load".

Navigate to where you saved your copy of the reference image, leave all other settings at their defaults. Your image should now appear in the background.

I prefer modeling with a split screen layout, using one section for front view and one for side view. You are free to set up your work area in a whatever way feels most comfortable.

I like to start my models from the head and then work my way down. From experience, I have discovered that most anything can be made from a cube, so that is where we are going to start.

Press Spacebar>Add>Mesh>Cube
Move (G) the cube so that it is over Bobo's head.

(press the Z key to toggle between solid and wire frame)

Tab into Edit Mode all of the vertices should be selected (yellow), if not press A key to select all the vertices.

Press the "W" key to access the "Specials" menu and select Subdivide Smooth

Delete the vertices on the left side of the cube.

Select all the remaining vertices and scale the cube down to better fit the size of
Bobo's head.

Now we will move individual vertices to fit our cube to the shape of Bobo's head. Your positioning doesn't have to be exact, at this point we are going for the overall shape.

A little more detail is needed for his face. We are going to do that with a few Loop Cuts and then move the new vertices to fit the head.

You can see that our model is starting to fit our reference image fairly well.
At this point we are going to add a Mirror Modifier (this will automatically create the other side of Bobo's face).

To add a Mirror Modifier:

In the Edit buttons look for the Modifier panel.
Select Mirror, make sure "Do Clipping" is active. The "Do Clipping" button prevents vertices from crossing the center line while modeling.

You will now see two halves of Bobo's face.

While we are adding modifiers, lets go ahead and add a Subsurf Modifier too.

This will smooth our model out and make him look better. The default settings are fine for now. But there are two settings that I like to turn on. They provide a cleaner working object (as in I don't have to see so many lines) They are Optimal Draw, and the Apply Modifier to Editing Cage button (the little triangle button next to the Modifier Name buttons.)

Tab out of Edit Mode and go to the Links and Materials panel of (In the Edit Buttons window) and toggle on "Set Smooth".

You will notice that the Subsurf Modifier kind of shrank our model a little, that is annoying but normal. Just scale your model up a little it make it a little bigger and or adjust your vertices so that it fits our reference image again.

Time to start getting our eyes set up, or at least the sockets for the eyes.

Grab the row of vertices that run across the middle of his eyes and move them back in side view.

Then grab the row right underneath that and move it to the bottom of Bobo's eye in the reference image. (1)

For the next step you are going to have to turn off the "Do Clipping" button in the Mirror Modifier.
(you will be toggling this button on and off throughout the tutorial as needed.)

We are going to need few more loop cuts. (2)

Then select the top 2 faces (at the top of eye socket) and Extrude up. (3)

Okay in Face Mode, select the faces that correspond to his eye. (this might be easier in solid view vs. wireframe)

We are going to Extrude an eye socket

With faces selected, hit the "E" key, Enter, "S" key and then scale the faces a little smaller, then "G" key and move them back in side view

Repeat the previous steps a second time to create a deeper eye socket.

Tab out of Edit Mode and check your model. I can see I need to fix around the outside of the eye socket. Move and adjust vertices until the problem areas are fixed.

Now select the ring around the eye socket (loop select = in face mode, alt right mouse click) and Extrude forward, then scale slightly smaller to create a nice rounded look.

Adjust the vertices around the eye socket until you are happy with it.

It's time to add the mouth. If you look at the reference image, you will see that the mouth is just a basic slit, no lips or anything complicated. So I think we will just" "rip" an opening for his mouth.

Select the vertices at the bottom of Bobo's face.

Press the "V" key and then drag your mouse to rip an opening (where your cursor is located will determine which way the mesh "rips").

This is going to be our mouth. It is shaped a little funny, so move the vertices around until you get a nicer look.

His lower lip wasn't cooperating the way I wanted due to lack of vertices in the chin area, so I added another Loop Cut.

The additional vertices created by the Loop Cut gave Bobo more of a chin, which let me reposition his lower lip better.

To finish his mouth, select all the mouth vertices, hit the "E" key to Extrude, Enter (without moving the mouse) and then "S" key to scale it a little smaller.

Then Extrude again and pull the vertices back into the head. Then scale them down smaller.

Note: you can actually make a series of 3-4 extrusions back into the head to create a more realistic mouth cavity.

The antennas sit right behind the eyes, so in Top view (numpad + 7) select the 4 vertices behind his eye. This will be where we Extrude the antennas from. We will be doing a series of extrusions and then scaling and moving them to follow the antennas on the reference image. Remember there is no wrong way at this point, you are going for general shape.

At this point the Head is finished (except for the eyeball itself which we will will tackle later.)

Note: Tab in and out of Edit Mode, check your model from all sides and adjust any vertices that need a bit more tweaking.