Blender Update 6.10.2022- This "Bear" is Now a Mecha!

I've been learning to use the "Inset faces" and "Extrude" tools, along with the mirror modifier and sliding vertices around this week. This led me to go absolutely wild with my "monster" project... to the point where it's more machine than monster now!

Let's take a little tour of the model. I didn't use any direct references here, but I had a few inspirations. The blocky, extruded lower parts of the legs with the "flippers" are heavily inspired by the mechs in MechWarrior 2, a 1995 DOS game with a plethora of 3D accelerated versions released the following year.

I decided to add the ball joints under the hips at the last moment, but they really bring it together.

The placement of the armored plates doesn't make much sense to be between its legs as there's nothing much to protect there, but I felt the space was rather empty, and wanted a hands-on lesson on deleting faces while reducing the more obvious Z-fighting.

The knees were mostly the result of me playing around with the "Extrude" tool. I'm seriously considering putting headlight-style emissives (or point lights) in those inset triangular parts.