For the PRESENT Horizon project we needed a humanoid 3D model at CREW. I tend to avoid realistic characters as uncanny valley, an unease towards things that look human, is not something we enjoy at CREW. On the other end of the spectrum, cartoony or fantasy type characters are not suitable for our content either. In the performances we are planning, there will be no live speech and communication is non-verbal.

Enter Manu, a 3D character, designed not really anatomically correct, but anatomically informed to make him/her/them expressive through movement.
I made Manu purposely neutral but expressive in appearance, androgenous and slender.
People tend to interpret him in different ways and in live motion capture he easily fits with different types of actors.


Manu has been the starring avatar in Delirious Departures and Anxious Arrivals.
(he’s also proof that I CAN do clean topology if I want to)