First, I created the body for my sidekick. To create the body of my sidekick, I was using lots of spheres all conjoined together so that I would get the feel that it would actually behave like a regular caterpillar.

I also added some extra details, but I removed them because I wanted to re-do them better.

I started off the entire thing in the wrong way; I was adding lots of different shapes that didn’t need to actually be on the design at this early in the production time. I changed these (removed them) so that I could focus on just doing the body for the start of production.

I then completed what I wanted the body to look like. I completed it by using more spheres to get a segmented effect. As it is based off an insect it needed to have segments in it so that it would look as close to its real life counterpart.

I removed the additional bits I had previously put on. They weren’t needed at this stage and they were in completely the wrong place, also, I needed to correct sizes without having too much hassle.

At this stage, I wanted to get the main body completed as this was the base canvas for everything else I wanted to add to it. I could do what I wanted with the body as I got it to the base effect that I wanted it to be. I later went on to add features to it, and change the base body very little.

I added a pointy stabber onto his tail. This can be used as both a high power, unbreakable drill. Also, it is covered in the fastest acting neurotoxin known to man. This was made by adding a cone to the end of the body,

then bevelling it to the desired effect. As you can see, I had added this in earlier design, but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be when I originally put it on.

This is where I started to add different features to the body. I could basically do what I wanted, as long as it followed my base design. I knew basically what I wanted on it, and where it should go, I just had to model it.

I used discs to make some saw blade things that sit on the back of the robotic caterpillar. I copy and pasted the discs so that they would be identical and made sure they were symmetrical on the points of the cylinder. I didn’t mirror at this stage as it was easier to just place them in the correct spots.

I just used a standard cylinder to make a pole that the discs sit on. If I animated this sidekick character, the pole would be extremely flexible.

At this point, I started to add even more detail to it, all the while referring back to my original designs, making sure I was on track. I didn’t want to change the original idea too much as it is a pretty sound design in terms of how I wanted it.

I started to add long, thin cones to become the spikes of the saw blades. This was just basic cone that I’ve stretched out to become the desired shape.

As is clearly visible, I have not added spikes to the other side, also, I have not added spikes all the way around the disk which has spikes on it. This is so I can mirror it later to get a more even cover of the spikes, rather than having them unsymmetrical.

I began to add more detail to my design. Detail in the form of small, precise shapes that could totally change to overall look from a kid’s toy into something you would not want to meet in a dark alleyway at 3 in the morning.

As you can see, I have mirrored the entire model so that I could get the spikes even on one of the discs, so that when I eventually mirror the entire thing to spikes on the other side, they will be completely identical.

If you look closely, you can see that one of the discs very clearly has the spikes evenly covering it, whereas the other one doesn’t have any. Again, this is so I can mirror it to get it identical and symmetrical.

My design at this stage I began to want complete symmetry throughout it. This was when I started using the mirror tool to get things looking identical. Of course, if you zoomed in close enough there might be some anomalies.

Looking closely, you can see that I have now mirrored it to get symmetrical spikes on both sides. They are perfectly even, and completely identical.

I wanted the whole thing to be completely symmetrical, so I used the mirror tool a lot so that nothing would be uneven, though, later I did have to adjust things after I mirrored it so the physics made sense and would actually work in a real world situation.

I also used the mirror technique on the legs, which were just stumpy, big cones that I placed throughout one side of the bottom so that I could mirror it and get them even so that if it was brought into a real life place, it would stand even.

As is visible, I have started to add the same cones that I used for the saw blades, onto the back of my sidekick.

I added the cones to the back of the design. These are some of the things that I need to tweak as if I left them how they were, some of the pikes would have clashed.

This is where I added final details, like a little crest resting on top of the spikes that lead up is neck and onto the top of my sidekick’s neck. This is where I really finalised the idea.