Back to the drawing board
Unable to figure out a concept while also trying to teach myself new skills (3D, Character Design), I have decided to throw in the towel and try something else.
Instead of coming up with a concept and then turning it into a final product I'm going to think in reverse.
What final product can I make with the constraints I have?
I can do doodling. I am comfortable enough with illustrator to explore concepts in that tool instead of having to fight blender.
Illustrator
I built up these shapes in Illustrator. Initially I wanted them to be 3D that I could get someone's help into converting to 3D objects through modeling software (like at the Design Lab)
I tried seeing if I could more visual interest to them. They still seem simple.
Honestly, at this point I just want to get the wohle thing done with. But for some reason I am experiecing a lot of resistance making something that I am not entirely comfortable with.
Generating more concepts. Most of these I won't be able to do well in 3D but I've found a few concepts that I can mix and match.
Exploring doodling on top of these as a way of adding polish and detail
I am happy with this final result and I decided to laser cut and prepare for painting for next week