Anyone know of any models or characters of Native American people or things? Anything will do but I'm really interested in the people of the 17th and 18th centuries. 

If I have to make them myself, anyone know any well illustrated websites on the subject, settlers as well as indigenous peoples?

How about www.peabody.harvard.edu/on_line.html

Attached Link: 3dSC Native American Downloads

I have a grizzly bear claw necklace on my site

Go to the Market Place here and Search for "American".  There are 3 pages of items.

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php

There are free things too. I will have to dig out links though.

Attached Link: http://www.cmccomplete.com/html/poser_downloads.html

Go to content paradise to thier historical section for g2 character's, i asked them last year we need colonial stuff from 1600s to 1767 and they have a nice pilgrim set.

Thank you everybody, I have enough to make a start.

2 further queries - is a  'rather high-cheeked Asiatic'  the facial shape to start with when trying character modelling?
Also what is the correct or closest acceptable skin texture for a character - I assume the old Hollywood 'Red Indian' is a myth. 

Being from Northern England, I have no first hand knowledge of this area.
It would be interesting to hear from a member of the ethnic group who is also a 3D modeller or artist, what textures they use or how they portray this

Good Apache clothing is at Poserworld

Complexion and skin tones vary from light to dark. Typically with an "olive" tone . So you will want to concentrate on the facial features and body type moreso than the skin tone.

Here are some images:

[ http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/7/native-indian-girl_9474.jpg

](http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/7/native-indian-girl_9474.jpg)http://www.trappersfestival.com/Jade%20Turner%20%20Miss%20Misipawistik%20Cree%20Nation.jpg

http://www.trappersfestival.com/Renee.JPG

http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/images/7459.001.jpg

http://www.nativecelebs.com/subs/photos/images/actor59.jpg

http://www.nativecelebs.com/casting/images/michaelob2.jpg

http://www.nativecelebs.com/subs/photos/images/actor70.jpg

http://www.manitobachiefs.com/press/TB_apr11-2006/_TinaKeeper01.JPG

http://www.canab.com/graphics/mainpages_graphics/music_awards/2004/2004ceremony/highres/04.jpg

http://www.canab.com/graphics/mainpages_graphics/music_awards/2004/2004ceremony/highres/01.JPG

http://www.canab.com/graphics/mainpages_graphics/music_awards/2004/2004ceremony/highres/03.jpg

http://www.canab.com/graphics/mainpages_graphics/music_awards/2004/2004ceremony/highres/15.jpg

http://www.canab.com/graphics/mainpages_graphics/music_awards/2004/2004ceremony/highres/08.jpg

http://www.canab.com/graphics/mainpages_graphics/music_awards/2004/2004ceremony/highres/14.jpg

As a research starting point you can probably do no better than:

Smithsonian National Museumof the American Indian
http://www.nmai.si.edu/

Specifically, their online exhibitions section at:
http://www.nmai.si.edu/subpage.cfm?subpage=exhibitions&second=online

I highly recommend "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown.

A couple of quick scans from the WPA Guide to Oklahoma, pub. 1940.
These might duplicate some of Acadia's links, but they're certainly
authentic and interesting faces.

http://ockhamsbungalow.com/MiscProps/okla1.jpg

http://ockhamsbungalow.com/MiscProps/okla2.jpg

This just stunning set came out. http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=56645&TopID=&WhatsNew=Y Coldrake

Check the store for Keihan, at PoserPros, for some good props, including a roach and an Eastern Woodlands war club, I think.

Quote - Coldrake

RenaPD's textures are lovely, but if the project involves realism, they aren't much use. I wish someone would do some American Indian costumes based on the lovely reality of elk-tooth dresses, beadwork, and weaving. Instead the emphasis is on Las Vegas "interpretations" and Harlequin Romance fantasies.

Acadia's photos are contemporary good examples, but for 17th and 18th C skin tones I wouldn't trust them. Most of the folks in the photos are mixed-bloods. Nothing wrong with being amalgamated, but these are not the faces you see in photos of the 19th C, much less what was likely earlier. For skin color, your best bet is Karl Bodmer, George Catlin, and the other artists who tried to faithfully reproduce the colors. They are also a wonderful source of ceremonial costume. Even the apparently romanticized "perfect bodies" that seem so unrealistic in depictions of 16th C East Coast Indians are now thought to be more accurate than we gave them credit for, because Indians were so much healthier than their malnourished and unwashed visitors.

Also keep in mind that "Indians" is a European invention, as useful for identifying physical types as "European" is. Which is, not much. Even a white person would never mistake a typical Algonquian from the great lakes with a Cherokee, Navajo, or Cheyenne; they are as different as typical German, Italian, and Magyar. Edward Curtis' pictures are dramatizations rather than a documentary record, but they give you some idea of the diversity of types.

I am totally agree with you mickmca

Looked at the Smithsonian and Googled Catlin and Bodmer   -  brought up some outstanding images.

Any other notable artists or recorders of the Eastern peoples, or those of the South-West?

Google Powhatan under images and you are likely to get some 17th European pictures of material culture that you can trust.

M

Hmmm. Don't know about southwest or eastern tribes, except maybe the Cherokee. (A beautiful people ... my partner is part Cherokee).  But I do know a bit about the plains Indians.  You can find a lot about them in the artwork of James Bama (Who by the way use to create Science Fiction book covers when he first started out).  His work is very detailed and authentic. 

Also look up the Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody Wyoming.  I lived in Cody for many years and worked at the museum for a summer.  Oddly here in the US the Plains tribes are the most often used in fiction and movies.  

Good luck.  

Boni

Googling Powhatan gives excellent results (too good, I spent hours following the site and links!)

Thank you all again, and apologies for being slow with this, been away for a few days.