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[UDK] Ancient Portal

This will be a (hopefully) long-ish running thread where I update the scene as I can. It's meant to be an excercise in learning more about ZBrush and getting a decent hand painted look to the assets.

I don't have any reference for this so as a result I'm just sort of noodling around - which may come back to bite my ass, but we'll see!

These shots are the result of the first week of noodling. I have the basic portal in place and I sculpted a skull to use as a deco piece on it. The skull was hugely influenced by Orb's inspiring work.

Any comments or critiques are VERY welcome. I want to get better. Help me, please. :)

Movie1.gif

SculptFront01.jpg

SculptSide01.jpg

SkullA.jpg

The idea in the end is for the portal to be covered in overgrowth, smaller stones, and other random deco - it should be sitting on a small piece of grassy/mossy ground as a base.

Thanks for looking!

Replies

  • innervision961
    I like this, has a darksiders vibe to it, but to critique, I'd say it doesn't really read as any kind of material yet. I'm assuming this is stone? It could use a little texture to it as well. Also the edge work is looking very uniform across the whole thing, the bevels are a lot the same. Not to discourage you, I want to see more I like it!
  • WarrenM
    That's valid. It's just a sculpt at the moment with no attempt made at texturing anything.
  • Strkl
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    Strkl polycounter lvl 7
    Looking great so far !

    one thing that could be improved is the overall readability, I found that there is too much stuff going on, especially in the midle of the arch (where all the stones are on top of each other), and the holes on both sides...Maybe you could put something inside, like a sculpture or something :)

    Cheers !
  • WarrenM
    Sometimes things don't go well but I think those sessions are worth sharing too. I'm trying to come up with something more interesting for the side supports. I tried a wrought iron sort of thing first:

    GateDecoTestA.jpg

    Didn't really fit with the rest of the scene. Even if I sculpted it to have the same of sharp cuts I think it's too thin looking.

    I then tried something with spikes but didn't get too far. I think I'll try something more radical the next time I sit down:

    GateDecoTestB.jpg
  • aajohnny
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    aajohnny polycounter lvl 13
    Coming along man! Keep it up!
  • WarrenM
    Rearranged the bottom part a bit and I like this better. It feels more solid and it gives me a little space in there for some visual interest. Just gotta work out what to do with the top of it now...

    DecoGateC.jpg
  • Impala88
    That's valid. It's just a sculpt at the moment with no attempt made at texturing anything.

    I think what he meant by texture it was put some noise on it in areas, give it a bit of a texture in the sculpt rather than just flat surfaces. It'll really help to bring out the stone, ofc if you want to keep it more simple then by all means but i think even then, using some either smaller areas or using a much large brush for the texture could even amplify the style.

    Sometimes what i do is use an alpha with a massive brush size and get some large bumps/noise on the surface (low intensity) and then follow up those edges with the way you've done the current edges on the slabs you have now.

    On the other hand if by what you said actually meant no attempt yet at detailing or adding rough bumps and texture to the sculpt then completely ignore me :)
  • SirCalalot
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    SirCalalot polycounter lvl 10
    I like the style so far.

    I think a good idea would be to have a figure or small statue in each of the side supports - make them look like they are holding it up or something?

    What is the proper plan for your scene in UDK? Is this going to be just a single piece to show off, or is it going to be part of a larger scene?
  • WarrenM
    Impala

    That's a good idea. I'll probably do that when I'm ready to start painting to get some basic surface variance going.

    SirCalalot

    The idea is that this is basically stand alone. I plan to put it on a small patch of ground with some foliage/overgrowth but it's more of a diorama than a full scene.

    I like the idea about the statues although I've never done figures before. That might have to wait for the next project...
  • SirCalalot
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    SirCalalot polycounter lvl 10
    Why wait?
    If you've never done it before, then all the more reason to learn now :D
  • Tokusei
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    Tokusei polycounter lvl 10
    this sculpt looks pretty nice, I suggest looking around for similar ref to find ideas, Orbs work is fairly similar maybe you can find some inspiration there.

    the stone with the skulls attached look a bit too rounded in some areas and the wear looks uniform, try adding some loose/chipped stones and noise when you do a detail pass. maybe a stone platform/steppes would look nice to place it on also
  • WarrenM
    I simplified the top to improve the readability of the shape. I'll sculpt some sort of symbol system or something into those 4 blocks that are poking out. I also pulled a couple of other blocks out to keep the overall shape cleaner. I think it's getting closer. I'm still contemplating tacking those statues. :P

    GateBlockOutA.jpg

    EDIT : The new blocks need the edge scraping done on them, I forgot to do that before posting. Whoops...
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