[WIP] Second Character

Polynaut

***FINAL PROGRESS***


***CONCEPT***

By sixmorevodka @ cghub

***ORIGINAL POST***
I wanted to post a bit of progress here to get some crits and feedback as this is the first female character I've ever created and 2nd character total. I'm feeling a bit let down by my progress, as these are portfolio pieces and not up to the standard I've seen here on polycount.

Also, I'm given a month from beginning to end to complete each character and I'm feeling REALLY rushed. I'm assuming a month would be plenty of time to create a character and I'm slow. I'll get better at that as I go I'm sure, but I'm trying to take my time and get the anatomy down before I move on to clothes and accessories.

Anyway, here is where I had to leave the anatomy and move on to clothes because the hires is due Monday.


Still planning on tweaking the eyes and ears:

dirigible

All of these lines should match up.

A lot of people draw/sculpt like there's nothing on the head but a face and ears. No.

Texelion

I do't think that taking a youg girl ref to correct an adult head is a good idea ^^. But I agree with dirigible.

If you want an advice, just look at a female head in Zbrush ( in R4 you have a female head in the Insert Multi Mesh human brush with some other body parts ). You don't need to use it if you prefer to sculpt your own, but just look at the shapes, will help a lot...

Polynaut

Dirigible and Texelion - thanks for the crits! I knew her face looked weird but I couldn't figure out why. I'm using reference, just mixing and matching a bit to try to get the look of the concept (actually just trying to get it to look like a girl first!).

Here is an update on the face:


And some progress of the folds:


The anatomy is not anywhere near where I would like it, but I had to break up the hires sculpt into 1 week.. since this is my first female model ever, I could only give myself 3 days for anatomy and 2-3 for clothes.

I'm curious for those who are in the industry.. does this happen a lot? Where the deadlines cause you to rush and you're never satisfied with your work? I've seen some amazing art on here from some awesome games, but I'm wondering if those artists felt rushed and not happy with the end result.

dirigible

@Texelion
I am pretty sure that 3d.sk only accepts models of 18 and older, so the reference I posted is physically adult. I'll admit she does look young.

I just rechecked it against other reference, and I'm pretty sure the fov is too high on the reference I gave, or the angle of the head is off, or something. Polynaut's braincase was too small, but his facial proportions were correct. My bad.

@Polynaut
As Bob Ross said, if you're ever completely satisfied you might as well quit.
Sometimes, in a job, you'll be put in a position where you don't have time to go back and fix mistakes. But that's why you practice, and learn - so when it's all said and done you can say "it may not be perfect, but I think I did a pretty damn good job".

Polynaut

Dirigible - Thanks for the feedback. I'm a fan of Bob Ross. Not so much his work, but his attitude. I need to just keep pushing through and realize that I'm not going to be truly satisfied with where I'm at - I was that way with my music too. I think I'm just getting nervous because I've got 2 months of school left and I have no idea where I'm at with an entry level character artist position and my skill.

Anyway, here's where I'm at now:


Crits are welcomed of course.

Impala88

i think the heads too big atm. the concept is about 7.58 heads tall, it's throwing the proportions off a bit

Also, her mouth is quite wide, the concepts mouth is actually considerably small (tall lips though).

dirigible

Average people are actually about 7.5 heads tall, so that would mean your proportions are correct, but it is pretty standard in art to 'idealize' up to 8 heads tall. I think either is fine, but you might want to lean more towards idealized, since the character feels kind of 'high fantasy'.

Impala has a point about the lips, though. The mouth could probably stand to be less wide, and with fuller lips.

I think you need to work more on your wrinkles. Right now they are pretty sparse and flat. If you compare the tabard on the model to the concept, the concept has much more wrinkles, and they are much sharper and deeper. A lot of the cloth could probably use a working over with a polishing brush (hPolish and TrimDynamic are good). The 'spandex' area on the model looks more like naked skin right now. I think you should tone down some of the definition, especially around the edge of the breast. Or maybe you haven't gotten to that yet. I dunno.

Honestly, most people don't get to be character artists when they first join a company, especially if they don't have much work experience. It is far more common to start out as an environment artist or concept artist, and work your way there. Someone tell me if I'm wrong, this is just information I've picked up from asking around and reading bios.

Polynaut

Dirigible - Thanks so much for the help and following me with this character. I've been working mostly on wrinkles and cloth today. I'm not happy with where the tabard is right now, but it's getting better.

I think I will be able to get back to the face before I move on to the low poly version. I've got about 2 1/2 weeks before she is due, so I should be good. I learned a lot last month from my first character and I think spending the time on the high res version is worth it - correct me if I'm wrong.

Toward the end I'm planning on using the noise feature in zBrush to add fabric details (I've never used it before but I think that is the best option)

Currently working on the glove now - so it's very WIP

Anyway - here is an update with where I am today:

Polynaut

Small update today:


Adjusted her head size - finished the gloves - started on the jewelry.

Crits are very much appreciated!

Swizzle

The changes you've been making are good. I think you could benefit from adding some small or medium scale detail to go with the large shapes you have. The wrinkles on the boots and legs are a good start, but I think some of that could also work well on the cape and tabard.

Polynaut

Swizzle - Thanks for the feedback. You portfolio looks very nice.

I'm going to have to call this finished (pretty much) because I need to move on to the low res this weekend. I have time to make some minor tweaks tonight, but we'll see. I'm still playing around with the noise on the clothes, but I think right now it is too small and creating a moire pattern.

Currently progress:

dirigible

You may want to do a quick blockout of the hair, since it will make her face and neck look a lot different.

Polynaut

Dirigible - Thanks. I messed around with a hair block out, but I didn't like what was going on. I'm going to add hair cards to the game res, so I think it should look good at that point.. hopefully.

Quick update with UV's. I'm still packing them into 0-1 space, but wanted to get some feedback if anyone sees some weird seams going on.



Thanks,
Tony.

Polynaut

Low Poly baked:


I've got a few map errors to clean up, but I'm pretty happy with it. On to color blockout and hair cards.

Crits welcomed as always.

dirigible

You might want to move the cords around her waist a bit closer in to her tabard. Right now they seem a bit like they're hovering over it. Also, the wrinkles on the back of her arm start and stop kind of abruptly.

Your bake looks very clean!

Jessica Dinh

Wow nice. You chose a great concept too, it has such a sleek flow to it.

Polynaut

dirigible - Thanks again! I still need to move the cords a bit, but I had to redo my UVs and re-bake all my maps today so I didn't get as far as I wanted. Now I have 1 512x512 map for the head and hair and 1 2k map for everything else.

Also thanks about the bakes. I've got this chick broken up into about 13 different pieces and spent 8 hours (twice now!) on just baking normals. Probably not the fastest baker but they come out clean in the end!


Jessica - thank you! I wanted to model a female for my portfolio and it was hard to find something that was cool looking and not half naked! I think this one shows enough anatomy but also cloth, metal, bronze/gold and style.

Small update with normal and block out color. Still no texture details so everything looks like plastic.. more to come! **this is currently an 8k map - so it looks extra crisp**


The only part I'm not complete happy with is the bottom of the cape. I think I need to bevel it before I bake.

dirigible

The bottom of the cap in the concept actually has a triangular wedge cut out of it, so I figured you were planning on editing that in photoshop. It'd be fairly easy to add a 'bevel' to the normal map in photoshop. If you've ever used the XNormal plugin before, that's what I'd do.

Polynaut

Dirigible - yeah I completely forgot about that part. I'm going to cut it out of the cape still.

Quick update with hair and I started on the face texture:


A lot of block in colors still and sweet eye logo on the cape!

David Wakelin

Looks amazing so far!

Come along way;

Only crits I can give is the logo on the cape is triangles; you've done blobs :P but again its a block out I expect.

Polynaut

David - thanks for the feedback. Yeah, that part was just a block out for size and shape.

Update:


I've mainly been working out all the materials inside Marmoset. I've still got pretty standard diffuse, spec and gloss maps going, but I wanted to get the 'feel' of the materials going as I plug away at the textures.

Crits welcomed!

pablohurtado

Looks pretty cool, good job on making the concept into 3D. The only thing that I could really say is that in the concept the legs look more powerful and thicker. It might be the pose, giving her a wider stance might solve it. I don't know, in the end its up to you. But seriously good stuff.

nyx702

Interesting. Sorta late to comment on this one. If this is your second character than this is super bad ass.

So is the above image the low res? You should post some wires!

Aga22

i think you re a bit hard on yourself. your work is very nice... a month of free time is a lot, but if you have a job, its not. i consider myself a fast modeller but since i have a job doing 3d all day, a character might take me 2 months easily...

dirigible

There's something I don't like about the face, but I can't put my finger on it. It just doesn't feel like the concept to me.

But that could definitely be the angle. The concept is at a down-angle, and most of the renders seem to be from an up-angle.

EDIT: I think it might be the shape of her eyes? The concept's eyes are much thinner, more 'almond shaped'. In the model, they are much wider and rounder.

Polynaut

pablohurtado - Did a bit of posing today and now I'm working on textures.. hopefully her leg looks thicker now that I spread them apart.

nyx702 - This is my second character. Here a link to the first character I ever made: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105190

I'll post wires soon.

Aga22 - Thanks. I am my own worst critic. I think it keeps me motivated to try harder. At some point it just comes down to where I am and how much I can do. I know I will get better, but I don't want to be comfortable where I'm at.

Dirigible - I completely agree about the eyes. I still need to tweak the head and I'm trying to figure out what the difference is.. something about the cheeks as well. Might be able to fix it with textures, but I'm not sure yet.

Posed update:


Still working on the hands, but I wanted to get a crit on the pose so far.

Polynaut

"uhhh - and another one"

Polynaut

"uhhh - and another one"

dirigible

Eye area looks loads better. I think the mouth area might be little off, tho. Yours looks a little bit pudgier than the concepts, I think? You're close, tho.

I dunno if you're still working on texture, but there's a lot more you could do with material definition, and her belt buckle is missing a lot of detail.

As far as pose, she actually has a bit of tilt in her neck in the concept, which puts her head at more of an angle.

Polynaut

dirigible - Thanks for following me through with this one! I finished up the final today for school. I'm pretty happy with how she turned out. Definitely good for my second character.

here it is:


Thanks again for everyone here at polycount that helped me out on this one!

dirigible

Certainly better than MY 2nd character.

Good job, man!

Polynaut

Thanks. I truly appreciate the help this month.

AlbinLundahl

Really cool for second character, good job! As said earlier, could use some work with material definition, especially the shoulderpiece stick out to me, but I think you did a good job of capturing the concept

Polynaut

AlbinLundahl - Thanks a lot! You are the second person to mention the shoulder piece, so I guess I need to go back and work on it.

Forgot to add a shot with wires.