[WIP] Next Gen Adventure Hero

Polynaut

**CURRENT PROGRESS**


**ORIGINAL POST**
Hey Polycount. I'm working on my final character for school and I chose to go with a next gen adventure hero. Hopefully it will feel like it fits in with games like, uncharted, infamous or Desmond Miles from the assassins creed series.

I'm using this as an opportunity to learn male anatomy, so please critique my current progress.



I've really only focused on the torso and arms so far, but they are far from finished as well.

Luke_Starkie

Looking good man, although i think the edges on the shin are too harsh. And the chest towards the bottom seems too far apart. One more thing, the edges around the abs also seem to solid/ hard. Try and blend them together a bit more! But anyways man looking sweet.

PaulP

Looking alright so far, try and spread the feet for a more natural pose. The arms look a bit too long in the side and front view, and the muscle definition under the deltoids look too acute from the back and front. Also consider adding some muscle mass into the legs, especially the thighs. They seem disproportionately skinny compared to the rest of the body. I know you are focusing on the top half, but spending 10mins bulking out the legs will help you work out the overall proportions.

dirigible

Dat ass!
Guys tend not to have as protuberant posteriors as girls, and your is definitely sporting some junk in his trunk.

I'd say it looks like a fairly good, if stylized, sculpt. It feels a little off all around, but I can't place my finger on it. I might be imagining things.

I've been studying back anatomy off and on recently, and one thing I'd like to point out is...how the back is defined depends on the muscle/fat levels of the character. There are a lot of different lines, some created by muscles, some created by fat, and some created by bones. Which ones are dominant depends on the build of the character. Your character looks athletic, but not beefy. With that in mind, I don't think his traps or lats should stand out as much as they do, on his back, and I think his scapula should stand out much more.
Here's some ref.


I know this is an issue I had for a long time. A lot of anatomy reference tends to show only muscles on the back. Something to keep in mind is that the scapula is a MAJOR contributor to the shape of the back. It takes a lot of fat or a lot of muscle to cover it up.

locater16

For the love of Thor please don't make him bald.

I'm sick to death of muscular, generic bald dudes. We've had more than enough this generation. Give him hair or something at least!

MM

if you are going for realistic+generic proportions then the upper body including the arms are bit bigger than they should be.
the butt cheeks should be slightly smaller as noted.
also, looking at the pinky finger it reminds me of arshlevon's base mesh, did you use that as a starting point ?
pinky finger is too short right now.

Tw1tch

I think slighty pulling the hips out and slighly pushing in the Lower back and abdominis region would make it look more proportionally correct.

manilamerc

the model in general looks stylized and not a realistic feel, pecs (chest muscle) are too spread apart the abs are too stylized, realistic abs are asymmetrical( you can work symmetrical for now on the abs but eventually it needs asymmetrical) and abs don't have a round outlining around the abs. The legs seem squarish and need that roundish feel and needs a bit more mass. Look up tons of anatomy pictures it helps like crazy. Your character seems like it would be a good start for a stylized character.. And also check out my Christian Bale character I have in Pimping Previews the one with like 46 posts no one is really replying and I need feedback

Polynaut

Wow! Thanks for all the love polycount. I guess I should have noted that the proportion are going to be stylized, but I want the anatomy to look correct. George Munteanu helped me come up with the overall feel for the character, so he will have a smaller waist, normal shoulders and longer legs than the average male.

Luke - How does this version look?

SCB - Thanks for the feedback! I spent some time on the legs today and hopefully everything is looking better now.

Dirigible - Back for more, egh?! Or I guess I should say, I'm back for more. It's funny you mentioned how anatomy reference tends to show really defined muscles on the back. I've always felt like something was off when I sculpt or draw anatomy simply by following that type of reference, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Hopefully this version looks a lot better! Thanks for opening my eyes to that simple truth. It helped quite a bit, I believe.

Locater - haha. No, I'm not going for the Max Payne look. He will actually have a bit of a messy fohawk.

MM - wow. You just amazed me.. and my wife. How in the world could you tell I used that base mesh by just the pinky?!!! I decided this time around I wanted more time for the anatomy sculpt so I skipped the base mesh stage and found his. You're crazy! I'm honored you even took the time to stop by. I have several of your pieces in my inspiration folder. Can't wait until I'm as good as you are! Did you ever end up doing a texturing tut on that pilot head? It would really come in handy in a week or two!

Tw1tch - What about now?

manilamerc - Thanks for the feedback. I made most of those tweaks and think it looks a lot better. But seeing how this is only my 3rd character, I don't think I would have much to offer as far as critiques go. Maybe some of the people stopping by here will drop you a line!

Ok, here is an update:


Starting to tighten in on the muscle groups now that most of my landmarks have been found. (I think!) The face, legs and hands are still lacking compared to the arms and torso, but please critique where they are currently.

Thanks again for all the help so far!

dirigible

Good update, I think the back looks loads better in terms of believability.

Next up for me is his pelvis. Right now the line you have going from his hips to his crotch is a mostly straight diagonal line. In real life, not so much.
Here's a paintover of a photo.

If we tried to make the line straight - like yours - he would have no junk.
That line (whose name I would know if I was better at remembering anatomical landmark terms) is less steep, in real life, and curves more.

Tw1tch

Alot better. Maybe even more wouldn't hurt.

Polynaut

Dirigible - Thanks, I made that change and I'll post once I get more done with the body.

Tw1tch - Thanks. I'm still tweaking and making changes, so hopefully the next update will look even better.

I'm sick - so I didn't get much done today. Just a small update on the face.


Still haven't touched the ear and hair but I'm starting to like where the face is headed.

Polynaut

Alright, well sick or not this guy is Due Nov. 19th, so here is where I need to leave my anatomy study and move on the his clothes.

**EDIT** Updated with perspective turned on


Thanks to everyone who helped me get it this far.

Alex_Maxwell

A strong anatomy study, but what exactly is making him "next gen"? The characters you mentions are, actually, very generic "every-man" characters, designed to be simple.

mr_ace

turn on perspective for renders

Polynaut

Alex_Maxwell - The techniques I'll be using are next-gen and the character himself will fit in with next-gen style characters once he is finished. Hope this helps.

mr_ace - thanks for the tip, I updated the image above. I like your portfolio, especially the detail you put into that captain america character!

Update:


I still have 1 or 2 small pieces to block in, but here is an update with where I'm at. I was able to sculpt a bit of the jeans (I couldn't help myself), although they are not finished yet. This should give you a better idea of what I'm going for.

Crits welcomed as always!

CDeniz

dirigible wrote: »

Good update, I think the back looks loads better in terms of believability.

Next up for me is his pelvis. Right now the line you have going from his hips to his crotch is a mostly straight diagonal line. In real life, not so much.
Here's a paintover of a photo.

If we tried to make the line straight - like yours - he would have no junk.
That line (whose name I would know if I was better at remembering anatomical landmark terms) is less steep, in real life, and curves more.

Hey look its zyzz! Oh and are you referring to the adonis belt? A lot of guys actually dont have that,, its usually genetic + low bf.

BrontoThunder

Does "next-gen" still mean Xbox 360 and PS3? Because those have been current gen for like ... 7 years.

dirigible

CDeniz wrote: »

Hey look its zyzz! Oh and are you referring to the adonis belt? A lot of guys actually dont have that,, its usually genetic + low bf.

I dunno about it being genetic. Did some quick research - the anatomical name is 'iliac furrow'. It's caused by the inguinal ligament, and is visible on both men and women. Beefy obliques/abs can make it more visible. Certain amounts of body fat can make it less visible. The fold where a large belly hangs over the pelvis starts at the iliac furrow.

The actual anatomical feature IS straight, running directly from the hips (the iliac crest) to the pubis. It's appearance isn't usually straight, however, since obliques/fat tend to make the top part more horizontal, and the lower part is covered by fat/genitals.

Polynaut

BrontoThunder - Yeah, you're right. Bad habit I guess with next next-gen around the corner.

Ok. Small update today. I think I'm still in a funk from being sick so I haven't gotten as far as I wanted, but it's all good.. more meds and I'll be back at it tomorrow!

Polynaut

Ok - I'm 95% done with the hi-res, so I figured I would post here to get any last minute feedback before starting on the low-res tomorrow.

Polynaut

Game res mesh with normals, ao and blockout color applied. Still have another week for the textures and pose.



Crits welcomed as always.

Polynaut

Focused on the jacket, pants, belt and bag so far. Moving on to the head and hands next, then I might go back into zBrush and bust out some boots.



Nothing is even close to final yet, but any crits would be awesome. I feel like his head is a bit too long, but I'm not sure.

PaulP

I don't know if it's the perseptive, but the eyes seem really large and slopes weirdly, and too close to the side of the face. Check some ref to see what I mean. Also the torso belt seems very flat, and indents in the middle, making it look very thin. But otherwise its looking good, keep it up!

Polynaut

SCB - Thanks. I still think the eyes are looking a bit weird, but better maybe. The bag strap is on my list to fix. Thanks.

Small update:

Polynaut

Small update - mainly added detail to the boots and tweaked the face:

Brian "Panda" Choi

His T Pose feels a BIT stiff. Maybe "soften" his stance a bit, give it the gesture you can within the constraints.

mr_ace

his legs and waist are throwing this off a lot, take a look at this paintover



so bring his waist line down, bring his crotch down, eiden his thighs and knees, and narrow the flared part at the bottom and you'll have it

Polynaut

JadeEyePanda - I am actually going to pose him this weekend. Do you mean for a normal T-pose it's stiff, or for a final pose?

Mr_Ace - Thanks for the paint over. I knew I should have posted this in the first post, but here it is again, "George Munteanu helped me come up with the overall feel for the character, so he will have a smaller waist, normal shoulders and longer legs than the average male." So, basically you nailed it with your paint over!

With that being said, do you still think it needs some tweaking?

snake85027

I really hope you use Ace's suggestion about the waist, that's the first thing that came to my mind as well.

mr_ace

@polynaut i'm not familiar with the guy you mention, maybe you could post up some of his work as a point of reference. However, the problem is that rather than looking like a character with slightly stylised proportions, he instead looks like a normal realistic character but the artist has made proportion mistakes. I'd say this is because you haven't gone far enough with a particular style. If you're going for a realistic character as per Desmond or Nathan Drake as you mentioned in your first post, I definately think you should make those tweaks.