Help with topology

Tectonic

I understand the basics of topology, but I'm not convinced I have the best edge flow on this low poly character:

I'm pretty happy with the head, but the leg and arm look really messy to me. I'd love some advice on how I could adjust the topology to make it better. Paintovers encouraged!

Tectonic

bump. I honestly would appreciate any tips. or even if you just think the topology is fine, let me know. I want to move on to texturing today.

Crazy_pixel

Cool character  
I think the loops around the wrist, arm, mouth etc. will work fine during an animations. In my opinion the topology must fit for each character or prop individualy. It is not easy to say that your way is wrong, but you can use this link to take a look of other solutions. Maybe you will find a better way for yourself.
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/BodyTopology

Tectonic

Thanks Crazy Pixel, I appreciate it
Anyone else, please still let me know what you think. anything helps!

kittles

Fun model you've got here. While I'm not a character modeler or animator, there are a few things I'm seeing that I believe I can help you with. Start by looking at muscular character models and studying their wireframes.

I looked a lot at Hulk models since I thought they'd be most similar to yours in terms of anatomy and proportion. Then took note of where edges looped or converged. I think spots where five edges meet at one vertex are important - they give good indication of changing edge loop directions, or help differentiate anatomical poly groups, if that makes sense. Look at where they lie on the above model at the edge of the trapezius and pectorals, around the biceps, collar bones and shoulder and how the edge loops change around each junction.

Here's a rough paintover I did to help translate what I noticed on the hulk models onto your own model. I know the joints don't have enough edge loops to bend functionally in my drawing, but I know that's not information you lack. I only tried to understand specific areas it seemed you had trouble with on the arms and back to reach some kind of jumping off point for you.

In short, try to maintain straight runs of quads throughout the entirety of your limbs. Your current arm gets tangled at the elbow and bicep, with a little confusion at the deltoid muscle when your edge loops should run clearly from back / neck / chest to shoulder to wrist to fingers with consistency. I noticed one of your highlighted loops runs from the back down below the deltoid and then back up over the pectorals. The back and pectoral connections should run down to the wrist independent of each other.

I hope this helps. I'm a bit out of my element, so if my drawing is inaccurate, the principles should be sound to fall back on.

Tectonic

@kittles Thanks so much man thats a really big help. It was smart of you to look at topology on the Hulk, I don't know why I didn't think of that before.