Sketchbook: Matt McDaid

MattMcDaid

A place to hoard some of my visuals.  Feel free to critique! 

Here's a fantasy Viking character I've been chipping away at recently.  I'm still playing around with ideas for accessories and weapons at the moment...



Banner:

MattMcDaid

I'll post up some more progress shots shortly! 

MattMcDaid

Adding more weaponry to really accentuate this guys strength and battle-hardened abilities.  I'll post up some individual shots of the weapons soon.

MattMcDaid

Here's a quick render of the weapons I've been working on.  I still want to add some subtle detailing to the sword sheath and hilt.

MattMcDaid

Doing my daily iteration notes during lunch break...

MattMcDaid

I was finally(!) able to to wrap up this sculpt over the weekend.  Tonight I'll start blocking out a wolf companion, ya know, just so he has some company on his pillaging adventures!

MattMcDaid

I made a Wolf companion for this guy..The hair proved to be an arduous challenge! 

le0tard

love this.

MrCandie

This is awesome man, did you use zbrush for sculpting ?

MattMcDaid

Thanks guys! 

MrCandie - Yeah, this was mostly done in ZBrush with the exception of a handful of basemeshes for armour & weaponry where I used 3DS Max. 

Elithenia

Oh I love this one! Great job!

MattMcDaid

Thanks Elithenia!

Michael_Ingrassia

Tell us a bit more about your tools? We know Zbrush and Max. Keyshot or Arnold render? Is this the hi poly sculpt or a retop? wireframes por favor.

lotet

That is looking really cool, love that last render!

MattMcDaid

Michael_Ingrassia - Muchos Gracias!  This is a decimated model for now just so I can get a read on the forms in Keyshot.  I'm in the process of retopologising now so hopefully get on to painting it soon.

Lotet - Thank you! 

Tul_

Love the style man, will be keeping a eye on this thread. LIKE A HAWK !

MattMcDaid

Tul_ - Thanks bud!

So after some time retopoing & decimating I've finally got to baking.  I used Substance Painter for this process and I gotta say for my first time using it, I've been super impressed with its speed and output.  I'm still unsure as to how much of my texturing will take place in Substance but I can already begin to see first hand how powerful the baked output maps can be.

Any how here's some process shots..

Blade113

damn, that's pretty sick

MattMcDaid

Blade113 - Thanks so much!

Here's my progress from this weekend.  All test bakes for the character and weapons have now been done.  Still some artifacts that need to be ironed out with further bakes, but nothing else to time consuming for this.
On to the Wolf companion next! 

Rakisan

Awesome job! love the style you gave it 

Gotferdom

Great work, loving the stylized style 

< ASH >

I remember I subscribed this thread a while ago but then I have been quite busy and I forgot to check it out again. -_-
Both the viking and the wolf (I love it!) look great !
A thing I am particularly not a fan of are the helm's horns that are a little too curved for my taste, but I guess you got reference for it so it's your personal choice.
Another thing I feel might be tweaked is the spike's point of the shoulder pad: as it is right now it seems a little thin: but again probably even on this one you got your ideas and your references.
Finally the mace chain feels a little flimsy, as I would expect a bigger chain with such a big mace head.
Other than these "critiques" I simply find the sculpting on the character and the weapons incredibly successful !

MattMcDaid

Thanks for the feedback <ASH> and your kind words! 

After an 8 week hiatus I'm bringing the axe down on this personal project. It's been a great experience, and it helped me fulfill my criteria which was to gain a deeper understanding of ZBrush. It's also my very first full character so excuse the noob anatomical faux pas.  I look forward to doing more of these personal challenges in the near future though. 

Check it out over on ArtStation while the blood still runs warm!

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/eeZ3G