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Cubebrush ArtWar 2 - Literati Demoness

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Hello fellow humans!

I hopped into the ArtWar 2 Challenge a few weeks ago and I thought I'd get a PC thread up and running too. This is a bit of a cross-post, but I would love to get feedback from both the Polycount & CubeBrush communities! You can never have too much feedback, right?! ...Well, professional experience has proven that incorrect, but the sentiment stands.  ;)

I'll be posting updates both here and my CubeBrush thread as well as the Twitters

_________________________

PROJECT COMPLETE!





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  • RocketBryan
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    Right, so on to the character herself!

    For this challenge, I'd like to take on the subject of demons...but perhaps with a bit of a twist. All armies need an R&D department, even an army of darkness. So I'd like to introduce you to my Librarian Demoness, Ezri - succubus book-keeper, corrupted loremaster, and hellion researcher.

    Our little hell-spawn here began her life centuries ago as a devoted scholar of lore for the Light, but perhaps got a bit side-tracked somewhere along the way. It is said that those who spend their days in an endless quest for knowledge will inevitably uncover secrets. Delve too deeply into those forbidden secrets, you might find yourself faced with the Dark. And those few who study the Dark for too long... are doomed to become a part of it, corrupted eternally by the journey into the void.

    Ezri was totally, definitely, for sure only trying to look up a decent spell to cure insomnia...who knew it would end in demonic corruption?! Of course, the following centuries as a literary succubi may have turned her into a bit of a perv, but she's still a dedicated (if a bit eccentric) researcher. Trust her, she only reads those dirty books for the articles...

    Reference Board: 

  • RocketBryan
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    I'm not much of a concept artist, but I do like sort things out if I'm not working from someone else's artwork or design. The few consistency issues that can arise from jumping straight to sculpting are worth the extra time to plan ahead. My first stab was way too close to "short-stack" territory. While fun, I wanted longer proportions will still keeping her a bit thicker.








  • RocketBryan
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    The block-out took me a bit longer than I would have liked to get her heading in a direction I liked, but landing closer here. There's a number of anatomy issues to deal with in the torso/chest/back, but it's getting there.




  • RocketBryan
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    Aaaand this should bring us current. Still a lot of work to do, but I'm pretty happy with her so far. Please feel free to call out any suggestions or weirdness you see. Still got a lot of work ahead and I need to start planning out her props, clothing, and perhaps a base to lounge on.




  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Damn, I'm really digging your concept @RocketBrian! The accessories and the candles really give off a lot of character, and I think you should give yourself more props on the execution. It's great to see some design ideations with the horns and color pallet, too. 

    I'm not an expert on anatomy so I probably can't give too much input there, but I think you can probably sharpen the chin a little bit more if you want to go a little closer to your original concept. Her eyes could also be angled down a little, but both of those things might not be too big of a change in the end. I did a quick manipulation / paint-over to help explain what I mean. I think a little stronger angles will give her a more sultry look.


    My only other suggestion would be to try out one of your other hair options (if you hadn't already). Not that there's anything wrong with her hair style now (and it's still WIP so I definitely might need to take this back later) but I think you created a bunch of other really interesting styles that could frame her face even better. I think E, J, or K would all give off a good librarian look.
  • Finalhart
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    Finalhart polycounter lvl 6
    I love the clean forms you have in your sculpt, cool concept is looking great!
  • RocketBryan
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    @dGreenberg
    Damn dude, you are right on the money with those face edits! I am definitely making those changes - she's looking great with just your minor tweaks. Thank you very much! And the hair is actually something I'm tackling as we speak. The ArtWar deadline got pushed back a bit, so I'm going to take a little extra time to try out 2 or 3 styles. In fact, you actually picked two of my favorites from that sheet too so I'll block those out and then make a decision from there. Cheers, mate!

    @Finalhart
    Thanks man, I appreciate that!  :)
  • tierzilla
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    tierzilla polycounter lvl 9
    looking amazing so far! cant wait to see more!
    BTW from who are the bottom right corner illustrations?
    Thanks!
  • Tits
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    Tits mod
    LOVE the face and the style, looking forward to see more!
  • RocketBryan
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    @Tits
    Thank you! I feel like I can't work on her fast enough, I'm just so excited to see her realized!

    @tierzilla
    Thanks mate! The artist's name is Phobs and I absolutely adore her work. I've got a whole mess of her art saved away for future sculpts.

    Dropping a quick update on some hair tests based on the sketches posted earlier. My thought was to do something a little more straight-forward like A. But now I'm kinda glad I took the time to block these out as I've kind of fallen in love with the A+B combo. Might be a little too much though as you can't see that nice transition from the temples into the large horns. I'm so conflicted!


  • RocketBryan
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    Finally another update! Got a bit sidetracked, but I'm powering through now. Got some of her skirt blocked in along with a few doodad props. Threw a quick material/polypaint on her to see where she's heading - nothing permanent, but she's definitely looking cinnamon spicy!






  • Bar0n
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    Bar0n polycounter lvl 9
    Very nice, i love the clean shapes of your sculpt! And i think I would have chosen the same hair too!
    Looking forward to see it done!
  • RocketBryan
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    EEESH! I gotta tweak the darkened eye sockets/eye shadow - she looks like a demonic owl when zoomed out in those shots.

    @Bar0n
    Thanks mate! Gonna try and tackle the hair today, so I might drop another update fairly soon.
  • RocketBryan
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    Got a couple different pieces in the works, but I'll throw down a quick update. Decided to give the fantastic Zbrush hair tool from Makkon and FunkyBunnies a try. Had a good block-in to reference, but I completely remade the hair from scratch using some of their hair shapes. Had to reformat my process for stylized hair a bit, however I'm fairly satisfied with the results. More coming soon!



    (Earlier WIP turnaround)



    Also threw together a quick test the other day for her eventual body tattoos. They're super rough and 
    I was initially a bit concerned whether they would translate well, but I'm diggin' the look so far.


  • Svartberg
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    Svartberg quad damage
    Oh this is so juicy!
    Character development is on point, mate. Outstanding work!
  • RocketBryan
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    @Svartberg
    Thanks man! I bet she'd prefer the term 'spicy', but I'm willing to bet the other demons use 'juicy' behind her back.  :D
  • RocketBryan
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    Slowly but surely, the work continues. Ezri's body is nearly complete - just need a few minor details and her shawl/hood from the concept. After that it's on to props, books, and a base. Got a cute little idea in mind for some of those extra bits, but we'll see how they turn out before I give it away. I do still need to decide how I'm gonna handle those horns though: keep 'em smooth or texture them up a bit....







    Had a request to see some of the base sculpt sans color so I'll add that too.



    I'm also VERY new to the process of producing gifs, but popping ZBrush turnarounds into PS to export out is fairly straightforward. Anyone know of other methods that works well? PS tends to spit out fairly large gif file sizes even after optimizing.


  • Alemja
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    Alemja quad damage
    I keep on digging everything you're doing with this character! For the horns, I think they would look better smooth as they already have so much going on with the candles and piercings. A textured horn might also clash with the hair as the hair has a little more texture already, but it's up to you.

    I can't wait to see the lowpoly!
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Yeah man! Each new update you keep knockin' it out of the park. I can't believe I didn't see the pentagram being implemented into the clothing before, but that (and the rest of the outfit) is looking great. I think you might be able to get away thickening her neck up a little more, but  I don't know if it would keep the same sleek feel that you have working for you right now. Looking forward to the low poly and textures!
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Loving it!
    The bobbies are imo a little bit too big and makes me feel she's losing balance, but might also be personal taste. Super clean otherwise and nice stylization.
    Pentagrams corsets FTW! \m/
  • RocketBryan
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    @Alemja
    Thank you as always, Alemja!  :) That's a probably a good call. There's been a few other pieces around the head that haven't quite made the cut for the same reasoning that it might push into 'too busy' territory. That's the real struggle with stylized pieces: they seem relatively simplistic, but they walk such a fine line when it comes to detailing. It's so easy to accidentally add too much. I've got some time, so I might try a few subtle things, but I think you're right on sticking with the smooth horns.

    @dGreenberg
    Thanks man! That's an interesting point. Now that I look at it, she is kinda looking a bit girraffe-like. I'll play around with it, but I may just need to lower her head just a tiiiiiiiny bit. Hopefully that'll be all she needs.

    @GravityBwlast
    Thanks again, dude! Hoping for the best on your Riot Challenge entry - I love that little guy!
    She definitely is a little...big. I usually stay fairly restrained when it comes to female anatomy, so I'm using Ezri here as a bit of experiment to push towards a bit more of the silly/sexy proportions. It kinda suits the succubus character type so it does serve some purpose as well, but it's a good thing she has a nice long tail to keep her from tipping over while being so top heavy. :D
  • RocketBryan
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    Alright, one quick block-out experiment later and I think I know where I want to land with the horns. I'm going to keep them generally pretty smooth (as I like the idea of kicking up the gloss towards the ends), but I'm going to indicate a bit of texture towards the base like A. I may add a few scrapes and scratches like in C, but keep it sparse. It's really easy to just go that tiny bit too far with noisy detail.


  • RocketBryan
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    Deadline for the ArtWar coming in fast, gotta wrap this bad girl up!

    This may be the last update until the finish line as I really need to focus. Aside from one or two tiny cleanup spots, all of her highpoly work should be 100% done. I'm currently cruising through her retopo phase, but I wanted to try out a few composite renders from ZBrush to try out a similar method I saw another artist use. I need to just bite the bullet one of these days and pick up Keyshot to get some decent clay renders done - it'd be so much faster.











    There's a number of other props besides the base and her book here, but they may or may not make the deadline, we'll have to see. I can say that whoever opens this book is probably gonna have a bad time....or maybe a good one, I don't judge. ;)
  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Personally I really like this look for the ZBrush renders. Do you mind me asking what method you used?
    Also you definitely made the right choice shortening the neck instead of thickening it, so great call. Keep on killing it!
  • RocketBryan
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    @dGreenberg
    Thanks man! Yeah, I waffled a bit on the neck and I still made a few tiny fixes that aren't represented in those renders. The tattoos actually helped balance out the longer neck a bit, kinda filled it in.

    The renders are actually just some basic ZBrush BPR render maps. I messed with some of the layer settings in Photoshop when compositing them all together. Not entirely sure I'd use the same method again though - I think you can achieve similar results in something like Keyshot without all the hassle of compositing render layers. The basic AO and Shadow settings for the ZBrush BPR were borrowed in part from another artist. Tweaked them a bit afterwards - probably don't need the 'rays' that high for a basic render.


  • dGreenberg
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    dGreenberg polycounter
    Oh sweet! I gotta try this out for a future high poly update. Still haven't sat down with Keyshot yet, so I'm good with BPRs in the meantime! Thanks for sharing man.
  • Menchen
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    Menchen polycounter lvl 3
    I have a feeling that this is going to end up on some rule34 website or something xD
  • slosh
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    slosh hero character
    This is looking sooo guuuud man.  When is artwar2 wrapping up?  I thought it was on the same timeline as the artstation challenge and that ended a week ago or so.
  • RocketBryan
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    @Menchen
    Hah! Considering a number of the artists I follow...I am 100% okay with that. ;)  I would just be stoked that other people would be as excited about this character as I am.

    @slosh
    Thanks mate! The deadline for entries is February 26th 2018 @ 11:59pm PST, so we have just over two weeks to wrap everything up. I am REALLY racing to finish her on time. Might have to cut a few corners where I can and then refine a bit afterward.
  • Torch
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    Torch interpolator
    She's really awesome and sexy. Would you mentor me dude :D 

    Amazing work!
  • nekromantikko
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    Said this on discord already, but this is my favorite entry and I hope you win! (I'm nekro)
  • adrxzero
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    I am really digging this piece! good works so far
  • Wazikhiel
    *Jaw Dropped* Holy shit. That's awesome !
  • RocketBryan
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    @Torch
    Hah, thanks mate! I sincerely wish I had the skill set to mentor other artists, but I feel like I'm really still learning as well. I might look into producing some tutorials in the near future, but until then I'd be happy to answer any questions though!  :)

    @jpr @Wazikhiel @adrxzero
    Thanks so much you guys!

    I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to quite make the deadline for the ArtWar, but it looks like the deadline got pushed back slightly and I'm super stoked. Gonna make sure that extra time goes into really polishing her textures. I'll try and post an update soon with some Marmo renders - I'm tweaking her bakes right now.


  • slosh
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    you gotta name for this saucy minx yet?  I might have missed it if you wrote it somewhere.
  • RocketBryan
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    @slosh
    She does indeed! I whipped up a fun little mini-bio in the second post here - Her name is Ezri ('Ehz-ree').

    ...Although there's been some suggestion that her full title is "Ezri the Thiccubus"  >:)
  • Lad
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    Lad triangle
    Man everytime i open polycount I see this thread and everytime i click because damn i really love that model and what you did with her. Fantastic work dude, those shapes and that design are really awesome :smiley:
    Can't wait to see the finished version :smiley:
    Of all the entries i've seen so far, yours is the one that I like the most !
  • PatrickSF
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    Simply impressive! I'm not a fan of the glasses but it's looking really good.
  • RocketBryan
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    @Lad
    Wow, thank you so much man! I'm thrilled you like her so much and I really appreciate the kind words!   <3

    @PatrickSF
    Thanks dude! Heh, not a fan of the nerd-girl look, I presume?  ;)

    And don't worry, fellow polygonal denizens, I am still alive!

    I'm racing through the various technical bits, so I haven't been putting together updates like I normally would, but Ezri here is looking smokin'! Grabbed a quick Marmoset shot from the early texturing stages that I thought was pretty neat. This is the first pass on (and first time trying to make) candles. Messing with the shader effects is a lot of fun! 

    Still a metric f*** ton of work to do still, but she's hummin' along nicely.


  • [Deleted User]
    She looks really pretty and cute!
    I like the candle effects you have too, feels cozy
  • karytsukino
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    She looks awesome. I loved the candle effects. i cant wait to see it finished. Keep going =) 
  • RocketBryan
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    AND FINISHED!

    I submitted just in time for the ArtWar deadline on Monday, but I ended up really pressed for time for the final renders and wasn't happy with the results. Decided to go back and fix a few issues with her rig, re-pose, and render everything out again. Time for one last image drop give Ezri the proper treatment she deserves.

    Large image batch incoming!










    This project was an absolute blast to work on and I am incredibly grateful for everyone's support and feedback along the way. You guys are simply amazing and I am blown away by shear amount of epic artwork that has gone into the ArtWar challenge. I'm going to get to working on a bit of a post-mortem write up for myself to make some notes on areas of improvement...and then it's back to work.

    Up next: reboot my Red Witch project! She's already pretty far along so I'm excited to see where she ends up.

    Thank you all once again.


  • Elithenia
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    Elithenia polycounter
    This is so nice!
  • jose.fuentes
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    jose.fuentes interpolator
    turned out so great! did they ever announce the winners for this contest?
  • RocketBryan
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    @Elithenia @josefuentes
    Thanks so much, guys!

    So far they just have the first round of finalists picked for both 2D and 3D catagories. I am incredibly grateful to have made it through the first round - there are just so many amazing pieces, I'm not sure if I could even pick a favorite!
  • GoodShepperd
    hi @RocketBryan Great Work!  I really like this piece, good luck with the contest.  If you wouldnt mind could you point me towards where you found this piece that was in your reference board 
  • RocketBryan
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    @GoodShepperd
    Thanks man! Yeah, that demon girl is a cutie for sure. I'm not very familiar with the artist. but she goes by SootySheep. She's got some great stuff and I think I stumbled across her work from finding this particular demon girl image.
  • GoodShepperd
    @RocketBryan Aha!  I thought the style looked familiar, I've seen her stuff before.  Thanks a lot
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