Week 6: jzero - Samurai
polycounter lvl 18
I was reading the wikipedia entry on samurai, and it says:
"After the matchlock rifle was introduced from Europe, samurai started practicing this weapon. It became the favorite weapon of some samurai for sniping on the battle field as samurai were awarded for every enemy he took down himself..."
So here's a WIP of my young samurai sniper dude. His tanegashima or arquebus is named 'Whisper of the Eagle's Talons'. Just picture the enemy's general suddenly collapsing with a trail of blood spouting from his temple. He travels light, with his gear patterned like the foliage. He carries a fine Italian telescope for sighting in on his quarry, and a manrikigusari for a close-quarter backup weapon.
UPDATED 4.10 --> Not as finished as I'd like, but maybe I can hit it some more tomorrow. More comments below.
UPDATED AGAIN 4.10 --> made adjustments in line with the comments...
/jzero
"After the matchlock rifle was introduced from Europe, samurai started practicing this weapon. It became the favorite weapon of some samurai for sniping on the battle field as samurai were awarded for every enemy he took down himself..."
So here's a WIP of my young samurai sniper dude. His tanegashima or arquebus is named 'Whisper of the Eagle's Talons'. Just picture the enemy's general suddenly collapsing with a trail of blood spouting from his temple. He travels light, with his gear patterned like the foliage. He carries a fine Italian telescope for sighting in on his quarry, and a manrikigusari for a close-quarter backup weapon.
UPDATED 4.10 --> Not as finished as I'd like, but maybe I can hit it some more tomorrow. More comments below.
UPDATED AGAIN 4.10 --> made adjustments in line with the comments...
/jzero
Replies
/jzero
The legs look a little funky, weird angle or connection to the waist or something ... it's anatomically incorrect and looks like he's falling over to the side.
Apart from that, shaping up nicely! Keep it up!
Vermilion -- Yes, I was wanting to include the shoulder armor, because I think it would be logical for a sniper to protect his upper body more than his lower. Do you think the updated piece shows an appropriate size? The matchlock in the final here is based on one from the Tokugawa collection, and it looks like it's as long as a Kentucky flintlock from 100 years later. At least five feet. It's true, I can't help but be an iconoclast!
/jzero
Anyway, all that's kind of irrelevant here. Since you've got guns, we're talking 16th century, probably just up to the Edo period. For that time, these sode are still probably a bit larger than the fashion of the day, but I think they look good as they are now. Nice job on the cord ties, I can tell you researched how that looks. I can't tell you for certain if there was much/any armor worn back then that didn't have the skirted thight plates attached to it - that strikes me as being rather unusual abotu yours, but I think it gives the character a more agile and mobile look that seems appropriate for a tactical battlefield sniper.
The only crits I'd make this point are somewhat technical: the armored sleeves a samurai wore would have covered his entire arm and tied across the chest or shoulder, rather than stopping at the elbow. Tucking them in like that seems very odd. Also, while the geta sandals do look cool and I can think of at least one anime character who fights in them, no samurai in his right mind would wear them into battle
Oh, and one last uber samurai nerd point - his sword is upside down and on the wrong side. A wakizashi is worn blade up and all samurai always wore their swords on the left hip, no exceptions.
The sword, yes! Can't have that out of line. Last night it was late and I was thinking I wouldn't be home today, but that changed. So I can't deny this guy his daisho, right?
I went ahead and added the hip-plates, because they seemed logical. You should see the examples I saw at the art museum, they are amazing Meijii-period bronze, intricately and completely detailed. But both guys have the hip-guards, so it seems logical. I thought that the geta would be useful in the mud at the back of the field of battle, but you are probably right. Samurai Jack notwithstanding! (did you see the whole episode just about his geta?)
MoP -- Dude! You are welcome to model this guy if you want, and I would be more than flattered. I was talking with Bronco about it, but just as he said he'd like to do his own thing, I saw your post. I was planning a model sheet, are you interested in that? Favored over yours? Be my guest!
Thanks!
/jzero
I almost thought of doing a samurai gunner myself, but I'm glad I didn't because yours is much better than what I would have come up with!
jzero, MoP if you are still looking for someone to do the texture I would like to give it a try, if you think I am good enough
How are those model sheets coming along, jzero?
But yeah, this is black and white pixels at about 150 dpi on the originals. Clean, j4polaris? Yes, thank you, and you should see the godawful mess of lines that it begins as. Whole layers of them. And I'd be dead without undo. As would many of us.
Badname, I don't want to say I don't think you're up to texturing this mothah, but there is going to be an awful lot if you follow my suggestions. When I look at your site I see lots of faces and firearms, but I don't know if you're ready to do textures like this:
Okay, that's supposed to scare you! Not THAT complicated. But do consider it. I'll leave it up to you, and MoP.
I am going to do a color version of the concept sketch also, to show my ideas for what the texture should look like. My idea is that this guy is a pioneer of camouflaged snipers, and his armor and clothing would be patterned to make him blend in to the landscape. Still decorative, though.
The model sheets are under way. Got a lot done yesterday thanks to child illness! Not usually a positive thing, but... ran out of steam at the end of the day, but I should get it finished tonight. MoP, there are rear-side details you will appreciate learning about when you get 'em.
Thanks to all for the good vibes, it's done wonders for my ego.
/jzero
Link to full-size version, 438Kb
Crits welcome on what I may have done poorly here, what not so poorly. I wouldn't call it completely finished, but maybe it'll do.
/jzero
Thanks for making use of my scrawlings!
/jzero
I'll get in touch if I can't figure out some parts, but you seem to have depicted it very clearly, so it should be smooth going... I'll try to get some WIP shots up tonight. The mesh shouldn't take too long... but damn, I haven't done any character modelling in a while! This is fun
Good luck Mopper ill be watching you 2.
john
thats cool, until yesterday @ teh library i idn't know samurais used guns
Figured I'd left you all hanging long enough to post some evidence that I was actually doing something!
He's way over budget at the moment, currently sitting at 4200 tris, and I haven't even made the hands, shoulderpads or items yet. I wasn't really paying attention to polygon count when modelling, so there's plenty of areas I can chop down later.
Still all mirrored at the moment... I should be done with the mesh in a day or two, workload allowing.
MoP
You were smart to ignore the limit when building the initial mesh, as you focus more on getting all the details done. After it's all finished, you can go back and chop things down.
... I definately need to develop that kind of workflow a little more.
It's nice to see how you did some things were i had some problems with.
Great stance and fabric blousing. I like the figure's attitude, the face is lovely, even the footwear kicks. I'm still just jazzed about someone using my concept!
I hate to say it after you did all the work on the armor strips, but if you need to knock down the polycount, you could just as well merge all of those into single panel-shapes, and the louver-edges could be done on the texture. I know the texture specs don't call for normal maps, but it's just the opportunity for such.
/jzero