badass!!! Gladiator type warrior

jam-i-am

SUP!! folks first time posting, this is a new character I'm working on for my portfolio site, which will be back up soon, its undergoing some work. this is just one of three characters I'm currently working on. I'm having problems in developing the armor design, and seeing that I’m not a concept artist at all, although I do draw frequently (mostly anatomical drawings), implementing a chain, pulley like mechanism on his back which will allow him to release more chain as he wields his weapon and is able to retract it at will, while staying with the theme i have going (Not Futuristic) is somewhat challenging, I'm all for the challenge though...

by the way the chain axe thingy, is just a placeholder for now I'm still working out how I'm going to attach it to the arm

Any ideas or suggestions are very much welcome

rjhalvorson

Because he's 'lumpy' by design, you can get away with some awkward anatomy, but I think you should develop his hands a bit, he looks like he's wearing a latex glove on a stump. Give him fat butcher hands to keep in line with your theme.

Reminds me a bit of the Persian executioner from 300. You should watch that for inspiration. Gladiator is another good reference movie, Rome the HBO show, all gladiator type themes.

jam-i-am

thanks man, I definitely agree about the hand, I just haven't touched it yet just mostly blocking out some basic forms and will definitely beef that bad boy up.

adamlewis

Looks awesome. I love the anatomy and the general proportions/gesture of the character. For the chain weapon I think you might want to have it attach more solidly to him. Right now it looks like if he swung the weapon with enough force it would tear right off him. Maybe have the device hook up to his shoulder for some added support.

-DN-

looks good

The collar bone is really bugging me tho. If he were as fat, lumpy, or even that muscular I really do not think his collar bone would pop out like that. They also look to close together but that could be due to the deformation in his shoulders.

I think my favorite part of the sculpt is his lips so far, they remind me of the guy from ninja scroll

DrillerKiller

good start, but it looks like he's wearing metal diapers..

FAT_CAP

Very nice. I love the bulk and overall forms on this guy. He should look great textured up and rendered

killingpeople

this is a great start, i like the character, i look forward to seeing where this ends up man! keep it up!

Xaltar

I would develop the stump arm a lot more. If he is swinging a ball and chain with it the muscles would be much bigger and more developed. Also, like adam said, get some sort of harnus holding it on it will add a lot to the model as well as make it look more functional.

almighty_gir

with the lack of mobility/vision caused by his neck/shoulders, he'd die pretty fucking fast lol.

jam-i-am

adamlewis- thanks, glad you are enjoying it, I agree that the weopon need to be attached alot better than currently is, as I mentioned in the first post I'm trying to develop a chain release like mechanism on his back (one such as the one in the pic) which will alow him to launch with his shoulder/deformed arm and with the other arm tug on the chain with a great force pulling it back. I'm having a difficult time trying to make it fit the theme and the mood of this guy. witch is what i need the most help with.




-DN- thanks man, umm.. the reason for my decision to make the colar bones so prominant is that i usually see fat guys modeled with a very plane and smooth chest area(whch is anatomically correct) however i wanted to add a little more interest to that area so i changed the stance to have him more hunched over, by doing this it gave me a reason to add those overlaping forms there,while still trying hard to keep it grounded in reality.

DrillerKiller- ha ha!! I said the exact thing man, i knew someone would point that out, thanks though ill make it look less like a diaper with some added detailing and straps, although i was trying to say away from the generic loin cloth look, I will attack the desing soon.

FAT_CAP- thanks man, textures will come eventually.

killingpeople- thanks

Xaltar- about bulking up that arm.. i was also trying to stay away from doing that, although you make a great and valid point, the arm was not severed in a battle or anything like that, it was deformed from birth. But.. i totally understand what your saying and would definately change it if i didnt have that story for it. and besides i like the contrast between both arms, the fact that his "Weak Arm" need to have such a powerful weopon while his "Strong Arm" is able to stand alone.

almighty_gir- lol I see what your saying but this character is based on his mass, instead of tuning his head he would turn his entire upperbody which gives him a more powereful and menacing feel.

almighty_gir

actually he'll have to turn his WHOLE body. with his neck the way it is, his upper body woll only give him like, a 60 degree field of vision (including upper body turning).

try it yourself, keep your head straight, and see how far you can comfortably twist your upper body.

bear in mind he's a heavy guy, too. so balance will play a huge role in how far and how easily he can turn.


i totally understand what you're going for, and it's great. but i've seen too many times in games where bosses have been built to look like this, BUT WAIT they can move just as easily as everything else >_>

jam-i-am

Update!!!

almighty_gir- I understand man.. I think at this stage its more of an aesthetic preference and not really a fact of how easy he will be able to move, naturally he will be very slow and sluggish anyways, so I don't think it would matter as much but you are right.

I started on making the face more asymmetrical and without taking away what I originally envisioned. still a lot to do..

let me know you guys think..

almighty_gir

boring.

too many characters out there with one side of their face "scarred".

why not try other types of assymetry? especially if you're going for the slow, dim witted look.

like maybe Sloth, from the goonies?

SinisterUrge

Looking good so far. How about you distort his face to look more like Sloth? Then you'll have the dimwitted look your after

jam-i-am

almighty_gir- lol, I love your honesty man:D, and really thanks alot for your critiques, but i think we have a little mis-communication, this character is a warrior first and formost(Gladiator Type warrior) I want to bring that out in his facial features and gesture as much as possible, not a dimwited look. the scars are there to show his experience and the hell he has gone through.

SinisterUrge- thanks alot man, as i mentioned to almighty_gir thats not the look im trying to go for.

almighty_gir

ah ok, in that case (and i'm not trying to be harsh or anything), i think you might need to revisit the concept.

as explained before, he's clearly none too mobile, he wouldn't last long at all in an arena to be honest. so having him being uber strong is really all he'll have going for him.

you're already limiting his field of vision with his neck muscles, and now you want to lose an eye for him too? harsh. especially since it's the side where he has no weapon/shield to defend himself with either.

i think you've got a great base going, but it just doesn't scream "gladatorial champ", it really does suggest "slow fucker that takes a lot of abuse and will kill you in one hit". the Sloth look, would also add interesting character to him, from the point of view as i said, everyone and their dog gives their characters scars nowadays. push the envelope bro, make it unique.

MoP

i say don't get bogged down in technical worries like whether he'll "work" or not, just make something that looks awesome even if it doesn't make 100% sense...

definitely agree that the face should be more distorted and evil, he looks fairly plain in the face department right now, while his body is pretty deformed and messed up, so the face doesn't seem to match?

anyway this seems to be going in a good direction, keep it up!

jam-i-am

almighty_gir- hey man, you know, I agree with a lot of what your saying, I added a shield to that side of his body to offset the fucked up eye, I want to make this character different and really push the design, seeing that I'm a freshman in college I haven't learn anything on character design and development, but im doing as much research as i can on it and will push it as far as possible.

MoP- I agree, thats actually whats slowing me down now, trying to figure out how he will work, although I can see it in my head im probably not translating it as clear as I could. im still working out some kinks in the design and will post some updates soon.

thanks again guys i really aprreciate the help that im getting.

JohnnyRaptor

less talking more arting, post some more images dude

woogity

along the lines of what gir said his left side is extremely vulnerable now compared to the right try focusing your armor there since the attack side will likeley need more mobility and speed, also may just be me but i think a huge tower shield on his left would be amazing, also for the attachment of the ball and chain mechanism, like mop said, dosnt actually have to function, as long is it looks tight and seems like it might work.

like it alot so far!


-Woog

jam-i-am

Update!!!

hey everyone sorry for the long gap between my last post,Ive been working on the other two characters along with this one and while they are all fun to work on this character has been kicking my ass all over my tightly snugged room, so.. I decided before I let it get the best of me Ill torture the hell out of him, for the pain he has been putting me through. and this is what I have so far. I have plans to make weapons lodged in his body from fights he has been through and more self inflicted wounds on his back. Still to come veins and other little details.

I took woogity advice(thanks a lot man) and added a shield to his left side, also added a helmet and a arm-guard. which I'm detailing at the moment.

I would love to hear what you guys think.

Slum

awesome, that helmet is rad.

dfacto

Really awesome work man, been watching this thread for a while.

Isn't the helmet blocking his good eye though? :P

JohnnyRaptor

i was just gonna say, dude cant see!

jam-i-am

thanks guys, the helmet will not cover his eyes totally this was an earlier pic i took of the helmet. in the image below (although still early in concept) I plan on having holes so he will be able to see. sorry for the confusion I'm still working on the helmet and will post an update soon.

bugo

cant wait to see next

woogity

hey man great stuff the helmet is a tight design, and the shield is lookin cool coming together nicely some holes or slits over the good eye is a nice idea, heavy helmets usually wouldnt have a wholly open eye kinda lets people poke it out...

also love the form of the shield and the overall style is coming along nicely cant wait to see the detailing on your gear!


-woog

jam-i-am

here's a teeny weeny update...

have been really unproductive the this past week but here's a quick sketch, I would really like your thoughts and inputs about the shield. I'm not too feeling it, i feel it doesn't fit the character quite well, but I'm desperately in need of some help..

thanks woogity!!

konstruct

Yeah i dig the sculpt but I do agree about it not fitting, might mesh better if it was a mangled hunk of assembled misc armor parts sorta like his helmet-

farking cool project btw.

woogity

thats a cool idea konstrukt! haha made from the armor of his fallen enemies! yea i agree about it as it is now, i feel like it should definatly be meaner, im tryna avoid saying spikes on it, caus that gets done alot, hmmm try some different things and post variations!


-Woog

BradMyers82

Hey nice work so far. Maybe you should take a screen shot of the whole character and do some paintovers in photoshop of different armor variations.

It seems like an inefficent way of working to spend all the time on a high poly only to decide you would rather it look different. That's what I would do at least.

jam-i-am

UPDATE!!

got some time this morning to tinker with this... i still have to sharpen a lot of things and still a ton of details and armor parts to add but its coming along pretty decent.


konstruct- thanks dude, I took your advice and added some misc pieces to it. I still have a lot more to add but it was definitely a cool idea.

woogity- yeah spikes definitely get played out but also skulls on the front of things, i just have to try and make it different somehow.

BradMyers82- great advice I will do that.

thanks again guys...

Slum

sweetness! This guy is looking awesome. My only issue with him is his little nubby arm. It doesn't seem like he'd be able to throw that maceball with very much momentum with it attached at the shoulder like that. Maybe if it was at his elbow or forearm and he had some beefy muscles on top. Right now I imagine him just kind of wriggling back and forth flopping it around, not so much swinging with brute force.

buddikaman

Hey man the shield is looking cool. It looks like your getting the hang of hard surface modeling. Its really hard to acheive that look in a sculpting program. I agree with Slum on the arm, but we already talked about that. I would make it attached to his lower arm as if it was chopped off and replaced with the weapon. The other arm looks fantastic so I think this would really add to the character.

Scott Petty
Environment Artist
BioWare Austin

jam-i-am

thanks a lot slum, although I agree with what your saying about the arm, I mentioned in an earlier post that he was born deformed and his arm is not a casualty of war, if the maceball was attached to his elbow or forearm it would seem as if it was attached there due to his amputated arm, I wanted to get a different feel for it as I have seen it done that way before(although it works perfecty for them) I will try and address the maceball holder with some attachments to his body somehow to make it more believable, as I think its too late to revisit the arm.

hey buddikaman, yeah im definetly getting a bit more comfortable with the hard surface stuff, im actually finding it really zen like...(wierd I know) but other than that its coming along fine.

about the arm (read my reply to slum)

whipSwitch

ack, replied to the first page.

regardless, Don't cover up his face, it's rad.

woogity

hey man looking nice, try and add some asymmetry to the shield, it dosnt quite fit the rest of the character as clean and symmetrical as it is compared to the body and face of this guy try and reuse elements too, like if u are going to use a chain make it the same general size and type as the one on his arm, try and re-incorperate the rivets and small hole forms from the helmet.


This is turing out great man glad to see u arnt rushing it too easy to do on exciting projects.


-Woog

jam-i-am

woogity- thanks man, I have one more pass where I will break up the symmetry with some battle damages and such, I'll take your advice and I will reuse the same size chains from the shield on the arms as the chains on the arm are too small right now in comparison. i know what you mean, i usually try not to rush as i always seem to solve certain problems with some more time spent on it.

here is what i have so far, as i mentioned earlier i have one more pass of detail and battle damage to go, also i have more pieces of randomly placed armor parts to add.

Sauron

lower звено(russian) is going to fall!
Sorry, i can't say this word in English :-[

jam-i-am

Sauron- I'm sorry buddy, I'm not sure what you are trying to ask or suggest,
thanks though.

dfacto

Not sure, but I think he's tying to say that the last link on the bottom chain would fall off, which it would since it's open and just hanging there.

Mcbiskit

Very nice job taking your original shield and making it fit the character. I'm enjoying your progress very much and will be following this thread.

Sauron

dfacto, my bad english again, thanks)

jam-i-am

dfacto- oh ok.. thanks, its all good though, its just there to make the shield look a little interesting, what ill do is bend that chain link a little to make it look more plausible.

Mcbiskit- thanks man

conte

very nice model so far, jam-i-am!
keep going!

woogity

nice work on the updates, im liking the revised shield, has facial features but dosnt blatently throw a skull with some horns in your face. i like the addition of the other chain bit too, dont know what it would be used for, but it kinda makes it look like it was something else that he adapted to use as armor, which fits him nicely.


-woog

jam-i-am

Ive been a little busy with putting together my demo reel so I haven't done much to this guy(forgive me guys), anywhooo...

I decided to keep the eye covered however Rota over at CGtalk mentioned in an earlier post that it would be pretty cool to have him so emotionless about whoever is around him that he "tears apart everything around him, no matter if its a friend or foe, or a tree" I really like the idea, and thought maybe when he gets really desperate he rips off the helmet and becomes a lot stronger and his attacks would become more focused.


conte- thanks dude!!

woogity- as always thanks bro, I wanted to add some kind of a history behind the shield besides scratches and such so I just threw that in there it definitely adds a little interest to the shield.

jam-i-am

Ive attached images of three of the many characters Ive been working on some older pics, but I will show recent renders soon, nothing special but it should make up for the late posts.

thanks again for everything guys and i will try to post more updates.

Hebs

wow , i am pretty impressed with your work ..really love the form/weight of your character it reads very very well.
I have no real critiques sorry im just digging it, instant fan here.

jam-i-am

Thanks a lot Herber, its great to see that my work is accepted so well by the cg community (thanks everyone!!), I would be lying if I said it didn't feel good, and it only inspires me to keep working hard to get my foot in the door and join the greats in the industry making kickass games.

thanks again guys I really appreciate everyone's comments