Dragon
polycounter lvl 6
Hi Guys, loving the forum so just had to join 
Currently working on a dragon for a sculpting contest, any crits/tips would be highly appreciated
Currently working on a dragon for a sculpting contest, any crits/tips would be highly appreciated
Replies
I have just started working in HD and added a rough skin look, i tried scales but didnt like the look of it so im going for more of a rough dinosaur skin. Also testing out polypainting as i havent tried it before.
Is it possible to render out AO to the texture? That would help alot with the texture..
I might shrink his head slightly as you say hes got a big one
Honestly, I don't think his head looks too big, I think it looks great! You just need to adjust his stance
Shrunk the head a tiny tiny bit, made the skin more skinlike, added new claws, spikes and teeth since the old ones didnt have a lowpoly mesh and also worked on the inside of the mouth.
Havent posed him yet, think ill add the scene first.
Maybe that's just me, though. That plating going down his throat/underside though seems pretty solid, pretty rigid, and I imagine with it going over his "shoulders" it makes it feel like it'd really inhibit the movement of its front legs.
Think ill try narrowing the plate and just adding some separate "plating"/"ruggednes" on the shoulders.
@ Shad0wForce: Thanks, ive actually thought about that earlier and tested stretching him a bit, but havent yet decided
Also been working on the cave, crits or ideas about what kind of stuff a dragon would have on its cliff would be appreciated:
Both sculpts look pretty good, but it seems you skipped from large shapes to fine detail very quickly. I'm missing some larger details and I don't think you should be messing with skin pores, and tooth scrapings just yet. How about some more defined muscles? Some battle damage - broken horns/teeth, scars, torn wing/mohawk?
It's also still 100% symmetrical which isn't very nice.
Quite like the dragon's general direction though - stocky and buff, with an original face. Oh - you'll want to thicken up the arms a bunch, they're the thinnest part of him.
I had more defined muscles in the beginning of the sculpt when trying to get a believable anatomy, but toned them down a bit when i thougt about that the skin would be thick and not to tight, might go back and define them abit more later.
Symmetry will also be adjusted later, as well as some wear and tear.
Not to sure about beefing up the arms though, that might be a bit to much. But i got aprox 6 more weeks to work on this so alot might change
and a 180 view:
[ame]
Looking good.
I keep getting that about Deathwing, must be the jaw? Most of the inspiration actually came from D&D dragons
I really like that rock scene, looking forward to seeing the final product ^^
When it comes to his skin and wrinkles i think i will be using some alphas with exaggerated intensity at first and then smooth them out to get a rough wrinkle that i can finetune with clay and pinch brush.
For bones, I would say more dwarve remains than humans. Humans are greedy, but they don't have a hard-on for caves and jewels and such like a dwarf does.
Love the second and forth pose you got there, one the second pose it kinda looks like hes roaring down towards the ground... perhaps have him with his head up more like hes roaring into the sky (better sound travel vs aiming it to the ground)
one suggestion i would make is when i think of a dragon i think of reptile and replies have a lot of different size scales depending on which part of the body its on
check out some pics of iguanas and you can see what i mean.. they have larger scales on their heads and even large scales near the jaw and then it tapers into smaller scales on the body
Eltrex: Ill look for some pictures and adjust the scales first thing tomorrow
edit* smaller image
Going to work on the face, add the wings and also add some assymetrical scars before i start painting, still not sure what color to go for :P
http://dsc.discovery.com/dinosaurs/
^ that has a lot of video clips and dino viewers that can give you some ideas
I hope your gonna go back finish the feet !!
the wings could use a bit more definition and detail!
Good luck!
Will watch some "walking with dinosaurs"
Also, Jungsik, please be more specific about the feet, this screenshot is without the claws if that is what you mean, if its anything else please tell me
my only gripe go back to your HiPo sculpt. Your mid level details are far too underdeveloped and it results in a muddy end result.
try to break any sculpting process down into 3 steps:
Large details first > Medium details second > small high frequency details last.
One thing I see time and time again is people getting too excited while working in sculpting packages and they rush to the small detail stage too quick.
things like the muscles, chest plates, bone land marks (such as the jaw region) need definition. Right now all of those are muddy.
Try to simulate how the muscles might stack, or tuck underneath one another- get some hard edges/creases where organic forms smash into one other. The anatomy is there and looks solid- it just needs some lovin.
A little more definition and this guy will sing-
I can agree when it comes to hard edges on the chestplates and bone landmarks, but after i defined the muscles i purposely softened the edges where the organic forms smash to make the skin look thicker, like the skin of a elephant. Dont you think tightening the creases around the muscles would make the skin feel thinner?
Im no expert so im all for changing stuff, but would like your thoughts on this and also if anyone else has an opinion, please share
Going to be adding the cave, some more environmentand also doing some small changes to the dragon before the 17. Hopefully i will have enough free time to do this :P
Might work a bit more on this, unless i get inspired to start some other stuff :P