Dhalsim Jam - Late to the BRAWL

Jeremy Tabor

Congratz to all those who submitted an entry for the BRAWL. That's an inspiring thread if I've ever seen one.

I, on the other hand, didn't even come close. But I'm definitely going to see this through, as I had fun for the little bit I worked on it, and will plunk away at it as I get the time.

Here's where I left off...

original Thread: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82558

Concept:


Latest Progress:


Comment or critique about any of this is greatly appreciated. I'm disappointed I didn't make more time for this, but I still want it to be the best that it can be.

Thanks,

-Jeremy

Cooljay

Funny and cool at the same time. Nice take on this.

JGcount

I feel you could do better with the hand, and the thumb in particular, when looking at the profile shot. Love everything else so far.

Catlin

Holy hell man,this concept is fantastic.

Katori

Awesome, the low-poly 'fro is great. Love Dhalsim and Jam. Did you do the concept?

Jeremy Tabor

Thanks guys! I'm glad you like it.

@JGcount - most definetly. Thanks for bringing that up. I'm a big fan of your stuff. Thanks for the help

@Katori - yea, the concept is my own. As about as close as I can get to an illustration, lol.

thatanimator

love how the afro looks like hot coal in the concept ;D
might be something to go for, yoga fire indeed!

Jeremy Tabor

Hey everybody. I've been juggling a few different projects. But I've made some time lately to chip away at this guy.





I've blocked out most of the major elements, and now its time to really dig in and get this completely fleshed out Any thoughts tho are still greatly appreciated!

I've been having some trouble with how to approach Dhalsim's characteristic white eyes. What I've come up with thus far is goggles that will have a crazy sheen as to reflect white.

I've two ways I could go with this, the first being the Horace Grant-type box-frames, and the second being a more modern looking, sleek pair. I think the sleeker pair fits dhalsim's character more, but the Big Chunkies fit better with the theme...





Obviously, right now I've just scaled down the same model, but what do you guys think?

Horace, or Neo? or neither?

Also, I'm trying to come up with a good way to approach stylized body hair w/o making it look like a bunch of rabbit tufts sprouting out everywhere, so if anybody has any suggestions, I'm all ears

Thanks dooooods. :thumbup:

Bombshell

incredibly creepy... not the bad rape face creepy, the good inventive creepy.
I like it.
Really nice work on the sculpt, namely the effect on the hair, I'd also imagine it was pretty difficult working with odd proportions.

Jeremy Tabor

Haha, thanks man. It has definitely been a challenge... and one that I'm not sure I've met yet. I definitely was going for that weird/creepy vibe, but I think there are still so many ways I could push this further.

Thanks for the compliment, dude!

jimmypopali

lol dhalsim with chops

makecg

I like how messed up you are.. cool stuff robat.

Jeremy Tabor

hah, thanks guys

anyone have any thoughts on the size of the goggles tho? I'm honestly torn between which one will look better when fleshed out, since both options can be rationalized as mentioned in that earlier post, and it would be nice to get a couple more opinions on it. Right now I'm leaning towards larger version simply because of the comedic factor..



Or even other suggestions for something completely different would be fine. Finding a solution for Dhalsim's white eyes has definitely been the most challenging aspect of this re-design for me so far.

Jason Young

I like the idea of bigger goggles better, but prefer the execution of the slimmer ones in your screenshot above. When you zoom out on the entire character as in your original post, larger goggles will read better.

Jeremy Tabor

Thanks man. That's a great point, and that's what I went with.



In addition to reworking the goggles, I started over with the shoes, played with the drawstring, kneepads, and tweaked some of the forms of the leg.

I also hopped up a subdivision and added a good deal of veins into the arm. Right now I'm just testing it out to see how it looks and will continue on with it if I can get the look I want. Its all on a layer so I can tone it down or up as needed.



Thoughts?

Oh, and I've been told be a couple ppl that the face still looks too blobby/fatty and that its not Dhalsim's M.O. I definetly agree, so that is one of the things I will have take a look at before calling the sculpt finished.

gibson543

im not a huge fan of the viens but I guess it adds an extra something

Jeremy Tabor

hehe, yea. I don't want them to be there just for the sake of something extra tho. Lookin at it again, they don't really match the other exaggerated elements atm, especially with how densely there are clustered. Perhaps they're a little too gritty for this? What if I were to lessen the amount of them, but the ones I did include be more bold, sort of in the style of the shoe laces?

I do want to emphasize the feeling of strain in the length of the arm, and this was an attempt to convey that. Prolly a little overdone , even in these early stages I guess.

Thanks for the feedback

Mike Yevin

damn, im absolutely loving this. i like the veins but i feel like right now they are far too condensed especially on the forearm. maybe toning them down a bit would help.

keep it upppp

bgoodsell

Arm veins look nuts, but I think you may need to balance out the legs to be comparable on the level of crazy. Perhaps more exaggeration in the muscle groups just for good measure?

Can't wait to see him textured and posed. Its looking good so far.

Illusive

the proportions of the legs look slightly off, i'd either scale the thighs up a little or the calves down and maybe make the feet a little larger too, something a bit closer to the size of his hands.
also there's a weird point on his shoulders that's a little weird and i also agree that you should soften the veins down a tad.
other then that though i love the style of him and i think he's looking great man keep it up!!

Jeremy Tabor

Thanks for the help everybody.

@ Illusive - I agree. Something needs to be done to unify the legs with the rest of this guy. I'll play around with it some. I really just want to make sure the legs don't compete too much with the arms and torso, since I already have all those folds and stuff in the jersey. Thanks for the advice

Anyway, I did some sculpting on the hands, and here's a micro update of what I came up with for the veins after everyone's input:



What I wound up doing is use a couple different layers to tone back some of those veins while making a few main ones pop. I think it reads better now, and looks effin gnarly, so I dig it.

As far as the density goes, after contemplating it over a baked potato, I figured that since the hands were a definite focal point, that I would lay down the veinage thickest there, and then have them become less and less dense as you moved back inwards.

How do ppl feel about this? Is this working better, or back to the drawing board? This guy has been a great experiment and learning experience in character design for me, and I appreciate all the help

Jeremy Tabor

Hey guys,

sorry for posting right on top of myself, but I was given a crit in WAYWO that has been brought up to me in RL before, but not here in this thread yet, so I'm going to quote the comment and my response here for documentation's sake..

Mr.Wednesday wrote: »

lol Dhalsim looks great! Although I think you changed it too much and its barely recognizable, if you didnt mention it was Dhalsim I wouldnt have guessed it... but its a great piece though!

Robat wrote: »

Yea, your not the only one who has told me that

Right now, I'm banking heavily on the texture to reel back upon Dhalsim's original design. Hopefully if I keep the same color scheme and represent all of his iconic attributes in the final render (ie. the red stripes, white eyes, fire, etc.) it will at least have a sliver of recognizably.

Thanks for the crit man. I'm gonna quote this in the original thread since it hasn't brought up there yet

But yea. As I'm moving forward, I will attempt to key on some of the design elements that make Dhalsim what he is, and it will be good to have this comment archived in the thread to look back and see if I have accomplished that goal.

- Thanks

Alberto Rdrgz

You could probably pull this off in photoshop but softening the veins a little more should do the trick, and make them look more refined and natural. as for the model i love this style!

Dan!

really unique take on him. If you can pull off a sweet contorted pose coupled with the texture should sell it- keep it up! Also love the fro.

Jason Young

The flaming basketball is also going to help sell it. Were you going to incorporate the skull necklace at all? You could do something smaller and more subtle that would still be a good nod to the character's original design.

I think the veins work well on the hands, but may still be a little too much on the forearms. Really nitpicky, though, and it may look fine when baked as sometimes those details don't pop as much as they do in the sculpt.

MattQ86

Maybe the skull necklace should be a chest tattoo or something?

Jeremy Tabor

Thanks for the help guys!

@ Alberto - certainly. some cleaning up is definitely in order. and I'm glad you like it!

@ Dan! - thanks man, I have a couple of different ideas for the final pose, but w/e i wind up doing, I agree, I'll have to keep it gnarly.

@ JM Young - Yea I have plans to add in something for the skull necklace. But haven't come up with anything spectacular yet. Right now my plan was to do either a necklace(s) with skull pendants, or somehow incorporate skulls into the design of the jersey. And yea, those veins are spread out across a couple layers so its no problem at all to adjust them for display or baking purposes thanks again for the input.

@ MattQ86 - wow, now thats something I haven't considered yet. great idea, man. Thanks!


I'm gonna ponder hard on how to address that particular element just to make sure whatever is decided upon makes the best sense in the context of what I already have. That being said, any further suggestions on any of this stuff are more than welcome too! I'm not in any real rush with this, I just wanna do it right

Thanks everyone for all the feedback so far. This has been a blast to work on.

Jeremy Tabor

Ok, so this update won't be on the character, because this weekend I've also been working on a mini-environment / Super pedestal for fun that will go along with him.

Here's a few WIP Shots




Anywho, I'll be back soon with updates for the actual character

Thanks!

Jason Young

Sweet! The square part looks too big on the backboard, as I think it normally is as wide as the rim itself. Not really a huge deal, but figured I'd mention it.

Have you talked about how you plan on rigging him? Are his arms going to extend and compress, or are they always elongated?

Jeremy Tabor

Yup, you are absolutely right. Thanks man.




As far as the the rig is concerned, I haven't really thought about it too much to be honest, and I'm still very open to suggestions. I had planned on just rigging it up with arms extended since the final comp is going to have them stretched out like that anyways. I could definitely try to squash them down tho just for kicks.


Oh and...

GO MAVS!! BEAT THE HEAT!

Jeremy Tabor

Hey guys! Alright, so this post is coming about 2 months late, but here is a loose polypaint and quick sort of proof-of-concept pose I did for the sculpt a couple days after my last post.

I was revamping my site tonight and came across these images. At the time I had planned on taking some better renders and addressing all of those other elements of the sculpt, but I got caught up in a few other projects more relevant to my portfolio which I had/have been working on and just never got around to it.

BUT ANYWAY... since I'm not sure when I'll pick this back up again (I do plan to at some point), I'd like to at least drop these images off of the most recent progress.






Thanks guys for all the help with this, across this thread and the old one, and hopefully I can do this project justice sometime in the future!

Alberto Rdrgz

That second shot is looking pretty slick!

WipEout

THIS IS INSANE! Please finish it!

If/When you get back to it, I would consider also exaggerating the hoop-- make it super high and leaning over at an angle, with Dhalsim just landing his hand on the hoop, almost hanging off. I feel like if you can warp and stylize the environment in a similar way as Dhalsim, it will emphasize his own proportions and give him a world in which to ground him.

Either way, this is sick! Can't wait to see more.

n88tr

this is really trippy

Jeremy Tabor

Thanks for the encouragement guys

WipEout - Yea man, I completely agree. There are a lot of things that I still have left to do with Dhalsim himself, so I have a feeling that when I get back to this I'll be overhauling a lot of stuff about him akready, so I'll just add the environment to the list. Thanks for the advice!