Akira, Kaneda
interpolator
I'm going to attempt a Kaneda. Not sure about the bike, for now I just want to do a realistic character.
Here's what I have after pushing it around the screen for a morning. Spent more time on the body then the clothes. Clothing wise the pants are the only thing I've put anything into.
Right now I'm considering how to go about everything. The movie is from the late eighties, so I'm weighing updating the costume to something more sleek, or going full out eighties on him. Opinions wanted.
Crits and comments appreciated.
Here's what I have after pushing it around the screen for a morning. Spent more time on the body then the clothes. Clothing wise the pants are the only thing I've put anything into.
Right now I'm considering how to go about everything. The movie is from the late eighties, so I'm weighing updating the costume to something more sleek, or going full out eighties on him. Opinions wanted.
Crits and comments appreciated.
Replies
quick sketch:
I think the original costume stands the test of time, so I would only change it if you want to approach the project as a reinterpretation of classic characters.
If you do end up modeling the bike, you gotta recreate the iconic cover!
@dirigible - Thanks for the advice. I'm looking into his face now. I've decided to do a re-interpretation. I don't want to loose everything that makes it so 80's, but I'm going to cut out just a couple things. I suppose, to me, the most iconic part of Kaneda is the Jacket, so I'll be keeping that un-touched, at the very least.
i think you should def go with the poofy kind of jacket hes wearing but it looks good right now
Also, you should take a look at the eye-fold.
I would say based on your portfolio to really push your material differentiation on this character. Make sure that the fabrics look like fabrics, plastics like plastics....etc. Solid modeling and sculpting skills, just have to push those textures.
This is definitely going to be a great piece.
@ Carl Brannstrom - Thanks for the critique. I can clearly see the areas you outlined, I'll take another couple passes at them.
@ Jungsik - Thanks. The jacket is super iconic, so I'll attempt to recreate it best my skills allow.
@ wester - It was really nice of you to go into my portfolio and pick out the overall things I have trouble with. It's true that my materials are my weaker parts, so I'll try to pick it up with this one. Again, much appreciated. I've decided not to do a 1:1 recreation, but I've also decided to be picky abou the things I'm going to change. I won't change the iconic things: coat, goggles, bike (if I can find the time to do it). I might change the clunkier stuff - the snow pants tucked into half-boots being about the only major thing. I'll try not to make choices that will put people off. Kaneda is kind of an art icon of that era, so I can't get away with much.
Looking pretty good. You'll probably be tackling most of the things I'd crit on as it is still early, so I won't really nitpick just yet. I do agree however, that the original outfit is still very cool, so you better bring it with your re-interpretation. Plus, I think his ears sticking out was a big part of his personality and makes for a stronger silhouette. Excited to see what you do here!
Not huge things, fortunately. Like sometimes the boots and gloves have cuffs on them, sometimes not. Sometimes the goggles are square on the face, and sometimes they are rounded. Sometimes the characters have pointed/out-turned ears, and sometimes they appear to be missing ears.
At any rate, I suppose a lot of it is moot since I'm re-defining certain aspects anyways.
I'm still blocking the elements in, although I've gone into higher detail on the pants because I'm pretty much done concepting them.
I youngified his face, reduced the jaw and added a bit more ethnicity. I like it more.
At any rate, for better or worse, images:
Crits and comments appreciated.
Um, thanks? At any rate, when are you going to update your car thread? The high-poly clay render was looking amazing, I really wanted to see where it would go for real-time.
For my money, I think if you're going with a kind of median of the proportional variation, his face should be a bit more on the round side.
It'd probably be a lot easier to get a feel for him if you tossed some rough hair on there.
Finally got a chance to work on this some more today, spent most my time on the jacket.
Which one do you guys like most? a - more traditional; b - a little sleeker without the boots but also possibly a sin against amazing art.
At any rate, turn around for the second version. I'm not really married to either.
I like the liberties you`ve taken. (dont forget gloves!) The knee pads seem odd to me. Its like they cant decide whether they are part of the pants or a separate element. I think tightening up the back sides of the knees would help. for pants that tight I dont feel like they would look so "inset" more "on top"
The wrinkle pattern on the lower leg seems a bit forced. I understand your going for a pleated look, but generally those stem from folds at the top of the pants.
Also- the shoes should be upturned at the toe, similar to this:
@stickadtroja - Yeah. I've decided not to do super asian features, since the movie is futuristic I figure I have that liberty. Here are some images of the face. I think I got a good amount of asian base.
I am also in favor of the pants being tucked into the boots. I just dont like the boots you have at the moment. His are brown and leather like you have in the other versions. it adds alot I think
I wish I had more than an hour or two a couple days a week to work on this. I know some people liked the boots better, but I've decided to go with full pants. Sorry. I also took some advice offered and have gone away from the pleated shins. Worked on the polypaint a bit on the jacket and skin. I'd really like to push myself in that department on this piece, but I'll wait a bit until I get the overall design modeled out.
Anyways, crits and comments appreciated,
Thanks.
However I feel that the cheekbones are a little too shallow, and the eyebrows end a little too far out.
@ GragGunslinger - Thanks. I'll look into that. Part of the eyebrow thing might be because his face is distorted by the low FOV, but possibly not.
@dirigible - You seem to pop up everywhere man, you're one of those prolific polycount posters. Thanks for the link. I saw the female version on reddit awhile back and saved it to my references file. Very helpful. I saved the male now too, so thanks for sharing. I think you're right about them being a bit too far in. It's also possible that his head is a bit too wide at the temples, making his forward facing skull seem small compared to his cranium. I'll have to do some reference diving.
You're on to me! Yeah I've been posting a lot recently because 1. I need to stop lurking, and 2. I've tried to stop visiting time-wasting sites (and as a result I spend a lot more time here). Phase two of operation "stop being so worthless" is to start posting my own stuff on here...eventually.
The face-mixing thing is really cool. I think it might have originally started with this site.
[anecdote]Upon a time I was trying to convince this one guy that the facial proportions of his model were off, so I posted an image of the average female mixture overlaid onto his model. His (and others) response was "not every face should be perfectly average, this is supposed to be a unique face!". That is true, making your face unique is a good thing. But I went through that site and compiled a bunch of different faces into a gif, showing that the positions of major facial structures actually change very little, even on "weird looking" faces. Curse me for deleting that .gif, it was pretty cool. Eyebrow height, eye spacing, base of nose height, and middle of mouth height all change VERY little, even across ethnicity and even for unattractive faces. It ultimately showed that his model's face wouldn't just be unique, it would be deformed.[/anecdote]
http://www.beautyanalysis.com/mba_reposefrontalmaskapplication_page.htm
It doesn't seem 100% accurate, but it does a good job of pointing out what you were saying -- that in most people, features very little. It's the subtle difference and deviations that make something unique, and not really massive changes.
@Jackablade - Yeah, it's a good reference image. I didn't know there was a male version so thanks again to Dirigible for posting it.
Here's a link to the female version - http://feministphilosophers.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/averageface.jpg
And also a link to higher-res images of average faces, male and female, sorted by nationality. - http://www.mediadump.com/hosted-id167-average-faces-from-around-the-world.html
Some of his facial features have been bothering me, did a paintover to show what I mean.
Thanks for the paintover.
I do think he looks a bit more Chinese than Japanese at the moment, and I feel the pants should be a bit more loose (if you want to stick closer to the original).
And as you probably guess, I also echo the boots.
http://www.modernbuddy.com/pix/motorcycle-injuries.jpg
http://www.toplessrobot.com/kaneda%20jacket.jpg
http://www.collectiondx.com/gallery2/gallery/d/528544-2/kaneda13.jpg
In these boots they have less of a big fold over, like you had originally, and they don't taper down as much. I think this might also have to do with his pants being slightly more loose in the original.
For all the great work you've put into it I'd say it's a shame to skip the boots without more trials, as it gives him a lot more character.
However, it's still coming along awesomely.
@noodle -- Thanks for the input (and the links). I can't say that much is going to change my mind at this point about the boots. I get why people want them though, I do.
Btw, I think you overworked his eyes on this update, previous one was spot on. Asians tend to have pretty thick skin on eyelids, so you don't get that much creasing and sagging, especially in younger people.
At any rate, thanks for the replies, guys.