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WIP League of Legends - Mega Gnar fan art

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GravityBwlast interpolator

EDIT - Project done, final shot, more shots bottom of page 1: 



Hello Polycounters!

I'm posting a new project I started yesterday. 

The aim is to show something not biped/humanoid on my portfolio, as well as improving my hand painting skills.
I'm doing it as it is in game, the closest I can to the in-game model.

So here is my refboard; I can't seem to find any official concept art online except the one below which reminds me of the spongebob meme (this one http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/018/259/55181940.jpg lol).
But thanks to Lolking.net I managed to get some poses, even a T pose and took screens of it as a work base.

(Mega Gnar has his head looking above in T pose, which makes a lot of sense skinning/animation wise, but its also kinda hard to compare to in-game refs to see if its good)

So after something like 3-4 hours in, here is what I have. Of course it's early early WIP so lots of things are off. (Head was subdivided just to test some things, ofc it's off and blobby, I'll just get back at working on it on the lowest subdiv level :) )



Sculpting is fun, but I already can't wait to get to the painting part.
Any crits are welcome!

Replies

  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hey.
    Another progress shot on Mega Gnar.

    Some parts are still blockout shapes. I worked mainly on refining shapes, and sculpting head, arms fur, hands, and tail. The fur on his back was a previous attempt as I didn't know how to do it properly. I then tried on the tail, using furry characters projects for the 2014 Riot contest as reference to see how people do. So now I kinda know for the low and mid freq fur. High frequency details will come when everything else is done.



    Again, critique is welcome! :D

  • lotet
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    lotet hero character
    Nice sculpt, your capturing the style well.
  • Tectonic
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    Tectonic polycounter lvl 10
    I think the hips should be a little more slender. coming along nicely though :)

  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hi guys!

    Here is the final sculpt, I'm now gonna retopo it and jump to texturing. (I could add more fur detail in sculpt but it will be a lot faster and easier directly painting it)
    I narrowed the hips, as you suggested @Tectonic, you were right. :)


  • Sebeuroc
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    Sebeuroc polycounter lvl 13
    Looking good, sculpt is looking nice and clean.

    He looks like he's missed leg day too many times; the forms for his thighs could use some work. I'd also recommend softening the transition between his bicep and forearm a bit.
  • 0bizwan
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    0bizwan null
    Nice sculpt, right mood, curious to see the texturing part :)
  • gfelton
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    gfelton polycounter lvl 6
    I like it, gonna be cool to watch this progress :)
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Thanks for the comments. 

    @Sebeuroc Haha you're right. I'll work on giving him fake legs as I'm sure he never did leg day anyway... Also smoothing this armpart. Then jumping on to retopo! :D
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hey, so I've been working on the retopo.

    Here is a little GIF of the whole character low poly model with an unlit black color, to see if the shape reads well.
    (the small hole over the head is the bottom of the skull, I'll plug it lower in the fur once it's baked)

    Currently it's 6987 tris. I've been aiming under 7000, after having downloaded and studied the topology of two League meshes found on the web, which are Snow Day Mega Gnar (6505 tris) and Bard (6679 tris). I am curious to see Mega Gnar's in-game model and compare it's topology to mine, to see if I can improve areas, but I can't find it anywhere, and I don't really want to try these "rip models of the game by doing so many instructions using many tools" tutorials.

    What do you think about it ?



    Now I can unwrap it (legs, lower torso/back, head and arms will be symmetrical) and bake an AO as well as a cavity and a normal map in case I need some quick masking for global tweaking.

    I'll post shots of the wireframes with the bakes when they are done. 

    Now, time to make some "play of the game", kek.
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hello guys!

    I've been busy these 3 last days, but I've still managed to work a few moments on this project.

    Here are 2 progress shots of it; I baked maps and cleaned/setup the base .psd so I can just start painting easily.

    The unlit mesh with base texture .psd ...


    ...and the wires:

    So yeah, still eager for some critique :)




  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hi! Me again. :)

    Started painting the fluffy cat. (what is in grey is still flat color + AO)
    I also had a view on the official in-game model; it's 11K tris, and I realized only one ear is bitten. If I need to give more geo to certain areas after texturing, I still have 4K for it, lol.

    So yeah, here is the current progress:



    Crits still appreciated :)
  • haZe
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    haZe greentooth
    This is looking great! If you're coloring on top of your greyscale, I'd recommend pulling out some of the forms a bit more in the texture, as certain areas are looking flat -- the fur on his forearms, for example, don't "pop." Compare the contrast to the area around his eyes and lips. Your value range could use some broadening, whereas the in-game model pushes darker and slightly more saturate in the reds. I'm not quite feeling that sense of top-down lighting, perhaps blend this into your AO from a lighting bake. Check your forms on his tusks, I believe they should dip down below the lip before reaching up again.  :awesome:
  • Cremuss
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    Cremuss polycounter lvl 12
    looking really good! looks like it came straight from league of legends. Like haZe said, maybe push those values a bit more? I'm waiting for more :)
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hey @haZe and @Cremuss, thanks a lot for the feedback!
    I get what you mean by some texture parts needing to "pop". I'll continue working as I did until here to finish this first big texturing pass on the whole thing, and then I'll check the contrast, saturation, and levels. 

    Here is a comparison between bakedAO+flat colors (left, which is what you saw in greyscale earlier) and handpaint (which is wip ofc) I think it pops more, what do you think ?


    Also, for the top-down lighting, I already set up a gradient map and a global AO baked on 3Dcoat from my lowpoly model. I have them ready to be added and tweaked after the texturing is done. (it's what I always do, so I have max control over it and can adapt anytime. (if you have another method or tips, I'm interested)
    Here is the said map:


    Cheers. :)
  • Tectonic
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    Tectonic polycounter lvl 10
    Keep in mind that after you rig it the head will be down by the chest, might want to rotate the geo to like a diagonal 45 degree position for the global ao and gradient map.
  • Cremuss
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    Cremuss polycounter lvl 12
    yes better for sure
    tectonic > yeah true but Imho he wants the head to read first, not necessarely the top of the back, so I guess the gradient is good like that.
  • Tectonic
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    Tectonic polycounter lvl 10
    Cremuss said:
    yes better for sure
    tectonic > yeah true but Imho he wants the head to read first, not necessarely the top of the back, so I guess the gradient is good like that.
    Yeah I get that, but he's getting a lot of light grey on the chest/stomach which should be a mid/dark grey for the gradient map.
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    @Tectonic You're right, I didn't think enough about it. I'll try to mix good focus on head and logical AO/gradient for a quadruped. Thanks for the input!
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hi guys!

    New progress here, texture is done, except for small tweaks based on feedback if I get some, hehe.
    Painting almost everything in 3D Coat. I did the AO and Gradient thing with the mesh rotated 30° from its T pose so its more accurate than previous baked maps.
    I also made the fangs unique (were symmetrical, I mean too obviously symmetrical) and one bigger to break symmetry. Also played with the teeth a bit to make them more chaotic, and gave his legs some more flesh and muscle again.



    More T pose shots:


    And a little mockup over a Summoner's Rift screenshot to see if it fits:


    What do you think about it ? Any feedback appreciated. ( or tips, especially on painting fur, I find this incredibly hard! )

    So now I'm gonna try and skeleton/skin/pose him so he can relax is neck muscles and stop being so rigid (He hasn't moved an inch during the whole texturing process, what patience he has, lol).
  • Tectonic
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    Tectonic polycounter lvl 10
    I think you could push the shadows darker to match the original (maybe play around with Levels in photoshop), but otherwise I think it looks awesome!
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    This turned out pretty great! I think you could push the colors more:
    Looking at the image you posted and the one in the top right of your reference collage; things that stood out for me:

    • Your teeth are too white (missing that gradation from orangish yellow at the top around the gum line.
    • Your gums not as pronounced
    • Overall value is too light - I'd push darker and really pay attention to the contrast that is missing around the eyes compared to ref
    • The highlights on the hands are not as pronounced (and seem void of the subtle breakdown of shapes using color - example the back of the hand by the wrist being subtly shifted to blue.)
    • The edge of the ears having a blueish outline
    • The fur leading into the ears being undefined and not as outlined/defined as the ref
    • Blue fur seems to have too much contrast and has too much white being used as a highlight, it should shift to a lighter blue not to white to have your gradation.  
    • Your model seems softer/cuddly in comparison to the original having a more sinister tone. Seems to be a combination of the fact that the facial expression not being as menacing - or the colors of your model being a smidge washed out due to the overuse of white to go lighter (instead of a brighter version of the same color).
    • Not enough contrast/value change between the skull bird crossbones and the fur it sits on. It's hard to read the shape compared to execution of your ref.)


    Congrats though, he's still awesome, but a few more tweaks and you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference. 

    Good luck
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    @Tectonic Thanks again, I'll check on that. A friend of mine extracted some models of the game and he sent me the Mega Gnar one. I took it directly as a ref in maya, flat shaded, but I now realize the highlights seem burned... I should have stuck with this refboard maybe. Anyway there's a lot of things to tweak now :)

    Hi @pixelpatron, well, THAT is what I call a feedback :D 
    Thanks a lot, really!
    I understand every point, I'll tweak each one tomorrow and see if I manage to push my model further.

    On another point, I noticed on your portfolio you did the environment on Metroid Prime: Hunters... Man, I want you to know I have been playing this game for more than 5 years online, had like +6000 hours on it, it's one of my favorite games ever. The 3D was incredible for NDS and the gameplay was unique, something that sadly never came back on this console. It's also the game that made me want to become an artist for games. So, huge thank you for that too, haha.

    You got me even more motivated. 
    Cheers!
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    Thanks Antoine, it's crazy for me to think somebody has played that many hours on a game I made art for so long ago. Damn I'm old. I've debated taking that stuff off my site a few times considering how old it is and pretty much irrelevant even by mobile standards, but it was good fun. Nintendo was such a weird company to work for, it was amazing on one end, and just truly baffling on the other. How they came about decisions on certain things was really a mind bender. Some of us were pushing hard to re-create the prime experience; but mobile. Yet the designers thought they could do better with what Hunters offered in terms of single player. So me and another artist pretty much took over the multi-player and made it into what it was. All my previous years of creating quake maps in the mod community came to the surface and we tried to put our own spin on it. (unique hunters, and the morph ball abilities.) Hunters was ahead of it's time in some respects.....It was pretty awesome having something like that in the palm of your hand back in the day. Pre-mobile phones and playing on-line. I think I have my copy and a working DS somewhere....we should try and have a match or two if you still have your kit. By the sounds of it you'll kick my ass for sure. lol.
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Reading this is amazing Christopher.
    So the multiplayer was you and another artist's work ? Wow. Maps such as Alinos Perch, High Ground, Outer Reach, Vesper Station, Combat Hall...
    Damn I'm getting crushed with nostalgia lol.
    Sadly the Nintendo WFC service ended in May 2014... Would have been a pleasure and an honor though! :)


    About the model extracted from the game I took as a ref for the texturing pass, it's this one:

    As you can see it's a lot brighter and does not look as in the game, I don't really get why.
    But yeah, time to sleep and I'll get this guy all textured up tomorrow.
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Here is what I have after a few hours of tweaking, focusing on each point you gave feedback on.

    I also tweaked a bit the geometry, moving the eyes area a bit to give them an angrier look, and moving some hands fur spikes points to make them a bit more... spiky. I also darkened the elbow, and brightened the biceps with light blue.
    He looks way better now to me, what do you think @pixelpatron?
    I will call the texture done now, at least as long as skeleton/skin/small environment socle aren't. Still taking any crits of course!

  • Sebeuroc
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    Sebeuroc polycounter lvl 13
    Very nice work! Textures are looking solid.
  • Cremuss
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    Cremuss polycounter lvl 12
    yes! greatly improved! nice job
  • Tectonic
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    Tectonic polycounter lvl 10
    Very nice! you should be proud :)
  • pixelpatron
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    pixelpatron polycounter
    Killed it, nice work!
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hey guys. So I have been working on skeleton/skin/rig. But I'm so bad at skinning and rigging that it's kinda messy and the skin needs tweaking on some parts. (I really dislike this part, but for once I'm forcing myself to try and do it)
    Here is a gif showing the pose idea, but it's very wip and the pose isn't even dynamic yet. (He will be more like jumping mid air over it, in a more acrobatic style, lol)



    So the scene idea is to have Gnar jumping over this bark, chasing something little that flies (bird? butterfly?), like a cat would chase a fly in an appartment.
    I want to show the wild aspect of Gnar, like a beast following its rage after something as stupid and meaningless than a fly (but a fly isn't cool enough imo, sorry flies, no offense)
    Here is a little sketch to show what I imagine



    This would be for the main beautyshot and Marmoset/sketchab viewers. I will probably (thanks to my messy and broken rig) manage to get some more fun shots, like these:




    As the environment and character are unlit I'll paint Gnar's shadow on the ground or use and alpha plane with the shadow just over the floor, I'll see later.


  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator

    Some progress shots, very WIP (grass and rocks need huge work mainly)
    As said, black sphere will be a bird on the main shot
    Alpha flowers and grass planes will probably be used, later


    Any thoughts?

  • GravityBwlast
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Hey guys, here is the project done!

    Marmoset viewer and every shots there: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lZrbY


    Thanks a lot to everyone who gave feedback! ( and you can still give feedback! :D )

  • Sebeuroc
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    Sebeuroc polycounter lvl 13
    Excellent work! The final product came out great :)
  • gfelton
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    gfelton polycounter lvl 6
    Awesome job man, came out really well! :D
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    Thanks guys!!

    Here is the sketchfab embed:

    model
  • Tectonic
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    Tectonic polycounter lvl 10
    its a small thing, but you might want to give the bird wings another pass. the feathers don't look right

    keep in mind that bird's wings have anatomy similar to the human arm

    dunno how much you care, but its the kind of anatomical flaw that distracts from your work's overall presentation :confounded:
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    @Tectonic
    You're right, I missed accuracy in this area. I don't have much time to spend on reworking the texture and every shot atm sadly. I may do it later when I have the time. Thanks for the input!
  • PaulChambers3D
    Looks phenomenal. Great to see such a detailed step-by-step.
  • Cremuss
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    Cremuss polycounter lvl 12
    congratz on finishing :) the final model fits really well in that LOL screenshot ! great readability and focus points. I also agree with Tectonic, that bird is probably not your strongest art piece haha. It kinda distracts the viewer more than anything else I think.
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    @PaulChambers3D thanks again!
    @Cremuss thank you man. Damn I didn't realize this bird was acting like a scumbag stealing all the attention lol. I definitely need to rework the wings and size him down on screenshots.
  • GravityBwlast
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    GravityBwlast interpolator
    I reworked the bird texture and scaled the mesh down (0.5 its previous size) and have redone every shot with the bird and updated the viewers.
    I was totally off with the wing anatomy. Now if it's not totally accurate it's at least a lot more acceptable and doesn't steal all the attention on the shots. I also had more space to enlarge Gnar in the shot. I don't have the time to spend hours on the bird sadly I will stop here. Again thanks for the feedback!

    Here's the new shot.




  • Tectonic
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    Tectonic polycounter lvl 10
    Looks so much better! Well done. I commend you for taking the time to adjust the bird, I know how hard it can be to find the time and motivation to go back into a project just when you think you've finished it. You've got an amazing piece here.  :hurrah:
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