Gribbly Ghastly, sculpting help/crit

Adz Grant

Hey all!

So, I'm a fair way through my sculpt of this nasty, angler fish based Ghastly (Pokemon).

I'm happy with the direction it is going currently, but it needs pushing a little further, more detail I think. So I thought I'd open it up to you guys

How do you think I could improve the sculpting so far?




Thanks for any and all help!

GoldBlackWolf

Hey, first thing that springs to mind is the shape, it's very formless at the moment lacking in an anatomical sense. I'm going go out on a limb and say you have jumped up the divisions a bit to quickly trying to get the small detail in before the larger shapes have taken form, that's why it's looking a bit lumpy at the moment too. Do you have a concept in mind or on paper/screen?

If its for a pokemon style creature you may want to really push the exaggeration of the eyes, teeth and it's lure to really give it a sense of terror or comedy depending on which direction you are taking it in.

So for example the angler fish from finding Nemo :

Or alternatively in the more realistic sense give it tiny eyes and teeth huge body:


I suggest dropping back down the iterations push the shape about to work in the larger shapes first and think about the little details like scales, skin tension later on. Overall a nice start, but at this point you will have to work on it a fair bit more to get it looking great!

Hope this helps you even in the slightest, I'll look forward to seeing your work progress

Ockin

I agree with the other post, you need to focus on harder shapes before focusing on the details. This is the mistake that I make every single time. You eventually get to the point when you end up having to destroy your previous work in order to get the form in there.

You might want to use the slash tool to create a strong groove were the jaw is. I am assuming that you are going for a membrane type thing you often get in reptiles. You can also try masking off the lips and pushing the rest in with a standard brush.

I would also consider randomizing the positioning and length of the teeth slightly. It looks lightly inorganic as it is. That is obviously not a job for sculpting but can be done to the mesh after you project the UVWs.

The grooves near the tempols seem a little strange too. There seems to be two ridges that follow the same flow which might look better if they were joined into one.

The nose also looks a little too smooth. If I were you I would mask the area off and then push it in to make a sharper shape.

The gums and tongue look pretty cool. If the tongue can be made to stick up slightly it might add a little extra something to the shape and show it off more.

Adz Grant

Cheers for all the input, guys! Really is much appreciated

@GoldBlackWolf: I am aiming to make something pretty grim, dark, realistic(to an extent) and generally the stuff of nightmares. To this end, I wanted the eyes fairly small in comparison to the original Ghastly.

You'd be right, I think I did jump too quickly into higher subdivisions. Difficult not to do, but hopefully a habit that'll be broken with practice.

I have a general painting of how I wanted it to look, but I wanted to have a play with the contours of the skull, playing with ridges and recesses.
http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/the-ad-man/ghastly%20haunter%20gengar/anglerconcept1.jpg

@Ockin: Aye, you would be correct with the membrane in the corners of the mouth, I've done as you said, and I have something that is looking pretty good there

I've filled in that 'double cheek bone' you highlighted in blue.
I'm yet to begin playing with the nose cavity and tongue, but once I rework those I'll post up some more pictures.

Cheers guys

Adz Grant

Heyoo,

So here is where it is at currently:


I've pushed out the double cheekbones into a larger single cheekbone and brought them out, as well as the brow, the tongue and back of the jaw.

I have also brought the rim of the nose out to more of a point, along with the fleshy membrane in the corners of the mouth (thanks for reminding me of that, Ockin)

Thanks for all the advice so far, and what I'd ask for now is another round of the same, anything you see as weird or anything that needs fixing.

Cheers.