Good Morning Chloe

duncan

Hey everyone,

OK so this is going to be hard to explain, but basically I am going to try and improve my skills and develop a character "Chloe".

The idea is to take Chloe and put her in situations, both good and bad that either I or someone I know have been in.

Using pose and expression I hope to convey the right situation and emotion. As well as bone up on some modelling and sculpting without having to start a new character every time.

I am going to game rez her and composite her into photos that help to illustrate the situation.

There will be some small 3D prop placement and Photoshop business just to help it along and make it a little more interesting.

I have also decided to try and break my fears of female sculpting by trying to push her style a little bit. So comments and crits especially in the early stages would really help

So I hope I have explained it a little

Wish me luck :poly122:

LATEST UPDATE:

Just got back from Darwin and decided to do a kind of "final" Chloe post for a while just till I get this sculpting bug out from under my skin.

Pretty much final textures.

Just waiting for me to get off my ass and rig, skin and pose her..... might take a while.....but I am almost 100% sure I will finish it.





till there is more Thanks everyone.... now for some speedy sculpts.

duncan

Hey everyone,

OK so this is going to be hard to explain, but basically I am going to try and improve my skills and develop a character "Cloe".

The idea is to take Cloe and put her in situations, both good and bad that either I or someone I know have been in.

Using pose and expression I hope to convey the right situation and emotion. As well as bone up on some modelling and sculpting without having to start a new character every time.

I am going to game rez her and composite her into photos that help to illustrate the situation.

There will be some small 3D prop placement and Photoshop business just to help it along and make it a little more interesting.

I have also decided to try and break my fears of female sculpting by trying to push her style a little bit. So comments and crits especially in the early stages would really help

So I hope I have explained it a little

ref sheet:


here is a quick shot of Cloe so far.



Wish me luck :poly122:

Snader

Her proportions are rather wonky, IMO. (and yes, I realize this is stylized)

The knee should be a bit higher, and in general the legs a bit shorter. I would also expect a more consistent taper in the legs, right now the legs are mostly a normal thickness and then there are those tiny feet - make the small feet more natural by also slimming down the lower leg.

The wrists feel too thick in comparison with the hands and the head+neck should be a bit more forward .

duncan

Awesomeness thanks for the feedback I agree 100%

MeintevdS

I like the torso/arms although I do agree on the wrist being a bit to thick, I also think that maybe the hands are a bit to small and the finger to short ( they almost seem to have chibi proportions.

As for the legs I agree with Snader, at the moment they feel a bit "tube"-like.

I love the concept though, looking forward to see what you'll come up with, good luck!

GabrielP

Very excited to see where this goes.

duncan

Thanks everyone.

Made some changes. Not that happy with the face so I will play.

Edrice

To me she reads as a female dwarf, which is okay if that's what you're going for, if not, you should avoid the very small hands with the big head and short legs.

I would go for something like below, but that's what I would do, and not necessarily what you should do.

duncan

@ Edrice : Thanks for the paint over. I get what you mean. I made the hands a little larger. I was going for small hands but I think they were a little too small. Thanks again.

Made some small changes. Much happier with the face now. Also changed her name a bit. Might tweek the feet a little and play with the boobs :poly136:



Have a great weekend everyone.

Polynaut

She looks like she's going to be stylized so I don't know if this applies, but her body-type looks like an extremely 'apple'-ish and she has popeye arms. Those two things struck me as odd. Maybe too extreme? Just my 2 cents, so take it or leave it.

Changes to the face look really good!

MeintevdS

Since you've been working on the face I figured I'd post this here: http://www.onanimation.com/2012/09/12/the-human-face/

Ran into it the other, it's a long docu (200 minutes) but it has some interesting stuff about the face, might be worth checking out. It also explains what makes a face attractive.

Looking good so far, feet still a bit small for my taste, but you were going to tweak those next, so I'm looking forward to see your progress.

@Polynaut: How exactly is it apple-ish? Personally I'd sooner say pear-ish.

botchiball

@Meintevd - Awesome link, I got sucked in and watched them all. John Cleese is too funny sometimes.

@Duncan - Lookin' great so far, I've got a couple things to suggest:
1- Would be to give her a bit more cheek and a bit less forehead. She has a bit too much masculinity in her head shape imo.
2- Her calf muscles seem a little too symmetrical - like bowling pins upside down and angled inward. I'm thinking the outside curve should apex slower/higher/with a rapid fall-off from the foot upward, while the inside should apex quicker/lower/with a very gradual fall-off from the foot upward. Some examples of what I'm looking at:

Texelion

Hey Duncan, I'm sure at th eend she will look great as usual, but for now she just scares me ^^. I just can't imagine the result in fact, could you post some refs or a concept to show us your goal ? I think it's hard to help you if we don't have a clear idea of what you want to do.

For now, I think that the head is too different from the body, like if you did not stylize both with the same style, don't know if you get me. it's a bit like if you took a body, cut the head off and put another one instead... Also, the head is big, OK, but with the hait it will be bigger, maybe too big.

It's the same for the arms and legs : the arms look "realistic" but the shape of the legs are more stylized. Maybe you should do the arms a bit less "muscular". I'm not sure but I think you should go this way :





Big head, tiny hands and feet, but a feminine, curvy and adult body.

About the hands and feet, I think they should have the same "proportions" to make a balance. They were a bit to tiny on your second wip, but if you make larger hands you should mak bigger feet too.

I agree with botchiball for the calf. And the clavicles look a bit wrong too.

Hope it helps ^^. If not just slap me like a bitch.

duncan

WOW, Thanks every one.

@ MeintevdS : HUGE Thanks man. I will have to invest some time in those. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

@ botchiball : haha good call on the calf muscles. In the beginning the whole character and the legs in particular were supposed to lack definition. That never really happened and I can see how they look a little wrong. I have played with them a little now and I will probably continue to play till I am happy with them. Thanks for the ref and feedback :thumbup:

@ Texelion : HAHAHA NO SLAP! she is supposed to be a bit un-conventional but not quite scary. I should have put up some ref before hand but got lazy. There should be some there now . I get what you mean about the two different styles smashed together. That is exactly what I am trying to change with this project. I have no problem stylising male characters but I really struggle when it comes to females. It is a constant battle, and I want to end it. I hope the two mesh together a bit better now...... I hope. I will have to look at the arms next. You are right on about the clavicles. They are a little bit too angled, thanks for the help.

ref sheet:


Had a play added some hair and stuff which I think helps.



Thanks again for all of the help guys and girls. I hope she is looking better for it.

Sukotto

Nice to see her face! I still think the hands could be bigger, and maybe with longer fingers. Right now they look kind of baby-ish because of the stubby fingers. The only ref that is matching the small hands and feet are those zombie girls which are much more stylized than your Chloe. And I think her forearms could be longer too, right now the wrists don't look like they line up with the crotch.

I think if you fix those things she'll look a lot better and less like a dwarf

duncan

Thanks Sukotto :thumbup: Yeah those zombie chicks were the initial inspiration for her, but I found it hard to NOT sculpt if you know what I mean.
Either way I made the hands, fingers, and forearms longer. I also made the feet a little larger to match the new hands. I think I might Make the hands and fingers a touch longer but I think it has already made a big difference. Thanks.

Natland

Looking good, I will follow this! I love her hips and thighs! the bigger the better I always say!

duncan

Thanks Natland

Scaled up the body, and added some specks, not sure if they will stay but I figure if she is going to be somewhat based on me and my experiences then I guess she should have a little of me about her.

MeintevdS

So yesterday I figured I'd give a full body a shot, but I really don't get how you get the clean curves and shapes.. Especially with the subdivision level you're working in (unless this is a higher sub level than you actually work in?)

Anyway, last update rocks. The muscles on her back (2 posts up), do seem a bit to much at the moment. But it looks like you only just started blocking out the back, so I'll wait and see what you'll do with that.

edit: derp, I should refresh before posting.. the back issue also shows in this ^ post.

Sukotto

Proportions look so much better Duncan! Good jerb!

afisher

Looking good bro. I'm liking the latest proportions a lot more. You've probably done this on purpose, but her shoulders seemed to be pulled back uncomfortably (mainly visible in the front view, so it could just be the perspective) and her butt is looking really squared off, might be nice to get a little more roundness in there. Keep it up man, really interested to see where you take this project.

Dan!

I agree with afisher- and just want to add that I like the direction you are going with this proportionwise.

Texelion

Yay she is really cute now ^^. May I suggest to do a more simple neck ? Like on the blue bikini girl, and even the other refs you have, the neck is always smooth, we don't see the clerno-steido-thing.

I know what you mean about NOT sculpting things, yeah it's really hard ^^. But this kind of style needs smooth shapes, need to avoid muscles.

Could you post a close up of the face if you got time next time please ?

AbKI

Looking good, I love the style!

nyx702

Suuuuuuubscribed.

SveinY

Looking good dude!

PaulP

Hey looking cool so far! If you want to go for this style of female character, I'd highly recommend checking out Andrew Hickinbottom and Carlos Ortega Elizalde. Not only are they great artists, they are masters of this style, definetly worth a look!

duncan

Thanks everyone.

@ MeintevdS : Thanks. Nah I am working in that subdevision level. However I did start out with Z-Spheres and I make a heap of changes on the lowest subevision. Right on about the back. I quickly threw them in and never went back to them. I am waiting till I do a quick re topo before I worry about those sorts of things.

@ Sukotto : Thanks

@ afisher : Thanks Mr :thumbup: Her arms were back a bit too far I have relaxed them a bit and rounded off the Butt, which was a great call by the way. Thanks man. I hope it looks a bit better now. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

@ Dan! : HAHA thanks. It is taking a while but since this is going to be a longish project/experiment I figured I would try to get the proportions and base body as nice as possible.

@ Texelion : Thanks. Yeh I went a bit nuts on the neck it is that whole "sculpt less" thing I need to work on. Threw in a head post for you too.

@ AbKI :

@ :thumbup:

@ SveinY : BIG thanks

@ SCB : hehe thanks, yeah I have a ref folder packed with their rad stuffs. Thanks for the ref :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Well I took a few shots but I have not done much. Played with the shoulders and butt, but now I am going to try and learn how to re-topo in Z-Brush before I get back into a proper sculpt... Wish me luck.





Thanks again everyone

KarlWrang

Really cool style! Love the face and piercings

Pioldes

This is not constructive criticism, but god do I love the proportions and the style.

Great job so far ;D

HntrLuc

cool work Duncan! nice face

This might be getting away from the style you're going for, but it seems like her ribcage/shoulder area is a bit squished and her arms are a hair short.

I did a sloppy liquify paintover, hope you don't mind:

Nizza_waaarg

dude so cooool ^__^

and i totes get where you're tryin to take this, with the whole anime-esque chibi style thing (super tapered limb extremities). I agree with hunter's thing about the shoulders especially. Think the face is deviating from a traditional stylized anime face, just gotta make sure the bod matches a bit more i guess (broader shoulders might do it)?

Looks baws so far, cant wait till you start throwin clothes on her, add a bunch of character to her. And the face is awesome if i didnt mention it already :P

(any source on those zombie chicks from the ref sheet btw? :poly142:)

duncan

Thanks.

@ HntrLuc : I made the shoulders and ribs a touch wider, Though I feel if I move them too far out she gets a bit top heavy, and if I widen out the hips to compensate, she just starts to feel a bit too old. I think the wider shoulders helps though. I also scaled the body up a touch more. I might try and draw in the jawline a touch (more like your paintover) Thanks for the help :thumbup:

@ Nizza : Thanks man Those rad little zombie chicks were by soft-h on deviant art (http://soft-h.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d3h6slc) such an awesome style.

Made the torso a bit thicker also scaled the body up a touch. Going to try and bring in the jawline a little before I try a re topo.



Thanks everyone.

Funky Bunnies

really dig this, man

BradMyers82

I think you nailed the proportions with that last image. I wouldn't go as extreme with the changes HntrLuc showed either, to be perfectly honest. Looking forward to seeing this progress.

Edit/ with the glasses and lip ring it reminds me so much of this character you made a while back... http://duncanfraser.deviantart.com/art/Zombies-ate-my-pants-248006232

Just out of curiosity, is there any particular reason for this?

duncan

@ Funky Bunnies : Thanks man :poly124:

@ BradMyers82 : Yeah I was worried about that. I actually just grabbed the glasses off Cherry and reused them. A few reasons for that,

1. I wear glasses very similar to these two ladies, and I figured if she was going to live some of my experiences it might be a nice common element for us to share.

2. I think glasses add interest to faces and thin rims just don't match my style and sort of get lost on her face.

3. I dig cute chicks with glasses :poly124:

It is funny because the first Image I have planned for her is quite literally a good morning shot where she is just wearing sleepwear (t-shirt and undies) slippers of some kind and a smoke hanging out of her mouth. I am changing the t-shirt to a Flannel shirt but there are a lot of similarities between the two at the moment...... maybe too many. If later down the track they look too similar I might just drop the glasses, but I would kind of feel sad about it.

Maybe I just need to think of something better.

re-topo still in progress, Z-brush is a bit funny but I think I just need to get used to it. Once I do I think it will speed up my art process.

I hope to be back into sculpting her and adding clothes by Monday....... I hope. Have a great weekend everyone :thumbup:

Texelion

duncan wrote: »

3. I dig cute chicks with glasses :poly124:

... and red hair, you should do red hair ^^.

Well she maybe looks a bit too "hispter" with the glasses, or, you know, "fake geek", just like all the sexy girls putting big glasses because it's cool to be a geek, then they put a pic on facebook and say "I'm sooooooooo a geek"... =_=

But the choice is yours ^^.

You do the retopo in Zbrush ?

Memory

BradMyers82 wrote: »

Edit/ with the glasses and lip ring it reminds me so much of this character you made a while back... http://duncanfraser.deviantart.com/art/Zombies-ate-my-pants-248006232

I think Brad pretty much said what I've been thinking--the characters are very similar. I feel like you've gotten pretty far away from your ref sheets, especially Chris Sander's work and the bikini piece Neox did. There's no doubt that you have style and the work you do is good, but this piece feels like it's still in your comfort zone.

duncan

Thanks guys.

@ Texelion : haha I get your meaning, I HATE those people. Now that you mention it I don't know if I can let her wear glasses now.
Yeah I tried re topo in Z-Brush quickly a few years ago and did not think too much of it, but since this is going to be a learning project I thought I might as well give it a proper go. I am pleased to say It went quite a bit smoother this time. I don't know if it's because there have been some improvements in Z-Brush, or if I am just a little more comfortable with the program but I thought it was much better, Still a few little prickly areas but I think I will stick with it over TopoGun.

@ Memory : Thanks for the feedback :thumbup:.
I get what you mean but I have to say this project is not really about getting OUT of a comfort zone as much as try to get IN a comfort zone. Since Cherry I have tried to improve my female characters but found that I leaned more towards real life proportions over my usual blas

duncan

Still going...slowly .

Started busting out some clothes fro her. leftover puffy vest enthusiasm. trying to understand cloth a bit better. Just started but not too happy with the legs yet so I will probably start again, a few times.

Ged

nice work shes looking cute

Callesw

wow, nice project.
I like where this is going!

Caldria

I really love her face, she's looking gorgeous so far.

Nistrum

this is awesome in every way awesome is quantifiable really great work man, I love it.

mrBananas

Cool character, loving the face!

afisher

Lookin ace bro. I like the start on the clothes, although in that side image her legs look angled back too far and gives her an unbalanced feel (it could just be the angle of the screengrab though). Keep rockin it dude

duncan

Thanks everyone.

@ afisher : Thanks man.I find cloth hard (like everything else) so I hope a bit of practice will help me out. Yeah she is going to fall over I never got to fixing it, but I should now before I get too too far.

Thanks again everyone.

nyx702

duncan wrote: »

I never got to fixing it, but I should now before I get too too far.

Dude yea. Transpose Master will fix that in like 10 seconds.

Fomori

Looks great. Love the eyes and the puffy vest. Proportions improved SO much from the start.

duncan

@ nyx702 : haha yep. Transpose Master is the complete business.

@ Fomori : thanks


More pants play, added shoes and fixed the lean. Still playing with the pants but I think they are starting to feel a little more natural.

CordellC

The clothes have really taken this to another level. Keep it up!