Polaroid's game art/anatomy practice thread

polaroid29

Progress update:



Hey guys! I've been lurking for awhile and have learned so much from everybody here, but am new to actually posting here. I've been using Zbrush for awhile, but decided I really want to buckle down and get my stuff together. I've recently decided that I want to try my hand at working in the games industry, so I'm opening this thread up to get my anatomy up to snuff, while also learning more about game restrictions and attractive characters.


I decided to pick an existing game character, and take it from start to finish for the first time as a way to create a workflow for myself. Anyway, I picked Draven from League of Legends.


Here is Eoin's concept I'm working from (not using it as an image plane, just for reference):





And this is the initial 4 or so hour sculpt from a dynamesh sphere:

DashXero

Interesting.

I'm not too keen on the back of the knees... I think that area needs more volume...

polaroid29

Hey DashXero, thanks for the comment

I definitely agree with you. Since I'm still trying to get better with anatomy, trying to stylize things with the concept is seeming pretty difficult. I'll try to check that and fix it up

polaroid29

Hey hey, so I think the body is looking better with some more mass around the back of the knee area.

I also started working on the face. I decided to use a separate mesh so I could get some more resolution independent of the rest of the body. It's looking pretty unremarkable at this point, which is something I'm not sure how to shake. There's also something about the torso/ribcage area that is bugging me. Any crits would be great!






Gonna start on some hair and then accessories next.

Bonkahe

smexy, dont lose steam, note: I think the muscles are good, but you could use a little skin in between them, it seams like just a muscle study atm, just a little bit.

polaroid29

Thanks man I'm motivated to finish this one out. I totally agree about the muscles though. I'm still learning the anatomy, so making them look natural is a problem I'm still dealing with.

Pabs

i see way too many people making this mistake
by the looks of it, it appears as though that ridge is the arch of the ribcage
but on a muscular guy that would be covered by all the muscle

polaroid29

Did some more work on accessories. Crown, the jewel, and a rough start to the hair. I have no idea what to do with the hair! I'll probably leave it like this as a placeholder for now, but I don't think it looks great. Can anybody shed some light on what hair and that type of thing on this character would be done in a game setting? Now that I take a second look, this upper lip is really bothering me, might have to mess around with it some more. Thanks all!

polaroid29

scapulator wrote: »

i see way too many people making this mistake
by the looks of it, it appears as though that ridge is the arch of the ribcage
but on a muscular guy that would be covered by all the muscle

sorry, just saw this comment! thanks for the crit scapulator, I definitely see what you mean. it's a case of stylization gone wrong, I think. I will definitely take another look at it and soften up the bone and add some muscle on top of it

polaroid29

Small update, doing my interpretation of the ponytail he has in the original concept. Any hair tips? It's tough making it fit the character!

DashXero

I just got a gander at that side view in post 8... He's so thin - especially his ribcage - considering how wide his frame is. I think it could stand to be filled out a tiny bit.

But, yeah. Take it as a grain of salt.

polaroid29

@DashXero, nah you are definitely right man. I couldn't find a lot of reference for this character for some reason, so trying to stay true to the character but still stylize is tough! I think I need lengthen his legs so he is taller, and then bulk his arms and chest a little also.

polaroid29

Little bit of an update here. I started on the pants, and noticed that something didn't seem right. So on the right shot, I lengthened the pants to make him taller. I think it looks much better that way. Any crits would be appreciated . Gonna try to tackle the rest of the clothes and armor next. I'm new to trying hard surface stuff in Zbrush, so we'll see how it goes!

polaroid29

Small update here, and more often than not where things start to take a turn for the worst! Just starting to do some of the hard surface stuff, which is a huge weakness of mine. After trying to put this chest plate on him, it made me think that his proportions are totally off and look nothing like the concept/bad. Let me know what you guys think gonna start on finishing the gadgets and straps for the chest plate and see where I'm at.

polaroid29

So I wasn't really satisfied with the character so far, and decided to try to find the problem. I changed the proportions quite a bit for the upper body; pretty much scaled the whole torso up. How's the topology looking for things? I haven't retopo'd anything yet, gonna wait until I learn more about it and then block everything else out. Any crits are appreciated.

polaroid29

Bigish update here. Fixed up the proportions some more by defining and enlarging his arms a little more, then went through and blocked out a ton of accessories. Still a lot more to do, but I'm happy with at least a little bit of progress! A question, when do you all normally start the retopo phase? And I'm trying to learn about normal mapping/tri limits. Do you texture on the hipoly before you retopo and triangulate, or? So much to take in! :X

polaroid29

Nearly finished with the hi-poly. Just need to fix his ponytail, and push the fur under the straps. Been kinda putting off, since I have no idea what to do after the hi-poly is done since I've never tried doing a low poly, or normals, or the rest of the process of creating a game character. Anyway, thanks for looking!

polaroid29

Also, I want to share the matcap above that I created. It's a super simple material, but it's really clean and doesn't have a ton of effects hiding the sculpts flaws. The rim makes it a little more presentable too, I think. Here ya go:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ecsduhci8aspbi8/RB_Gray%20Rim.ZMT

polaroid29

Taking a break from Draven. Doing a quick little 30 minute sculpt since I'm terrible at sculpting mouths. Gonna do a few more of those and then maybe some eyelids and noses

polaroid29

Dang, took a long break from this due to having to finish other things. Here is the final high poly version of Draven from League of Legends. I think I am more or less happy with how it all looks so far, though the hard surface parts look really weak to me.

The idea of doing the low poly with so many little subtools seems so daunting and long. Is it better to retopo, texture, then low poly? Or will it work fine painting on the high poly before any retopo?

Any crits or comments would be really helpful, as I have a ton to learn. Thanks guys

polaroid29

And here is a closeup of the face. It's the part about it that I'm least confident in, I think. I feel like I could push it more