Sketchbook: MercurialForge

MercurialForge

Cheers everyone, I'm Mercurial Forge.

Seems you've found my sketchbook!

Comments and Critique are encouraged and welcomed. Thank you for stopping by!

MercurialForge

Female base sculpt for a personal character project.

RedCrow

Hi, it's well done! The asymmetry might too much but just a little, I think. On the other hand I feel that the area of the neurocranium is slightly larger than needs to be. I'm looking forward to the progress of your character!

MercurialForge

RedCrow wrote: »

Hi, it's well done! The asymmetry might too much but just a little, I think. On the other hand I feel that the area of the neurocranium is slightly larger than needs to be. I'm looking forward to the progress of your character!

Yeah I'm looking at it again now and I see it. I'll need to make some of those changes. Thanks for the feedback

MercurialForge

Playing with hair styles.

MercurialForge

A ZBrush demo for friends turns into the stuff of nightmares.

MercurialForge

Another quick update. Gonna probably redo the folds on the boots, redo and expand parts of the holster belts and possibly add some bandages to her arms or look into mechanical arms in more detail.

MercurialForge

Some gestures:

Life drawings:

MercurialForge

Honestly, towards the end I was getting so burned out on this character as she didn't turnout as I hoped. I kind of abandoned it at this funky halfway point.

Black_Stormy

Damn that came out well. Love the stitching, really adds a lot of interest. Are you going to do something with her hair though? I'd like to see a wireframe with just the normal map rendered.

MercurialForge

Here is the cage:

MercurialForge

[IMG LOST]

MercurialForge

[IMG LOST]

MercurialForge

More work on Velvet; now with hands!


And here is a quick look at her doll form from a few days ago when I was starting her:

MercurialForge

Planning some pinup work in future, so did some studies.

MercurialForge

Sadly calling this done. I'll re-attempt her in the future.

I stopped working on her for so long I lost interest in finishing her properly and it became more of a rush to just get it out of the way so I could move on to bigger a better things.

MercurialForge

Decided to do a sketch inspired by some of the pinups from the 50s-60s. Happy with this one, the idea and the result felt more realized in the end.

polybeard

Wow I really like this! Keep up the good work

MercurialForge

Thanks, I plan to have a few others in the works as I get back into the swing of zbrush

nyx702

Yea love it! Can't wait to see more.

calen

I love your latest piece. Looking forward to seeing more.

MercurialForge

I've returned, and in my time away I continued my study of the dark arts, but mainly 2D. I spent a good amount of time trying different things, style, techniques, tools; you know, the works.
Some examples:


3D Sculpts coming soon!

Cedirvin

I really low how you do your figures especially your sketches!  keep it up!

MercurialForge

Started as an anatomy study while setting up custom UI and creating custom materials to get back into the swing of things. Decided at some point to turn her into Mi-nuee from Aquablue, a french comic. I think some of the forms a too defined for in some places, she should have slightly softer definition for her body type, but fun and informative sculpt!

MercurialForge

Saw a nat-geo photo of a cute wolf puppy holding a feather in her mouth that covered one of her eyes. Decided to re-imagine her all grown up as a fantasy character.

MercurialForge

Started shaking off the rust with this bust. Took the time on this one to re-familiarize myself with a bunch of tools and tricks for creating new ornaments and geometry. Enjoying the more stylized look. Planing on making a series of girls in this kind of style

Elven Princess
"The elvish favor ornamentation over clothware. Typically destitute of clothing, they wear simple bindings in feign modesty when among humans."



Some WIP shots:

leandrojsj

good job as always.

acronid

Really nice girls, man.
Especially your Velvet, it inspired me to continue one of my sculpts, which has similar body proportions.
Looking forward to your next posts.

MercurialForge

Cheers to the both of you! Happy to have inspired you Acronid, keep at it!

I took some time to learn about composite rendering from zbrush and decided to take my Elven Princess through the pipeline. I'm pretty happy with the result overall.

MercurialForge

Time for another princess! This time very inspired by Frazetta.

Barbarian Princess
"The people of the High North, forged in the great mountain citadels, tempered by the cold, and fitted in furs and gold. War has never come more naturally to another race."

CodeferBlue

@MercurialForge
I am seriously addicted to your work. It is inspiring!

Shyralon

Nice work, your style is nice! Did you make the materials yourself? Especially the skin and gold looks really good!

Phoenix995

Your work looks really good :-)

Popol

Damn dude, your pin up art is crazy good! Keep them coming

jimsvanberg

Great work here! What material are you using in Zbrush on that Frazetta-princess?

KustomZero

This thread keeps getting better and better. Love your work man!

karytsukino

Nice job! Gret style ! She looks gorgeous

sefice

Great work here! I love your sketches.

Still not used to the new polycount, Is adding a thread to favorites equivalent to subbing now?

MercurialForge

Thanks Sefice, and yes I believe it is! I have a few on favs and it seems to be acting like subs did before.

Grooveholmes

Super hot.. I really dig the style.

MercurialForge

@Shyralon & @jimsvanberg + everyone else, thanks for all the comments. I wanted to answer the material questions. I'm using a tweaked version Hazardous's Rim Skin material one of the best stylized skin materials out there. I'm also using Grant Warwick's Worn Gold material from the zbrush matcap library online, found under matcap metals. It's beautiful! Lastly I use a number of zbro materials mainly Viewport_Skin (good for more than just skin), IllustPaint and Paint (both take poly paint well and have a cool default look).

P.S. sorry for the delay it kept blocking my posts with links added to the places to download those materials Why polycount, why! Those original posts are probably still waiting for mod approval

Thanks, and please critique if you see anything!

jimsvanberg

Ah thanks for lettings us know about your materials. Much appreciated man.

leandrojsj

Very good.

MercurialForge

Fanart of Kylie Silverhawk, Concept by Johannes Helgeson.
Question: does anyone know if you can embed marmoset viewers into polycount?

Daven

Sweet sketchbook! Loving your sketches

Yoji

*distills thread into liquid* ;
*prepares syringe* 
*injects thread into main arteries*
MY GAWD MAN YOUR WORK IS AMAZING! *_* 
The female form you create is...the stuff of dreams

JoshGilroy

I really dig your drawing work! Your sketches have a certain flowing voluptuous quality which is very nice and I think you've really made great progress toward capturing those qualities in your sculpts. Great progress! I am very partial to your most recent piece and I really like the color treatment. Keep it up, dude.

MercurialForge

@Yoji Thanks, just don't overdose!

@JoshGilroy thanks for the kind words. I've been trying to translate that 2D quality into 3D. I'm very pleased to know you see some of it. I still struggle, but it's rewarding to know it's slowing coming to fruition. More of both in the future!

Thanks for stoppin' by!

sefice

Love your latest piece, she looks gorgeous, loving the pose too!

Tits

Very cute
Only thing that bugged me is how the light seems to hit the back of the hair a little bit too strongly especially on the back shot, making it look a little bit too overexposed.
Otherwise its really great work, the character is very charistmatic.

MercurialForge

@sefice thanks I changed the pose from the concept art due to it being somewhat physically impossible lol, but I think it turned out good.

@Tits Great feedback, I totally agree now that you pointed it out. I should have balanced the lighting for the hair and body using separate lights I think. I'll keep this in mind for my next piece!

Thanks!