ArenaNet Art Test - Human Female

Ovada

Hello, Polycount!
I'm currently a QA Tester at ArenaNet, but I aspire to be one of the 3D character artists- not just the person who looks at the art.

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a 3D neophyte; if I can kick enough butt at this art test, I may have a chance at an internship/entry-level position (which means a LOT of time with artists, a chance to grow!). If you have recommendations on better ways to render for showing WIPs, I'll be eager to learn them.

I'm here because I learned that working in a vacuum is counter-productive. I really need an outside perspective on things if I want to get anywhere.
Here is the concept that I'm working from-

Here is the base body that I have created thus far. I stopped at this point, looking for critiques so I don't build armor on a shakey foundation.

Brian "Panda" Choi

The head is too small, which is mkaing the torso seem larger than it needs to be. The bottom of the ribcage, near the top of the abdominal muscles, don't seem to be formed properly. GJ with the arms and legs, but raise the arms up into a T pose, or someone's going to have a bad time rigging it. I'd also move the upper torso back more, so you have a better S-curve silhouette on the side view, and a better T-pose "Gesture"

Torch

I would say if you can just avoid working on the head right now, leave it as a block with simple planes for the face and concentrate on the body. Are you using any measurement guidelines for the right proportions, e.g. 7/8 head canon? The hands feel slightly too big and it all looks fairly lumpy all round - I'd recommend dropping a subdiv or 2 and making the forms more solid.

Please keep going with it as it would be awesome to hear you make the jump from QA to character art. Good luck!

Ovada

JadeEyePanda wrote: »

The head is too small, which is mkaing the torso seem larger than it needs to be. The bottom of the ribcage, near the top of the abdominal muscles, don't seem to be formed properly. GJ with the arms and legs, but raise the arms up into a T pose, or someone's going to have a bad time rigging it. I'd also move the upper torso back more, so you have a better S-curve silhouette on the side view, and a better T-pose "Gesture"

First- thank you very much for both your time and feedback!
Now that you mention it, I really do need to work on those abdominal forms.

I've been getting many different answers on the forums about the proper pose to put her in, but from all of the assets I've seen here- they use the 45 degree T-pose.
I hope I did it right I will still adjust the torso positioning as per your recommendation- I do believe it will help!

Torch wrote: »

I would say if you can just avoid working on the head right now, leave it as a block with simple planes for the face and concentrate on the body. Are you using any measurement guidelines for the right proportions, e.g. 7/8 head canon? The hands feel slightly too big and it all looks fairly lumpy all round - I'd recommend dropping a subdiv or 2 and making the forms more solid.

Please keep going with it as it would be awesome to hear you make the jump from QA to character art. Good luck!

Thank you very much!
You're right about the head, a lot of time was wasted trying to get it just right. I have to shrink it all too.
I was eye-balling the proportions earlier, but that seems to be a recipe for disaster. I'm not at that level yet so... With that in mind, I just whipped together a reference from an in-game character and a Jack Hamm book.



From what I seen, characters seem to be roughly 8 heads tall in-game. I'll adjust things accordingly!

Hands seem to be my nemesis. I have large hands myself, so when I see the oversized hands on my characters- all just seems fine to me.

I cannot wait to get back on this project after work
I'll make adjustments and post screenshots again soon!

Ovada

Draft two!

Horrible face aside (I'm more concerned about the size in relation to the body), I paid much closer attention to proportions this time around.
Taking some forum feedback into consideration, I have this!



D'you folks think it's okay to start working on this armor from the concept art now?

MercurialForge

Build up some muscle forms on the body and that will help you get a good since of the overall effect of the portions. Really focus on the anatomy.

The first thing I'm noticing is the hips are thinner than the shoulders. This shouldn't be the case on a female. Even in the reference image above, she has curvy hips that are wider than her shoulders.

I wouldn't event consider starting on any armor until the body is completely done. If you change the body shapes later you'll have a lot of armor to reshape. This needs a lot more work, main focus on the anatomy . Everything still feels very rectangular.

Fenyce

If you REALLY want to work as an 3D character artist, you should step back a little and took some anatomy practice, this might sound harsh, but you'll learn a lot from it and you'll improve, right now, there are mistakes in your anatomy, and because it's a human even an untrained eye can spot some of them.

Go look at some pics and do some scribbling, you'll learn a lot from it and you'll get a better feeling for anatomy, that you can use to rework this model. Go for it!

ysalex

I agree with fenyce.

This is a really tough piece of concept art. I did this one awhile back, if you care to look it's in my thread history. If you want a chance at getting this right, you have to take a longer while getting the base anatomy down. The girl in the concept art doesn't exactly conform to realistic proportions, as pointed out already. But the form she does have is deliberately emphasized. The model you posted is blobby and lacks any definition. When it comes to creating armor on top of that, you're going to quickly get bogged down trying to get pieces to fit together.

But, as Fenyce suggested, it might behove you to start with some anatomical models first. As a character artist, that will be your base skill. Once that is in place, then it is much, much, much easier to learn creating clothing and armor.

Start by purchasing an anatomy book. I recommend Artistic Anatomy by Paul Richer, but there are a lot of good ones. If you need a recommendation, post in general discussion, or ask here, and you'll get more than enough.

Ovada

I understand completely, and do not think your opinions are too harsh. If I was able to look at this and not see a problem, I really do need more anatomy study and practice.

I'll post an update in some time, after reviewing a book or 5
Again, thanks very much for your time and fast feedback!

LRoy

Take a look at this tutorial.

http://www.cgcircuit.com/lessondetailcomplete.php?val=994

Hai worked on guild wars, might give you a better idea of how he handled things.

MDSchee

^ agreed with the above post. Cant get any better than that

Ovada

Thank you so much! :O

Ovada

Redid the topology, started building up forms from subdiv 1~3, and stopped using the smooth brush (as per recommendation on the video).
Even if it's not quite there yet, I wanted to show what I have so far

Ovada

Still working on it.
Started on the knees again, but hey.

Also, to anyone reading this- the tutorial linked by LRoy is FANTASTIC!
It helps a lot.

Ovada

Small update, still working on this.
I've found a workflow for armor from the tutorial that was shared above- extract, dynamesh at a low resolution, work up forms, divide-

Currently working on the boots and leggings, I'm still cleaning it up (as you can tell by the middle of the shoes).

Ovada

Current progress. Just using matcaps for visibility.
A friend told me her torso looks a bit long, and to push her shoulders down a bit.
Deadline is approaching in about 6 days.

Ovada

If you're lurking the thread and doing the contest as well, LRoy's post above was a tremendous help!
Please check it out!

Ovada

I'm not giving up.

Lavitz

Really nice progress, Armor is coming along really nicely!

garriola83

yeah hai phan has a good tutorial on something of this style. check your sculpt, some parts look too lumpy and the form is lost.