The Unnaturals Character Thread

jayson

Decided to start a thread for some characters I've been working on in my spare time. They are all part of the same project. Details to follow as the project develops. Comments and critiques are welcome. Thanks.

Most recent update:

jayson

Some sketches:

jayson

Some sculpts:

jayson

And some more:

jayson

Here's a character I did for a contest not too long ago. This is kinda the direction I'd like to go for the final models in the sense of style and textures:

jayson

So I've started going more in depth on the "Foxgirl". Beginning with the head:

jayson

Another update to the head:

jayson

Trying out some colors:

jayson

Still Revision 03. Done some tweaking, like widening the jaw and such. I'm wanting to be pretty fussy with this one as it's our first character in a series of characters so it will establish the bar and style for the ones to follow. So it doesn't need to be perfect, but I want it looking solid. Aside from polishing up the lips and eyebrows, I am looking for some general feedback and second opinions. So if you find yourself here and something aside from what I mentioned and more in the face area looks really "off" don't be shy:

jayson

Different direction, another color test:

jayson

Moving onto the nit-picking stages of texturing. Really glad I opted to go back and make the changes I did as I am really happy with how its turning out. I've decided to treat the ears as a separate piece as well. I'd like to try using little plates to layer and fake the hair. My biggest concern now would be the eyes. I baked AO into the texture, but I'd like to animate the character, so moving the eyes out of the current position would screw up the current AO. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated:

EmAr

The armored guy needs larger palms, tapered fingers and better placement/orientation of fingers and thumb. Check this out:

http://www.androidblues.com/handtut.html

jayson

@EmAr: Thanks for the input and reference.

Beginning work on the ears:

jayson

Alright. The ear is coming along well in my opinion, however, I've come to a point where I need to sort at least some aspects of the hair and torso before I can finalize the head. So I'll spend a little time in concept stages of the torso and hair. Straying a little from the original concept I think I will drop the cape and mask and open the collar a little a la Emma Peel/Catwoman/Black Widow. Here's where we are at:

Stirls

Really nice work here. Top job!

Some blemishes on the foxgirl would go a long way, I feel.

jayson

@Stirls: Thanks. When I come back to finalize the face, I'll see what I can do.

Well enough of the torso is done for now. I still need to smooth and soften out a lot of it and sculpt in some curves, also I'm still undecided about the details of the costume, so onto the hair. What you see is a good chunk of "phase 1". What I'm doing here is using the skin modifier to block in a lot of strands. It looks kinda "dreadlockie" right now, but hopefully that will get improved on in the next phase where I sculpt and blend the strands a little better.

Pancakes

Jacha-cha-cha-cha-cha-CHOW!

jksl

wow this character is looking great!

jayson

@Pancakes: As she is supposed to be a sensual, mischievous character, that would be an excellent reaction.

@jksl: Thank you for the kind words.

Been busy the last little so just a minor update. Wanna take a go at sculpting the hair. The strand method was becoming less manageable than I anticipated. Also the back arch is bugging me at an angle if anyone has any suggestions (maybe it's just the pose) :

jayson

It's been awhile, but I'm still going on this character. A lot of trial and error trying to figure out the best approach for different aspects, particularly the hair and fur. Not happy with the tail, but the trim on the boots seems alright. Also trying to determine a pattern for the torso to shake it up a bit. Currently it looks a little to regal. I think I'll try something a little more lacy and floral. Please bare with the sloppiness for now. As I said a lot of it is just tests:

jayson

Main update is that I've found a method to use for the fur. Also some tweaks to the torso and designs. Still a lot of kinks to get out but I think I'll head in this direction with the tail. The goal is a high end low poly or low end high poly so strand rendering is not an option:

Texelion

Yeah the tail looks better, but still a bit strange... doesn't match the style of the character I think. Reminds me of the character Foxxy Love from Drawn Together :



Could do the tail more pointy...

And you should take your screens with perspective ON ^^.

jayson

@Texelion: Hey thanks for the critiques, I think the rest of the character needs to catch up to the tail and the face texturing wise and then it should mesh better. Agreed with the point on the tail. I tried with the perspective and as well my brother commented even adding a back drop or something might help so I tried that.

With the holidays and testing not much more progress. So not being one for New Years resolutions I suppose I'll make an exception and say I'd like to see some forward progress over the next couple weeks. Absolutely too much time on this one

Torch

She looks great, although the hair is taking away from the piece - looks lumpy and subdivided too early. I would say zremesh it down a few Subdivs and block in the large areas of the hair, then detail a small amount. Nice work!

jayson

@Torch: Appreciate the input. The hair is just a placeholder as of now. I was originally thinking of sculpting the hair, but I am leaning towards doing alpha strands.

jayson

Taking a break from "Foxy" to take a crack at the Comicon Challenge. Right now, I find I'm getting hung up on the feminine curves of the character. They're simple, but there is not a lot of details to hide behind and because she is supposed to be that "vixen", alluring character I would like to try nail that aspect, but it's a lot tougher than it seems. Or maybe the A-pose is just throwing me off. Whatever the case, the break should be good and should maybe help get a new perspective when I come back to it. I had shortened the arms and legs as well thinking they were too exaggerated but perhaps she looks too dumpy now. I want all the characters to be kinda epic and iconic but like I said maybe I'll come back with a renewed and clearer head.

jayson

Wow, January, eh? It's been awhile. But, as of now this is an "in my free time" project and I've been playing a lot more video games than making them in the past few months. Mainly NHL 14 and Battlefield 4. Just a heads up. Battlefield 4... super-addictive. Hopefully that's out of my system now, at least for the time being.

With no major milestones reached, this is more a post to blow the dust off and say 'Hey, still working on it.'. However, that being said, there are some significant tweaks and changes since last post. We have a "working title" name which could quite likely hold out to the end: "Scarlett Foxx", a.k.a. "The Scarlet Harlot", a.k.a. "The Foxy Lady" or just "Foxy" for short. As she is the "vixen" (pun intended) in our comic book universe, I've opted to really try push the sensual aspect of the character whilst trying to maintain a teen rating. This translated into added a little more to the hips and chest and opening the collar a little more. Other changes included shortening the arms, scaling the feet and making some adjustments to the overall shape of the legs.

Moving forward I have a good, solid feel for what I want to do, so now it's just a matter of doing it. I'm fairly satisfied with the costume design and the larger shapes of the silhouette. The main decisions would be in defining in my head the types of fabric and there tension, so that I can commit to the cloth folds and creases. A couple other concerns are that she may be a little "bottom heavy" and the arms are still a touch too long. Going to try a slight variation of the fur on the leg cuffs and if that goes well apply it to the other areas. Just randomly displacing the fins. I liked the texture on the tail, but the model makes is too pine cone-like.

So here's a couple sots of where I'm at. As always, constructive comments and critiques are always welcome. Thanks.

jayson

With many characters started, here is another to add to the list. I'm hoping to take this one to the finish. The upper lip, ears and neck need some touching up, but other than that the face/skin is ready to go. Then to add some teeth and eyelashes. The hair is a place holder so that will also need to be done, then move on to the body.

jayson

A quick update before I post the finished head.

Finished Head:



Beginning Hair Plates:

jayson

Hair test. Hoping to have the head done by the end of the week.

jayson

Some more character w.i.p.:

jayson

Continuing on with the "Scarlett Foxx" character, this would be her leather bag. The goal is to create 2 meshes: one with higher textures and and a higher polygon count for cinematic renders and a version of that with slightly smaller textures and a lower poly count for real-time applications. Seen here are the finished high poly (aside from a few touch ups) bag and the sculpt with which I used for baking data.

HashBrownHamish

i really like your texture work on the greek warrior i'm trying to do something similar but i'm having trouble getting the color and specular/gloss to shine well no matter what i do it looks plastique like x)

jayson

A new character I've started.  Still W.I.P. but very close to done.