[WIP] Umbrella Girl

Valliant

Hey everyone!

I'm working on a character for my portfolio based on this piece by the super cool Bluefley, who generously gave me permission to use it for this project.



I've chosen this concept because her design is simplistic enough that I can do it within the time I've been allotted, yet it also challenges me to:

1) Work with hard surfaces and metals, something I've never done before
2) Create long hair!
3) Actually finish what I start for once (hah)

I'm aiming to stylize her to a point, give her some exaggerated features like bigger eyes and lips.

I'll be jumping through a lot of new hoops with this piece, and I'm really excited to get it going.

Here's my first pass at the body. I think the face REALLY needs work, I don't feel that she's looking feminine enough but I've kind of hit a wall on how to proceed with it. Her butt and hands are also bugging me, the hands seem too small and I think her butt sticks out too much.



Any crit or comments would be very appreciated!

AgelosAp

You are right about everything you said and there 's more anatomic mistakes.
My advice would be, in case you don't have another reference besides the concept, start getting it.
Also don't stress yourself too much, complete this character to the end as you said, and you will learn more than tiring yourself down with perfect anatomy.

Valliant

Thanks Firith. I've got a pile of reference but I don't think I was checking it often enough, I have a bad habit of that. Thanks for the advice.



Progress progress! I slimmed her down and fixed some things. I've paid some more attention to the butt and hands but I'm still not totally happy with either of them... I think proportionally she's decent, I lined her up with the Loomis "Ideal Woman" and she was just about spot on. Still needs a few anatomical tweaks though.

ysalex

I think she's much more stylized than you're going for. Longer torso, mass of her hips rides much lower (thighs and lower butt). Much more muscular than you have, particularly in the arms.

theStoff

I think the arms and shoulders need the most work. The original design has very soft and rounded features. I'd bulk up the arms more for sure. Also Is perspective turned off? I'd recommend having it on when displaying the model.

Valliant

Eeeep, ysalex in my thread? I'm a big fan of your work!

I think you're right; I overcompensated while I was working off my Reference Wall of Ladies™ and forgot about sticking to the concept proportions. I have a tendency to go very waifish with the girls I sculpt, I have to remember to catch myself when I do that. I'm still in the process of developing the right habits, but that all comes with practice I suppose.

kosh_fotsirk, agree completely about the arms. And is having perspective on for presentation a standard thing? I've never seen that mentioned before as something you're supposed to do, I always assumed it would skew the model unrealistically so I stayed away from it. God, have I been doing it wrong all this time?

Really appreciate the input, guys.



Quick update (now with perspective!), I did some tweaks to the overall shape and form, namely thickening up her thighs, arms and hips. I also made her boobs bigger to match the concept's and lengthened her torso a tad.

Valliant

Rough armor blockout to get an idea of form before I go to retopo. Still working out the design of the back view and fixing the shape of her breasts. I'm also having a lot of trouble with the legs, I'm not really a fan of how they're looking right now.

theStoff

I can't say there is a standard but I find that things look unnatural and flat in orthographic which at times makes it a little difficult to tell if proportion and form are correct.

Valliant

Struggling away with the armor/bodysuit. I'm having a huge problem deciding how I should segment the pieces and fit them together, and which details I want to model in. I think I should be able to normal in most of the detailing since it's all shallow lines and grooves.

As I look at the pic now, I also think I've made her feet too small when I retopoed.



And here's a closeup of her face. I've started blocking in the hair, so many chunks to keep track of...

Valliant

Quick polypaint to check her facial features. The collar and shoulders are both (hopefully) final sculpt pieces, I did some test bakes and they held up decently.

Valliant

Hit a snag since I last posted, I can't get any of the paneling on her armor bits/whatever to look like actual paneling. It just looks like I drew it on no matter what method I try to cut the panels into the model (tried Dam Standard, the MAHCut brushes, and also tried panel loops to no avail). Is it the basemesh I'm working from being underdefined? Is it not shaped properly?



Everything I try turns out looking gross and doughy, or like it doesn't belong. I was loosely following this tutorial (coincidentally also modeling a bluefley character) but the armor pieces on mine are much less blocky and more curvy and I found that the panel looping method outlined in the tutorial was giving me very messy lines that produced ugly bakes.

I'm at a complete loss, could really use some tips or suggestions if anyone's got any.

AgelosAp

I haven't ever done hard surface in Zbrush so I can't tell you about that, but just from the visual standpoint, the forms are very simple, at least now, you have even less panels etc than the concept.
For instance that little panel on her pelvis could pop out and not be a sculpted outline, also in the concept there is a part going down to her privates (:P).
The concept you chose is pretty simple and relies in execution to look good so you have fallen in a trap so to speak. It's not necessary that a good looking 2d concept will also work in 3d if followed 100%, so I 'd say add what you think would make the form and design more interesting when looking at it in 3d space, have fun with it.

Vysuki

Working with hard surfaces in zbrush I'd use the 'doughy' section as a base and zsphere retopo the shapes wanted, then you can crease the hard edges and sub divide the mesh to make a smooth hard surface.

If you've not done this before just youtube zsphere retopo in youtube, plenty of videos up there

Valliant

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm strapped for time right now so I've decided to put this model on the backburner and focus on some other projects so I can come back to this one with a fresh eye.
I think I need to come at it with a different approach (and perhaps do a little more research into the sci-fi aesthetic) because you're right that I've fallen into a trap.

Thanks for the tip about zsphere retopo-ing, Vysuki, I actually had no idea that you could retopo like that straight in zbrush.