The Monthly 'Newb' CHARACTER Challenge | March 2014 | Adviser Pilot Girl
polycounter lvl 12
You have time until 31st March to finish this month challenge. (ready for game engine model)
Anyone and Everyone can participate.
We will start a new voting thread one week prior to the beginning of a new challenge where participants can decide on the next concept to work from.
[25th March is when we start concept art voting phrase for April]
The goal of these challenges is to learn as much as possible, and to help others do the same. The rules were designed with this goal in mind, so here they are:
Anyone and Everyone can participate.
We will start a new voting thread one week prior to the beginning of a new challenge where participants can decide on the next concept to work from.
[25th March is when we start concept art voting phrase for April]
The goal of these challenges is to learn as much as possible, and to help others do the same. The rules were designed with this goal in mind, so here they are:
>> Important <<
NEW Google Hangout Permanent URL
https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/event/c7fe9g4molu8u9fs73a0274dvh4?authuser=0&hl=en
Come say hi and share screen with everyone else while you work !!
NEW Google Hangout Permanent URL
https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/event/c7fe9g4molu8u9fs73a0274dvh4?authuser=0&hl=en
Come say hi and share screen with everyone else while you work !!
1. Leave at least one critique per post. It makes you a better artist if you have the ability to give constructive critiques.
2. Challenge yourself.
3. Your final presentation should be posed and rendered in real-time.
4. Try your best to finish on time.
5. Post your work-in-progress in this thread.
6. Specify your own triangle count and texture size. Be reasonable and stick to your budget. Some suggestions are as follows:
Mobile: 2k Triangles, 512 Maps
Mid Res: 16k Triangles, 1024 Maps
High Res: 32k Triangles, 2048 Maps
7. Similar to #6, you may pick an art-style yourself. You are, after all, an artist too.
8. Learn as much as you can. Share what you've learned.
The 'Adviser' character from Dark District videogame.
Concept Art by Mitchell Mohrhauser
Good luck. Have fun.
Concept Art by Mitchell Mohrhauser
Good luck. Have fun.
Replies
Not much yet, but it's a start.
On another note, I setup a Google event so we can keep a persistent hangout going, I enjoyed the hangouts last week and it might be easier if there's always a hangout going, somewhere people can go for help, to give crit or just chill while they work.
Here it is
Hopefully that works, the URL should be consistent so maybe add it to the first post so it's easy to find?
Good Luck everyone!
@Polynaut, So far so good I think. Might want to pop in her head to check proportions.
Never did a female character before, so really want to focus on getting the proportions and muscles right
@polynaut good start, buy why not start with the head?
gonna fix the side view tommorow and then some detailing
Here is my progress.. still blocking everything in before I start detailing.
Here's my blocking. Used lowest subdiv lv of basemesh.
Here is mine this is gona be fun! Gota work out these proportions better jeez, this face looks scary to me XD
@Alexashby: your heads top is the only real problem I can see, everything else looks like a start to something great.
Think I will be doing a stylized version of her, just started blocking the base
I'm starting my afternoon session now, and will be on GHangout. Link on 1st post.
i did it really quickly so its not perfect. but a fresh perspective can really help some times
A month can disappear very quickly, go find a decent basemesh and work from that. When I send out character briefs to artists, it always includes a female or male basemesh for the artists to work from, so they done waste time going back and forth on anatomy and can maximise their time on the actual character.
On a side note, PLAN YOUR MODELING! try not to just jump in, I know its fun and I still have to hold myself back until I have stared at the reference. We one have one view of the concept so really try to picture the model in 3D space, look at the all the straps and items and rough out where they connect to, whats on her back?, what will the unseen thigh holster strapped to her look like? all this should be loosely planned and time blocked in your head or a note pad. Jumping in blind, especially with a fairly busy model this is the best way to get lost and lose a lot of time.
I am joining in this month and looking forward to it and to see everyone's progress over the month!
(Didn't mean for this to be a wall of text, just want to try to give everyone a helping hand!)
Proportion issue has always been with me since forever :P Though I'm forcing myself to not use a pre-made basemesh. I did for awhile, and all I made ended up looking the same. And I wasn't really learning how to make a model looks good. One day I will use basemesh again to save time. But it's not this day :P This day I waste time learning the hard way <_<"
And progress from the hangout. Spent more time on her face. Adjusted her posture a tiny bit and blocked in her footgears. Will not touch the bodysuit until after I finish her proportion/anatomy. (will start on that tonight or tomorrow)
I guess the point I was hoping to make was that this is a character exercise, it should be about the character as a whole. If you don't have a solid basemesh your entire character will suffer before you even finish the blockout.
This is just my opinion obviously but if you want to learn, do anatomy studies, not full character builds.Do LOTS of them. Set yourself a time limit and block out a body from scratch, then make another one, and another. Make 5 versions of a hand, sculpt 3 heads in 2 hours. This is how you will get your anatomy and proportions better, and it will show when you build full characters.
I say all this as someone who did just make super detailed characters without planning or practice, who thought making 1 character over 4 months (and half the time burning out and not even finishing) was a good way to practice all the disciplines in one go. One of the best ways to get better is focused practice.
I am joining this months challenge because I want to get faster with my whole workflow. I just finished another character (this got in the way before I could pose her up and throw some presentation renders together) and want to use the mistakes I feel I made during her creation as a way to sharpen up my own workflow, find the holes and the speed bumps and figure out a way to improve them.
Hmm, another wall of text, I got some energy in me :P but I do want to try and help other artists to avoid the same mistakes I made :P
I had enough time for a block out on the head. Still some areas that need attention and eyes.
AlexAshby
i did a quick skullover for your head. should help you see some of the proportional problems
keep it up guys
For this challenge I want to get something done but since i also have 2 pieces of coursework due this semester I will limit the scope.
What good advice klown. I agree :thumbup:, maybe other people should also try using a good simple base mesh from which to start their character sculpts.
I think the part i have difficulty with working on one thing for too long and then losing interest in it or as you put it burning out.
I will take your advice and limit my goals to a few, but i think important ones for me, with emphasis on the last point:
creating a head.
creating hair.
making it "real time" (baking etc).
I am reusing the base mesh i always use and i took some time to retopo it.
hair fibermesh, added some brown-green eyes and overall proportional changes.
1. Download fuse from here:
http://www.mixamo.com/fuse
2. Create a default female character and send it to mixamo to be rigged for free.
3. Download the rig and use the automated controller script and pose my base mesh.
4. Make proportion changes and export to zbrush
5. Sculpt
6. I plan on transferring the skinned weights of the default t-pose character to my new game res model once I'm done.. hopefully that will allow me to pose my new character, but we'll see how that goes...
hope that helps.
Agreed, why skip that part? The whole point of the challenges are to learn as much as you can.
Good going so far everybody
I'm not sure what the issue is over starting with a base mesh? I doubt you will find one with the exact proportions and body type you're looking for. If it makes you feel better, block out a female and male and use them every time, instead of using someone else's. But why would you block out a base mesh for every new character you make?
Anyway, I got another hour in today.. will work on more tonight.
I'd like to keep this challenge open to everyone, though. Keep up the good work y'all !
Here's my visualization of her helmet. Still just blocking stuff though. Influenced somewhat by google image.
Everyone is obviously free to work on what ever they want, however they want. My advice is there to possibly help people focus their work and time a little better onto what will help the character overall as well as a look into how we do things in studio.
[URL="[URL=http://s856.photobucket.com/user/atomicguppyguppy/media/wip-1_zpse9453d62.jpg.html][IMG]http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab123/atomicguppyguppy/wip-1_zpse9453d62.jpg[/IMG][/URL]"][/url]
@middnight- She looks a little to stiff in the side pose. I think it might help if you put more of an "S curve" in her. Also, her shoulders seem maybe a touch wide? You have some nice muscle definition tho.
@PyrZen- Her face does not look right to me. I think the nose is too pointy and the jaw might need to be a bit wider. Also, her legs look like they are kinda just "stuck on". I really like that helmet.
@Alexashby- She looks stretched, and I think her neck is a bit too long. Its a good start, proportions are hard, but really important. Keep at it.
On a related unrelated note; I don't know why but many times I do Transpose, I end up causing the vertical center line to go in one direction or the other. Like the center of nose is off by a tiny bit. Or sometimes left eye and right eye got a bit different eyelids... Even though I make sure to always have 'X' mirror on. Or to mask off the area I don't need. But it still happens... like, most recently I got her butt off center by a bit...
(I haven't touched the hands yet, so please ignore the mess)
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/463448617876590578/
http://www.pinterest.com/PyrZern/reference-faces-n-hair/
@Abidus: Try using z-remesher to a lower polygon count; it looks lumpy and a hard to sculpt on right now.
@atomicguppy: I think the borders defining the lips are way too sharp and the nose too straight in the side profile.
Started working on the details and since they are all on different layers it will be possible to still edit the overall shape. I also fixed the eyes hopefully.
[URL="[URL=http://s856.photobucket.com/user/atomicguppyguppy/media/wip_face_zps7abba507.jpg.html][IMG]http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab123/atomicguppyguppy/wip_face_zps7abba507.jpg[/IMG][/URL]"][/url]
I also did a block out of the whole body. It looks a little funky in some areas because I built her out of multiple sub tools. I tried to build in some muscle a bit but was not really too worried about detailing it since most of it would be covered by the suit anyway. She looks a little to manly and ripped from the side so I'll have to go in and play with that a bit.
[URL="[URL=http://s856.photobucket.com/user/atomicguppyguppy/media/wip_body_zps9e959ce3.jpg.html][IMG]http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab123/atomicguppyguppy/wip_body_zps9e959ce3.jpg[/IMG][/URL]"][/url]
@Abidus- The major issue right now is proportions and getting some of the shapes right. Make sure you look at a ton of reference when you are sculpting. Just a few things I see immediately are that her neck is too long and her rib cage might need a little bulking up. A major thing to watch for is how the pectoral muscles flow into the deltoid/shoulder muscles and how the breast fit overtop of the pectoral muscles. If you can nail that then that goes a long way on selling a female form. Keep at it man, the start is the hardest part.
@gyarados- Looks pretty awesome. I don't think that she looks like the concept, but it can be kinda hard to tell without the hair. She also looks a little younger, like maybe she is 18 while the concept feels a bit more like...mid to late twenties? I still like it a lot tho.
@AnotherDustin- Lookin good man. The only real crit I have would be that her waist looks a bit to pulled out but that's not really a huge deal, especially once you start sculpting the suit. Keep up the great work!
Some progress I made last night with 3/4 people in the hangout and today alone.
Still struggling to really get that womanly feel/tone on the piece, its very rough but its just a good base to work from So I don't muck up step one, Any critique?
Im guessing once I start fleshing out it will get more form to it....
Here is my reference btw,
WARNING NUDITY
http://carbonentintado.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/aneta-angulos.jpg
EDIT:
Seems a bit of bulking and blocking did the trick, it allowed me to use the very core bone and muscle base as a guide to layout of flesh and fat.
C&C Appreciated
atomicguppy: what references are you using for the face? anyone in particular?
@all: what references will you guys using for the face?
Started texturing the head.
I think she looks a lot like Shannon Sossamon, That's probably who I'd be trying to get a likenss of for my model.
Thanks a lot for the comments and references everyone, Haven't had the chance to work on it since but I will in the next couple of days hopefully
Will have to rework the face though...
Crits appreciated!
Here is my wip
@Nemecys Sry man, I just woke up here. That looks pretty good there. Can't wait to see her face. I think you got her upper half a little longer than her lower half. So maybe shorten her torso a bit. I think she will appear more feminine with some posture adjustment.
@gyarados Lovely face there!
@Dave Jr Nice going there. Thigh gap will make her look better ! And I think her butt should be a tad lower than her crotch. Her neck is a little too thick for my liking though.
@dvisionvoid Looks way better than my first female sculpt !! Watch the shoulder/arm-pit area from the front view.
Head Update: eyelashes are quick placeholder i made in max, crits appreciated:)
Will reupdate soon with a better matcap
First time taking part in one of the challenges so fingers crossed I see it through. I'm useless at finishing personal projects so have decided to take the last unfinished body sculpt I was working on as my start point.
This evening I've been working on the head and I'd appreciate any pointers. I always struggle with eyelids, as you can see they're very thin right now and the mouth needs more work, but for now I think I'll move onto the suit/armor and see how I fare with that.
For face shape reference I used this image of the square jawed Keira Knightly, amongst others...
Some great images posted by everyone already and certainly a mix of overall looks.
@gyarados: Nothing to add but just wanted to say that face is looking fantastic and your first turn around was a great help when it came to working out where I was going wrong in some places
Arm pit and knees corrected
lower arms need work, head is not final, sculpting a head every day to get used to female faces, great exercise.
@dvisionvoid; good start, breast seperation needs abit more work
@Monophobe; mid section looks a bit off, also, pose the arms a bit beter, more relaxed, gives a more real feel to your character
@dave jr; looking good
Before getting specific with peoples feedback , I thought I would post up the nice high rez ref I used for my basemesh and a quick and easy way to check proportions and anatomy.
Use the opacity setting slider at the top right of ZBrush. Throw this reference (or what ever ref you want) on your screen, bring up ZB, turn on perspective and change ZBs opacity to about 50%, that way you can line up your images and viewport (can even save the view in the document custom slot) and rework what ever you want with some overlaid ref.
Really try to see where your model might look off compared to your ref. Look at distances between certain features, sizes, curves etc to be able to tell if your own stuff is looking right.
Im hoping to post my base and block up tonight, work and life has been getting in the way in the last few days. Being an Aussie, the time difference sucks as I've dropped into the Hangout now and then but its always empty
http://oi59.tinypic.com/nzisuw.jpg
http://oi57.tinypic.com/vhe05j.jpg
http://oi59.tinypic.com/2dj1gds.jpg
Keep up the great work everyone