Francois' Improvement Thread 2015

Francois_K

EDIT 4/11/2015

This is my sketchbook which I try to attend to on a daily basis and any personal projects I've worked on throughout the day , I post here. Sometimes the updates are bigger , sometimes smaller depending on how much time I've been able to allocate.




Hey guys.

I've had this feeling of just running on the spot and barely improving lately and most of it probably stems out that I don't openly ask for critique enough. So I started to think a bit and realized that I work hard , but not smart. I don't step back and analyze what I've just done but rather just eyeball it. I also tend to not take risks which probably contributes to all that.

So I wanna change that and improve , I'll try to keep this updated on a regular basis.

My goals are overall to improve my sculpting , characters design , improving anatomy , cartoonish styles



The Reference



Current progress.

Francois_K

Did a few tweaks to the length and merged the meshes , zremeshed and added some subdivisions.
I'm not sure how I would do the fur though that's something I'll have to think about.

Francois_K

Had a bit of fun , did little sculpting today. Was experimenting with making the fur and it turned out shit everytime so I just left it out.

I feel like I learnt how to be more patient and look more closely at the concept and then take a step back , but I'm still rushing things.




And since I figured that I'm absolutely garbage when it comes to sculpting hair and fur I decided to go for exactly that on my next sculpt.

Illustration is by Nate Wragg

Francois_K

Rough blockout , trying to get all the things in place.

Made a self analysis and pretended it wasn't mine.

Some things I'm unsure about though wether I should show the shoulder anatomy or how that arm is built up because the right arm is different from the left arm which is confusing me a bit.

Excuse my terrible handwriting.






Update :

Francois_K

That pirate guy was giving me a headache demotivated me a whole lot. I suppose the hair could be better made with shave and haircut or fibermesh but the mouth as well was frustrating. Goodbye Pirate. Maybe one day.

So I decided to work on my basemesh for female cartoony characters. Took some inspirations from Layna Lazars characters and also enrolled myself in Mike Defeos class and learnt a lot along the way , was watching the courses and picked up some good things like anatomy isn't really shown that much and that stuff.

Right off the bat I'd say the legs, hands and eyes aren't cartoony enough. The butt , crotch and breasts are a bit undefined and blobby and the lower leg could use some more S curvature.

DWalker

You seem to be rushing from one concept to the next once you're ~80% done. Sure, the last 20% takes most of the time, but it's really the most important part.

The hair really is critical to each of the 3, and I think you'd benefit by spending some time getting it right. Perhaps model something like a tribble which is nothing but hair... Of course, cartoon hair isn't as complex as real hair, but many of the same principles apply.

Francois_K

Yeah you're right , moving too fast.
Decided to take a lot longer with the last one , still not done with the hair either. Learning alot how to sculpt it.

With the last 20% , do you mean detailing? I'm just trying to ease myself into sculpting cartoon characters but from what I've seen they don't have that much detail , I might be completely wrong ( probably am )

Here's the update.

DWalker

The "final 20%" depends on the style, of course, but overall it's the difference between "close" and "done" or "perfect". It's a bit easier to see when making a real object, or even a realistic one, and a bit tougher for a highly stylized style like yours. With stylized concepts, you often have to push past the concept, make it 'better' than the concept.

On your mammoth, the most obvious missing piece is the hair. Beyond that, however, take a close look at the expression on his face - the one raised eyebrow, the half-lidded eyes; these help define the character, give him life and personality. There are other smaller details - the shape and orientation of the tusks, the longitudinal streaks along them - that probably fall into the final 5% - very nice to have, but not necessary if you have a ship-date coming up...

On the pirate, the hair is again the major missing piece. The biggest difference to me is his hair, rather than his beard. Look at the concept; the bit of hair we can see is as wild as his beard, yet in your model his actual hair is tame and well-coiffed. The ears look almost like rounded columns rather then disks. He has too many fingers - the concept has adopted the cartoon standard of 3 fingers and a thumb. The final pose is missing that distinct flavor of the concept, legs splayed and leaning on a cutlass. Finally, his pants are missing their texture and the belt.

It's not that you don't have the talent or the skills, it's just that you've stopped before you're done. Off-hand, I'd say that you need to spend around 4 times as long on each project as you are. Yes, it will be very frustrating; each session you'll see yourself taking longer and making smaller changes, but it is a critical step. Some times you'll need to take a break and think about other things, but as soon as you switch to another model the first is almost certain to be doomed to remain unfinished. So, pick one project, and keep on it until it is better than the concept, while retaining the concept's charm and personality.

Francois_K

DWalker wrote: »

The "final 20%" depends on the style, of course, but overall it's the difference between "close" and "done" or "perfect". It's a bit easier to see when making a real object, or even a realistic one, and a bit tougher for a highly stylized style like yours. With stylized concepts, you often have to push past the concept, make it 'better' than the concept.

On your mammoth, the most obvious missing piece is the hair. Beyond that, however, take a close look at the expression on his face - the one raised eyebrow, the half-lidded eyes; these help define the character, give him life and personality. There are other smaller details - the shape and orientation of the tusks, the longitudinal streaks along them - that probably fall into the final 5% - very nice to have, but not necessary if you have a ship-date coming up...

On the pirate, the hair is again the major missing piece. The biggest difference to me is his hair, rather than his beard. Look at the concept; the bit of hair we can see is as wild as his beard, yet in your model his actual hair is tame and well-coiffed. The ears look almost like rounded columns rather then disks. He has too many fingers - the concept has adopted the cartoon standard of 3 fingers and a thumb. The final pose is missing that distinct flavor of the concept, legs splayed and leaning on a cutlass. Finally, his pants are missing their texture and the belt.

It's not that you don't have the talent or the skills, it's just that you've stopped before you're done. Off-hand, I'd say that you need to spend around 4 times as long on each project as you are. Yes, it will be very frustrating; each session you'll see yourself taking longer and making smaller changes, but it is a critical step. Some times you'll need to take a break and think about other things, but as soon as you switch to another model the first is almost certain to be doomed to remain unfinished. So, pick one project, and keep on it until it is better than the concept, while retaining the concept's charm and personality.

The pirate I basically abandoned and left unfinished but I agree completely with everything you mentioned.

In a sense I think it would be reasonable for me to go back and finish the mammoth once I'm done with this girl.

But I appreciate your feedback a whole lot, thank you!

Here's an update on the girl.

Francois_K

I wanted at first to create a sidekick since most characters in animated movies have sidekicks and i thought it would be funny to have something that would hold the sunscreen.

But then I thought her being attacked by starfish who fling each other on her head would be bit more witty.

Francois_K

Decided to make the starfish more sneaky-commando like and pose her , I'll try to see if I can find a different pose , finally figured out to use t-pose master.

Francois_K

Update on her little beach

Nogre

Hehe "sneaky-commando" like starfishes I like it! Keep up the good work

Francois_K

@Nogre Thanks man! Makes me happy that someone likes it ^^


I feel like it's finished.
I'm gonna go back to the mammoth and see if I can learn something new so I'm gonna try and experiment with vray and shave and haircut a bit.

But I'm also gonna try and move on to a new concept in terms of character sculpting.



Made a turntable as well.

https://vimeo.com/110662618

Francois_K

Gonna make a fat superhero-boy with unspectacular powers

The costume is just placeholder right now , I wanna go into something more makeshift , something he would make at home.

Francois_K

Updated version.

Cay

I really dislike the background color of your beach girl.. I'd go for a cool and darker color so your character stands out.. mid tone blue maybe?

Francois_K

Yeah I don't blame you and you're right. I'll update it when I get the chance.

Thanks for pointing that out , I completely missed it.

Update

Francois_K

Update.

Started creating a little idea and some blockouts of how I imagine the scene to be like.
The lolipop is just there so I can place it later on.

Francois_K

Quite happy with the result for today.

Francois_K

Well... I'm gonna try and do a games character.

Francois_K

I found what I want to do next
Fuck yeah blizzard. Fuck yeah.

Francois_K

Messaged someone about Mentoring me maybe. He didn't have time but he gave me some useful crits and it made me think a lot. Was hoping to work my way up to Pixar (hehe , dreams ) but... it was mentioend my anatomy should be worked on so I'm going back to basics.

Gonna do a head sculpt every day , 1 week Male 1 Week female as well as working on the body anatomy and not just facial.

Francois_K

I am using the zbro basemesh but dynameshing it down so it's not defined.
(For anyone who might be thinking that )

Francois_K

Jean-Pascal

When you know what you're doing, a basemesh is a great time saver for sure.

But for learning puposes I wouldn't start from someone else basemesh to be honest. Sure it's easier, but you're not learning nearly as much about the structure of the face as you would if you were starting from a simple sphere.

Just my 2 cents, keep it up! :thumbup:

Francois_K

Well , I'm dynameshing it down to the point that it's undefined , I do everything myself , the only thing that actually stands is the skull form , the jaw also gets deformed quite a bit.

But yes I agree and I do feel guilty about it but I'm learning about everything in the face basically and I've been doing a lot of studies for the eyes recently.

And thanks ^^



Day 13

Francois_K

Day 14

Zwebbie

I think you've displayed a great sense of style in your cartoonish models and I very much like the character of the beach scene. It's a good thing you're focusing on anatomy and technical skills, since those are your main weaknesses. I'm not personally a fan of doing a model a day; there's quite a bit of busywork involved in making a 3D model, and to really get intimate with shapes you sometimes just need to noodle away at something until it looks exactly like a piece of reference. As for the work you've done, I think your grasp of the neck area is rather on the poor side, and I think it'd be good to have a look at the planes of the area above the upper lip. Furthermore, you should close your eyes and have a feel for the size of your own eyeballs — you'll find that they're rather smaller than you've been modeling them.

Francois_K

@Zwebbie

Thanks man , exactly what I was looking for.

Francois_K

This was what I was working on ( and not posting anything )

I was done , a few days ago with the first one...then I realized it sucks so now I'm redoing it. Giving him a bomber jacket...I don't even know what I was thinking on the first one.

Francois_K

Been doing quite a bit of fiddling around with the Goblin guy.

Redid the retopo about 2 times before settling with one I was happy with. Learnt about Marvelous Designer , how to clean bake in xnormal and properly doing a cage in maya. How NOT to bake. What makes MD explode. How clean UV's are supposed to look like. ( all this in only 3 weeks yay... )

He's still a WIP , not happy with how the fingers are so I'll go back and fix the pose. The writing on the banner and maybe add more texture to the banner.

THe second guy is a Degenesis Character from the turnaround they published on facebook.

Francois_K

Updated some props and redid some proportions.

Francois_K

Working on the pistol and some more of his props.

Slow progress.

Already got a few pointers about the shoulders , gonna be fixing that.

Francois_K

Updated a lot of things the last time and started to add a little bit more detail on the mesh as well as zremeshing everything down to bite-size to have some guidelines later on for the retopo.

I'm aiming for 16k with 2k texture maps. I don't know how to break that down though yet.

Head
Body + Props
( ? )

I don't know. I"ll have to look up how some other people did it with complicated models.

Francois_K

Had a lot of thinking of what I want to do and where I want to end up.
I'm going to hang my dreams of becoming a character artist for a AAA studio on the wall for now. Maybe it'll happen later.

I'm going to try and branch out a little bit more and aim to

1. Create Envronments / Props / Characters in a handpainted manner
2. Rig the characters and environment props which need rigging
3. Join a mobile gaming company.

This is my start and I'm going to stop writing now.

Francois_K

Blocking out more and painted a bit on the stone.

Francois_K

Made it more bitesize in terms of polycount. From roughly 8000 the entire scene previously to about 800 currently , had to redo the UV's and some of the texture as well which was a pain. Don't know how to transfer them in 3d coat.

Texture needs work
Personally I like the silhouette
Foliage needs work.

Francois_K

Still haven't addressed the problem with the shitty texture on the tree , I'll do that soon.

Progress of today.
Almost hitting my 2k limit , gonna have to trim some triangulars on the rock , it looks odd on the wireframe , no idea what I was thinking there. Not sure about the grass texture either. To me it pops but maybe something can be tweaked.

Maybe I'll have to add some subtle grass alphas to make it seem less flat...

Francois_K

This was last night before I stopped working on it. Was trying out a few possible ways for the satelites could be. I ended up changing it 3 more times and changing the texture of the grass back because I felt like it blended too much with the tree.

And second image is what I have now. I don't know what to do on it anymore since I still have about 100 tris and 2 days left for this.

Francois_K

So I finished that.

Was a good exercise and hopefully I remembered my mistakes heh.

Smudgy textures = bad
3dcoat brush opacity very low = bad
No daisies in Autumn settings
Research more
Try and squeeze more into one single texture size maybe?

Anyway.



More smudgy handpainting, this time with 57% opacity.

Francois_K

Worked a bit more on it. So far didn't have too much time so I'll try and well...get more done heh.

Really fun learning process so far. Using lots of references.

Jakob Gavelli

Hey Francois! Looking good!

I know the gun is WIP but it feels as if your starting off your metal a bit too bright. The wood is really overpowering, and some highlights look as if they're coming from underneath.

I did a super-quick paintover to illustrate where you might want to go with the metal. Higher contrast and toned down the wood a bit.

Just food for thought! Do what you will with it!

Francois_K

Hey Jakob , thanks for the paintover it helped me quite a bit.

Toned it down and took some of the suggestions you had on the paintover over onto my model.

I didn't do a whole lot today was more trying things out and failing but I realized that after being away for a few hours and getting new glasses and coming back to this the wood didn't seem to work on the top.

Fresh set of eyes in some punny way.


I'm still figuring out how to blend the colours properly to give it a more metal shine.

Francois_K

I'm honestly a bit lost when it comes to this right now but it's good practice.
I'm tempted to call this little guy on hold so I can do something else but I know I shouldn't. Time to press on.

I did some silhouettes to see what I want to do next will probably take in further in between getting frustrated.

Francois_K

Started to make a composition for the gun or for future weapons I might add so I can quickly just paste them in there.



Worked on the monthly character a bit , did the retopo and the UV's and am quite happy with them so far. She's sitting at 2.2k was going for 2k but I suppose the polycount police hasn't caught up with me yet so I'm golden.

Francois_K

Update on the texture.
I keep erasing the folds and re-painting them on her leg warmers. It's really hard but good exercise.

Figured out what I want to do with the swords. I want to sort of explore some cool designs first and then see if I can create a different variety of textures for them like metallic , stoney , gooey that sort of thing just like they did in Wildstar.

Francois_K

Haven't done much today. Figuring out how to paint folds into her sweater.
Also started on her scene a little bit.
Won't be a library after all , gonna make it a little apartment.

Francois_K

Updated Hair and legwarmers and the eyes.
Getting increasingly bored of her , gonna add the alpha cards and then...work on her some more I suppose.

Started on the rig just have to attach all the circles to the funny looking circles so stuff and things happen and I can't move her leg 360 anymore

Aaand the environment I'm working on right now.

Francois_K

Bleagh.



Edit with my own notes.



Update 2. Definetly done for today.

Francois_K

Gonna edit the post later on to show off the character and texture maps

Alright now off to the next thing.