The Monthly CHARACTER Challenge | November 2014 | the Martial Artist

PyrZern

And hello again.



Polycount Main Google Hangout Link
Great way to stay motivated while you work. It's like a virtual office

1. Try to leave at least one critique per post. It makes you a better artist if you have the ability to give constructive critiques. Just because you're working on a different concept piece, doesn't mean you can't give feedback to others.

2. Challenge yourself.

3. Your final presentation should be posed and rendered in real-time. (Marmoset, or game-engine like UE4 or Unity)

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
Low Res: 8k Triangle, 1024 Maps
Mid Res: 16k Triangles, 2048 Maps
High Res: 32k Triangles, 4096 Maps

7. Similar to #6, you may pick an art-style yourself. You are, after all, an artist too. (Realistic, Stylized, Cartoony, etc)

8. Learn as much as you can. Share what you've learned.

For this month, we have just one concept art chosen. So let's make it good!

The Martial Artist Girl (WOrking Title), Concept by Juhan http://drawcrowd.com/ayaname337d4



GOOD LUCK. AND HAVE FUN.

kay-vonlanthen

good luck everybody ; )

Jsculpts

Here we go.

High Res: 32k Triangles, 4096 Maps
Style - Doing my best to match the concept exactly (still not sure how I'm going to go about the hair.)

Good luck everyone

PyrZern

Let's all have some fun with this

I will start off with just doing this as a bust.
The goal I have for this month is ...
1. No basemesh. I used someone else's basemesh for my last 2 pieces. So this time I want to start from scratch.
2. Nice hair planes. Like, really really nice hair planes.

Fenyce

Still not sure if I'll enter, but maybe with a bust or something.
But I'll keep an eye on this thread anyway and check back to give some crits I guess.
Good luck everyone and have fun!

Jsculpts

Very roughly zsphere'd out the body to get an idea for the stance.

Jsculpts

Some slight adjustments, cutting her up into sections. Still a lot of anatomy issues, but wanted to get the key clothing markers in.

PyrZern

Oh nice progress there. Are you going to sculpt her in already-posed without symmetric ?

I'm jumping on hangout now to start on her bust

Jsculpts

PyrZern wrote: »

Oh nice progress there. Are you going to sculpt her in already-posed without symmetric ?

I'm jumping on hangout now to start on her bust

Thanks man. A little of both. I am going to sculpt her in pose, but then re use parts (for example, leg armor, and gloves.) Have fun with the bust

PyrZern

And here's my blockout of the bust. Going to go for more stylized anime face. Heart-shaped face and bigger eyes.

Hair is placeholder for visualization.

iadagraca

I'm in

Not working two jobs anymore so I have time!

I"ll be sketching a reference later today!

Denny

This looks like a very fun character! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

ProteinPannkaka

I'll give it a shot. Going for high-res and keeping it as close to the concept as I can .

iadagraca

This time I think i'll aim for a under 8000 poly character, once again hand painted.

I sketched a quick reference to use while I model, anyone can use them if they want a quick start. If there's any issues with the reference I'd love to know, mainly with proportions which I realize I have a problem with.

ProteinPannkaka

2 days of work:

JedTheKrampus

That pose in the concept is horrid. Standing on the ball of her foot like that means that the kick is going to hit like a wet noodle once she throws it. Plus, if you touch her shoulder lightly she would fall over.

Arm placement is also really off. Her head is a lot more exposed than it should be. Her right arm especially would work a lot more to her benefit if she lowered the elbow and raised the forearm to cover her face better.

ProteinPannkaka

JedTheKrampus wrote: »

That pose in the concept is horrid. Standing on the ball of her foot like that means that the kick is going to hit like a wet noodle once she throws it. Plus, if you touch her shoulder lightly she would fall over.

Arm placement is also really off. Her head is a lot more exposed than it should be. Her right arm especially would work a lot more to her benefit if she lowered the elbow and raised the forearm to cover her face better.

Also, the angle on her left hand makes no sense.

I don't really mind the foot, I see it more as making a pose rather than trying to kick something.

Quick fix:


Alternatively you could lean her leg a bit more forward to balance the original pose of the right arm.

PyrZern

Hmm, I know nothing about martial arts to comment on the concept

@ProteinPannkaka, Nice progress you got there Isn't her head a tad too big for her proportion ?

Here's update on my bust. Got help from the hangout ^^ Already retop this into nice sculpting basemesh.

JedTheKrampus

It's definitely a cool concept, don't get me wrong, it just looks like she's fighting like she's in a movie

PyrZern

The inspiration most likely came from watching movies :P

iadagraca

ProteinPannkaka wrote: »

Also, the angle on her left hand makes no sense.

I think the point is that the form is supposed to create a cross?

Trawler

Hey all I'll be joining in on this months character. I have only started the bust for now still very WIP, just trying to get the style and feel down on the character.




At work atm though on my lunch, so I'll post again tonight with some feedback for everyone else that has posted!

PyrZern

Hmm, because of the very anime-stylized I am going for, hair planes probably not gonna work

ProteinPannkaka

@Trawler, Good start! You lack some volume under the eyes where the cheekbones would be. And the puffy cheeks and undefined jaw makes it look childlike, although that might be what you're going for.

I didn't get much done yesterday, but today I've been blocking out most details and cleaned up some parts. So I'll call this Day 3:

iadagraca wrote: »

I think the point is that the form is supposed to create a cross?

Oh yea, I'm not criticising the design part of it, just gets weird when you picture it in 3D.

Sunn

I wish my internet was on so I could post my progress... hey Pyrzrn, how will you combine the head and body in zbrush seamlessly?

PyrZern

I don't
I always leave head on a separate subtool/mesh from the body.

BagelHero

Hm, Pyr. The folds you have right now are pretty generic, and don't match up with the apparent thickness of the material as shown in the concept.
eg:

Take a look through some resources.
http://www.selwy.com/2009/zbrush-clothes-tutorial/
http://www.mightyartdemos.com/mightyartdemos-bradley.html
http://boybogart.deviantart.com/art/7-types-of-folds-CHEAT-SHEET-297733894

Hope this can help a few of you out with this piece.

apollo580

Having a tough time with the anatomy and was hoping for some advice. I'm using reference but still have a lot of trouble. Any advice would help, here is what I have so far:

PyrZern

@Bagel, thanks a lot for the help man ! I will try to get the right collar folds in there

@apollo580, The thing jumping at me the most is her lack of rib cage.


Here's my update

BagelHero

Yessssss, so much better already. Good job!
I know it's placeholder and all, but she's got a serious case of the crazy eyes. I'd suggest fixing that up.


EDIT:
Apollo580, make sure to use a variety of useful, descriptive reference so you can get all the major forms in from every angle. You're missing lats and her ribcage from the front is kinda missing, among a few other things. Here's some good reference I prepared earlier, and just keep at it!

https://www.anatomy4sculptors.com/anatomy.php?menu=189&sub=191
https://www.pinterest.com/davidartstar/anatomy-reference-full-body/

ebello

1. will try to render it out in UE4

2. will aim for triangle count and texture size of:
High Res: 32k Triangles, 4096 Maps

3. aim to match the image with the Cartoony style.

goodluck to everyone else

kay-vonlanthen

ebello wrote: »

1. will try to render it out in UE4

2. will aim for triangle count and texture size of:
High Res: 32k Triangles, 4096 Maps

3. aim to match the image with the Cartoony style.

goodluck to everyone else

i dont know how experienced you are but people do so many unnecessary things. i suggest u loose all the triange count or "rendering" in UE4. u dont need that. what a beginner needs is practice. doesnt get u anywhere if u restrict yourself by a freaking tri count 0o like who is you (tri count). most people dont even get the anatomy right. they set the goal for a whole character. its too much either (in my eyes). focus on one area. do a bust and really get in there. there is so so so so so so so much to do even on a bust, trust me!
this is my suggestion to everyone here : )

Jenoku

Hey all , late reply! been a very busy weekend haha here is where I am at so far!



Trying to block in the proportions and some basic anatomy! Hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction with the anatomy. I have also changed the head a little but I haven't gotten around to making it look right just yet.

Also the head is looking a little childlike atm!


PyrZern: Yeah I agree with bagelhero about the eyes, just that small change will make a huge difference to the model, other than that its looking great keep going!

apollo580: Its a good start, but it looks like you are working with too high of a subD - try bumping it down a lot so you can move forms and get proportions right easier - then you can work your way up, it tends to help make the model less lumpy also

ProteinPannkaka: thanks for the feedback! I'll get to that tomorrow most likely in my lunch break, gonna spend a while trying to get the head right.
Your model is looking great so far, nothing much to say so far apart from carry on! haha

Thanks all

Trawler

Wow wrong account there! sorry about that! that was suppose to be on this account!

(Jenoku)

PyrZern

@Jenoku I'm not very good at anatomy at all. But her upper body seems quite long. It makes her arms and lower body appear quite short in comparison. Can't wait to see your update on this

Thanks guys ^^ I hope this is better now. Learning to sculpt better hair at the moment. And the back of her hair ponytails thing is crazy "

BagelHero

Looking much better, Pyr!

For hair, maybe something a bit more like this method? It might garner a bit more of a "clean" edge.
http://www.artstation.com/artwork/frozen-fan-art-breakdown-tuto

Trawler

Managed to get some time to do this over lunch! , here is where I am at atm



I've made the changes PyrZern mentioned about the torso, I have also tweaked a few other things from the anatomy also.

The head is still very WIP still - can't seem to get the shape and style right on her for some reason!

PyrZern: Models looking awesome so far. I've found hair to be a nightmare to get looking right, best bet is to just sink a lot of time into it until it looks good! haha - the tutorial BagelHero linked is great and its hopefully a similar style to what you are aiming for.

apollo580

BagelHero wrote: »

Yessssss, so much better already. Good job!
I know it's placeholder and all, but she's got a serious case of the crazy eyes. I'd suggest fixing that up.


EDIT:
Apollo580, make sure to use a variety of useful, descriptive reference so you can get all the major forms in from every angle. You're missing lats and her ribcage from the front is kinda missing, among a few other things. Here's some good reference I prepared earlier, and just keep at it!

https://www.anatomy4sculptors.com/anatomy.php?menu=189&sub=191
https://www.pinterest.com/davidartstar/anatomy-reference-full-body/

@BagelHero Thanks for the great source and advice, I really appreciate it.

Thanks for everyone's input and critique so far, I'll put more time into this and try to make an improvement for my next update!

Question for everyone, does anyone know of any free models I can download to check out the anatomy? I think it would help if I could 'physically' see what Im aiming for in terms of anatomy and such in a 3D format

Nika

@Trawler: I'm not an expert in anatomy but neck seems very thing in the side viewe. You look at how neck muscules are connected to the skull.

Here's my anatomy base. I'm going to try to make this high res model with 4096
textures.

Zukan

Hello everyone. I always wanted to do a MCC but was always busy with school. Now that I've graduated I have nothing but time. o_O

I'm still blocking out the body at the moment.

PyrZern

@Nika Might want to tone down her lower body a bit. It looks like 2 different person for her upper and lower body. I'm sure she has to train up her whole body to be martial artist, not just her legs.

@Zukan More muscles ^^

Here's my progress on her hair ^^ That Elsa tutorial link was very helpful ^^

doomprodigy

Decided to join in this month, Here's where I got to today.

Trawler

Hey all another update!



Started work on the clothes now - I'll revisit the anatomy later on I think . Will need to clean up some of the areas that are lumpy.

Nika: Thanks for the feedback - I have changed the neck yours is looking good so far- maybe the knees are a little too high?

Zukan: Hey man looking good! the arms are looking a little on the thin side atm.

Thanks all

Nika

@PyrZern: Thanks. You've helped me a lot . I like how you did the hair.
@Trawler: I belive . You were right about the knees. Thanks.

@doomprodigy: Her arms are too long. Also it coudl help if you focus on the anatomy itself instead of making her clothed.

apollo580

Hey guys, just an update on the model. Tried to add the rib cage as suggested and used more reference for the model. All critique is welcome!

PyrZern

@apollo580 Arms too short. She should be able to put hands in her pockets with bent elbows. Build up her forearms some more. And be careful, her armpits seems pretty far from her body. Result from her shoulders too wide, maybe ? Keep going man !!

Here's my update Almost done I think. Though still lots of improvements to make. I want to 3d print this for paperweight on my workstation, lol ^^ But I have Riot's Contest to finish as well...

apollo580

Thanks for all the input everyone but sadly I cant continue this month. Exams are starting in 3 weeks and I need to focus on those way more now. Once I'm done I'll try out next months challenge!

Zukan

@apollo580 Understandable, I know how that is. Hope you can make some time next month.

@Trawler Thanks for pointing out the arms, you were right. I really dig how your tunic is coming along. Any chance you could write a quick description on the steps you took? I feel I still struggle with getting clean edges where I need them.

Here is where I am at after today. I tried to beaf up the arms, started on the clothes and did the head.

Andromeda

Hello all!
Terrifying to actually post to one of these! But I'd love C&Cs.
This is the first run at it, I'm thinking I'll go to mudbox now for the fun stuff :poly122:

Also huge thanks to iadagraca, I' have never gotten this far without the refs!

J_Kirkwood

What I have so far.

PyrZern

@Zukan Be careful with her face man. Especially around her cheekbones. Her eye bag is also too defined.

@Andromeda You can adjust her form/shapes a bit more before sculpting. Like bigger hands, and watch out for her shoulders/armpits area. And as for her face, you will want better topology for that. Here's a simple one.


@J_Kirkwood Looks good there man! Her upper body seems quite long compared to her overall. Too long body makes her legs and her arms short. Also, her head is pretty big even for a stylized character. In general, usually aim for 7.5 head tall for a grown woman.

Done, me think ^^

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