I finished the model above, but I'll post that later.
Anyway, wanted to try something new. Instead of just going for drawing the planar versions of whatever concept art I do, I would try to do a quick paint over said planar features to see if it'll even look like them in the first place. I guess if I stop undermining my painting experiences beforehand, I could have more assurance of getting some kind of likeness before sculpting. But, I learned that once the planar features are there, you can rarely go wrong.
Haven't finished sculpting the nose and all, and I'm questioning if I should even sculpt in the ears if the hair is going to be covering it in the first place. Made some notes to myself for future reference:
- Model on right without paint over | Middle paint over | Left concept art
Since there isn't a front view for the concept, there would be obvious nuances when making a quick sculpt of her. Just had to shift her to a decent 3/4 view, and see where I had to work on.
- Will have to push in the eyes more to conform to the eyeball; will have to push down the top eyelid just a bit to give a sharper angle. - Make the eyelids sharper, especially around the sides. - Fix the forehead by making the angle less extreme, and potentially shortening the top of the forehead altogether. But covering it with hair might make this moot.
Edit: Made revisions thanks to the concept artist giving wonderful critique. The type of critique that I realized that should've bled onto prior models. A thousand kudos for their critique found here:
Edit:
Made revisions thanks to the concept artist giving wonderful critique.
The type of critique that I realized that should've bled onto prior
models. A thousand kudos for their critique found here:
...I think I was having trouble editing the sketchfab link in the previous page....sigh. DON'T EDIT THE ONE BELOW, LINKZELDA41. Below is the revised version.
Took me 9 hours overall to get to the low poly version. Going to bake, paint, and stuff tomorrow. Or, actually, that's today since it's like 2:31 AM right now.
I can't for the life of me get the other eye in the 3/4 view right. Probably just something I need to work on when going for concepts with just one angle that isn't easy to translate, or just a minor error on the concept itself. Not pointing any fingers though. Didn't realize sketchfab basically had the similar setup with toolbag; I'm living under a rock.
I bet 5 years from now, I'll know how to make an alpha map and hair cards.
model https://youtu.be/Aznc9ZoOQv0 I actually took the time to UV wrap so I don't need to upload several textures for the Sketchfab link, but it just looks really bad, so it was back to separate diffuse maps once more. And the mesh is still really bad around the back of the front horns. Whatever.
Hey @Linkzelda41! You've got a lot of different and creative styles that you're working with, but there's something I've noticed with a few of your characters. It feels like you're focusing on getting the front view to look the way you'd like it, but the side view of your characters end up with a similar type of face shape (that feels a little off).
Something I found that works really well to fix this, is to actually use the side view as the primary reference when working on a character (or using a profile reference if one isn't available). The side view has all of the personality and information that you're after when working on a face, and the front view really only acts as a place holder for spacing out the features (i.e how far apart the eyes are, ect). That being said, the 3/4 view is also incredibly important and helpful (whenever you can use that).
With this post here, I think you were able to narrow in on the issue as well, with some feedback from the concept artist.
Edit:
Made revisions thanks to the concept artist giving wonderful critique.
The type of critique that I realized that should've bled onto prior
models. A thousand kudos for their critique found here:
I hope this can help you out somehow, and that you keep on pushing those characters. You're great at using different styles, so keep it up!
Thanks for the advice, @dGreenberg! Yes, I’ve been using the
same format for the side view for a while, and it’s mostly due to me using some
guidelines to match the front, because like you stated, I seem to prefer having
the front view the way I like, but the moment the model is turned, there’s that
cringe factor going on that makes it feel off.
And you’re actually right, I think it’s because I spend less
time with the side view with me just getting the bare rocks of it, while I
hammer out the front is what makes them stale, I guess. My main concern is the
3/4 view, and worrying if the eyes will bulge out like crazy. So the side view,
to me, ends up being a placeholder because part of me knows that trying to
estimate how far the ends of the eyes will go will have to be altered,
especially with characters with bigger eyes with the anime/cartoony vibe to
them.
(You can see that the side view is basically the same when I'm drawing it out vs. me spending more time drawing the front, and some of the planes before I shift them over to Zbrush).
So, I end up compromising, and realizing that what I would
try to do for humans, or concepts with eyes that aren’t as big as the nose will
not always be the same for something more anime/cartoon like, like below:
While I was sculpting that model, I realized the side view
eye of the eyes extended further. So, if I tried to add in a circle, the eyes
would be bulging out.
So, I end up experimenting with certain tricks while
forgetting to balance the side view as well, like below:
Maybe I’m being too
militant in getting the front view, and I need to work on this. Anyway, thank
you for acknowledging this, as I thought I was going crazy in how I’m trying to
articulate this whole endeavor. As for the white space of the eyes in the
images shown previously, I realized that putting a white plane that’s curved
just a bit can help with giving the illusion of roundness of the eyes without
that bulging out factor coming in. Before adding this in, I literally just
painted in the hollow of the face where the eyeballs would be as while so that
when the diffuse is the only one showing, e.g. through the self-illuminated
shader/unlit, it would give the eyes more freedom for me to rig. I did a quick
test aim constraint in maya for the eyes, and realized this white space is okay
in getting the job done along with removing it as well to show only the
hollowed part that’s painted white, too.
I think, however, I’m going to do the plane for the white
space of the eyes in the future, as I noticed the eyes themselves, especially
in Hyrule Warriors, for example, is merely a cone where the bottom IS the eye.
Finished with this one, I guess. I was just testing to see if I can really make those compensations with the big eyes that always was a turn off for me.
I finished texturing the face, hair, and everything above the body, but I can't salvage any motivation to bl ock in the rest of the model. Especially after manually drawing out the topology as I feel that even though I can edit the edges and such with ZModeler, I still feel Topogun gets that instantaneous satisfaction once you take the efforts to draw things out first. I still have to do the sword and pumpkin, and I'm really skeptical if I should even get this rigged. I took the risk of buying a program called Shroud Studio Cloth Simulation when I realized my credit has been pretty good for a long time now. I can say that I don't regret making the purchase, as it's going to convince me to tackle other concept art with a lot of dangling clothes, and such.
I try not to be materialistic about this, or rather, obsessive over a program, but I think it's going to make me open to take more risks, now. I thought that for my 2 and a half days off work, that I would finish this model, and be half way through another one. But no, I realized how much I over-worked myself doing this in a short period of time, along with work, and getting little sleep because I get too spirited doing this stuff.
I noticed the model isn't exactly like her, which kind of bummed me out. I tried doing some editing, but I'm not sure it's probably because of the right hand side (as if you're looking at the screen) of her face has a different eye shape than the left. Or, I'm just a walking Dunning–Kruger.
So, while I put that little project off, someone actually commissioned me (lol) to make a 3D model. Here's a WIP of it so far. Not sure if they'll be content with the progress so far, but they did give me artistic freedom, so I'm sure it won't be a hassle, anyway.
So, this concept is a Doberman doesn't have an arm on the right hand side, and the hand apparently can float. Another quirky thing is that flames can come out of that same cut off arm, and could probably be a substitute for an actual arm. Not sure if that implication can set up for some kind of backstory over how long the fire can persist, though. Anyway, this took me about 3 and a half hours. I think I'm starting to get used to seeing 3/4th view of concepts, and trying to create a front and side view of them. Even though this concept isn't really complex, I think I'm going to be less turned off by concepts that only have a 3/4th view because I have to trust that somewhere along the line, those models that I made in the past helped me get some visual understanding of what the front "could" be. The side part seems to be easy as it's just a little turn over from drawing it out.
I wanted to sculpt something male related to see if I would have problems transitioning from female to male sculpts, but, I don't think I have any. I think sculpting the male seems to be vastly easier than the female, for some reason. Or, maybe I'm just improving overall, but something feels weird about it being sculpted so fast. I don't know, it just cringes me. I could justify it as my mind making those little clicks, and finding a silver lining of how to do these things faster...but I think I'm over-looking something...
Anyway, for some reason, I lost all motivation for now to do something else. Even the commission I'm on right now for another model. The person commissioning me is understanding of my thought process as to why I was taking a break to do other models, and they don't seem to be in a rush, thankfully, but really...I'm not sure where I'm suddenly becoming apathetic in doing another model. Maybe, I'll just take a little break, and come back to it later on.
Also, something about this concept makes me think, WOAH HOOOO to the extreme. Just add an eye patch, a body suit, and a metal-saturated arm to compensate for the lack of an arm, and we got ourselves another snake listening to the tonality of an Ecuadorian female!
WIP of another adoptable I got a while ago. I intend to animate her, and even use cloth simulation for once. Maybe even facial expressions, too, for the sake of getting back into practicing these things I've neglected for a long time.
Haven't drawn something of my own in a long time. I have other character designs, but it's better to do them one at a time, otherwise, I end up being paralyzed on which one to finish.
Another concept I wanted to practice the Reilly Method of Head Drawing on for the first time:
Looks weird without makeup, but that's inevitable even when I was drawing out the planes of the face for other character designs in the past. I'm glad to get myself into making my own instead. The next project after this blacksmith one will be this face I'm envisioning to become actualized for once. That is if I can even contain my excitement to just hop off one, and then do another only to find myself scatterbrained again.
I took notes down from a guy's video, Kyle Hefty on YouTube that explains it concisely and very fluidly for my ears at least.
I always wanted to make myself try it out, but it felt so daunting for me. Now, it's making so much sense. Of course, there's always room for improvement, but I'm happy that I'm getting myself to make some action for once. It's nice having notes, like I've done for other workflows that way, I get myself into building consistency.
Before, I dreaded even thinking about how I could even do anything for myself rather than iterating someone else's design (and most likely doing it disgracefully). Now, at least I can revel in my own flaws and work on that.
Replies
Concept: http://caleb-brown.deviantart.com/art/Marauder-Concept-Art-244488157
Anyway, wanted to try something new. Instead of just going for drawing the planar versions of whatever concept art I do, I would try to do a quick paint over said planar features to see if it'll even look like them in the first place. I guess if I stop undermining my painting experiences beforehand, I could have more assurance of getting some kind of likeness before sculpting. But, I learned that once the planar features are there, you can rarely go wrong.
http://suburbbum.deviantart.com/art/GunStaff-481033518
-
Model on right without paint over | Middle paint over | Left concept art
Since there isn't a front view for the concept, there would be obvious nuances when making a quick sculpt of her. Just had to shift her to a decent 3/4 view, and see where I had to work on.
- Will have to push in the eyes more to conform to the eyeball; will have to push down the top eyelid just a bit to give a sharper angle.
- Make the eyelids sharper, especially around the sides.
- Fix the forehead by making the angle less extreme, and potentially shortening the top of the forehead altogether. But covering it with hair might make this moot.
Moondragon Concept
Red 3 Concept
http://linkzelda41.deviantart.com/art/Red-3-3D-Model-Turntable-600866806
Edit: Made revisions thanks to the concept artist giving wonderful critique. The type of critique that I realized that should've bled onto prior models. A thousand kudos for their critique found here:
...I think I was having trouble editing the sketchfab link in the previous page....sigh. DON'T EDIT THE ONE BELOW, LINKZELDA41. Below is the revised version.
Concept: http://carlo-arellano.deviantart.com/art/Satyr-489561681
Took me 9 hours overall to get to the low poly version. Going to bake, paint, and stuff tomorrow. Or, actually, that's today since it's like 2:31 AM right now.
http://linkzelda41.deviantart.com/art/Satyr-Turntable-603252280
model
I can't for the life of me get the other eye in the 3/4 view right. Probably just something I need to work on when going for concepts with just one angle that isn't easy to translate, or just a minor error on the concept itself. Not pointing any fingers though. Didn't realize sketchfab basically had the similar setup with toolbag; I'm living under a rock.
I bet 5 years from now, I'll know how to make an alpha map and hair cards.
Need to retopo the skull, and the two sets of horns as well, UV them, and texture her out.
Concept: http://lea1301.deviantart.com/art/Dark-elf-481893981
https://youtu.be/Aznc9ZoOQv0
I actually took the time to UV wrap so I don't need to upload several textures for the Sketchfab link, but it just looks really bad, so it was back to separate diffuse maps once more. And the mesh is still really bad around the back of the front horns. Whatever.
Turntable: http://linkzelda41.deviantart.com/art/Dark-Elf-3D-Turntable-604115629
Got a note from another artist that said they don't mind me trying to render out their OC in 3D. This is fun!
WIP so far. Needed to see if the model I was sculpting would look anything like the concept art here:
http://lunareth.deviantart.com/art/Tanis-jewel-of-the-desert-598253359
Almost there, I think.
model
Turntables:
http://linkzelda41.deviantart.com/art/Tanis-3D-Model-Turntable-607271241
http://linkzelda41.deviantart.com/art/Tanis-3D-Model-Closeup-Turntable-607270345
Concept: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/86/4e/81/864e8178c78929be08267e13a4f56b1b.jpg
Turntable:
http://linkzelda41.deviantart.com/art/Chainsaw-Nurse-Turntable-612361061
Time-lapse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP5Xsb_i0xk
Reference:
http://i.imgur.com/CKQZF2R.jpg
Concept:
http://meomai.deviantart.com/art/Character-Design-Jess-Catastrophe-576331218
Turntable: http://linkzelda41.deviantart.com/art/Jess-Catastrophe-3D-Turntable-615024294
Something I found that works really well to fix this, is to actually use the side view as the primary reference when working on a character (or using a profile reference if one isn't available). The side view has all of the personality and information that you're after when working on a face, and the front view really only acts as a place holder for spacing out the features (i.e how far apart the eyes are, ect). That being said, the 3/4 view is also incredibly important and helpful (whenever you can use that).
With this post here, I think you were able to narrow in on the issue as well, with some feedback from the concept artist.
Thanks for the advice, @dGreenberg! Yes, I’ve been using the same format for the side view for a while, and it’s mostly due to me using some guidelines to match the front, because like you stated, I seem to prefer having the front view the way I like, but the moment the model is turned, there’s that cringe factor going on that makes it feel off.
And you’re actually right, I think it’s because I spend less time with the side view with me just getting the bare rocks of it, while I hammer out the front is what makes them stale, I guess. My main concern is the 3/4 view, and worrying if the eyes will bulge out like crazy. So the side view, to me, ends up being a placeholder because part of me knows that trying to estimate how far the ends of the eyes will go will have to be altered, especially with characters with bigger eyes with the anime/cartoony vibe to them.
(You can see that the side view is basically the same when I'm drawing it out vs. me spending more time drawing the front, and some of the planes before I shift them over to Zbrush).
So, I end up compromising, and realizing that what I would try to do for humans, or concepts with eyes that aren’t as big as the nose will not always be the same for something more anime/cartoon like, like below:
While I was sculpting that model, I realized the side view eye of the eyes extended further. So, if I tried to add in a circle, the eyes would be bulging out.
So, I end up experimenting with certain tricks while forgetting to balance the side view as well, like below:
Maybe I’m being too militant in getting the front view, and I need to work on this. Anyway, thank you for acknowledging this, as I thought I was going crazy in how I’m trying to articulate this whole endeavor. As for the white space of the eyes in the images shown previously, I realized that putting a white plane that’s curved just a bit can help with giving the illusion of roundness of the eyes without that bulging out factor coming in. Before adding this in, I literally just painted in the hollow of the face where the eyeballs would be as while so that when the diffuse is the only one showing, e.g. through the self-illuminated shader/unlit, it would give the eyes more freedom for me to rig. I did a quick test aim constraint in maya for the eyes, and realized this white space is okay in getting the job done along with removing it as well to show only the hollowed part that’s painted white, too.
I think, however, I’m going to do the plane for the white space of the eyes in the future, as I noticed the eyes themselves, especially in Hyrule Warriors, for example, is merely a cone where the bottom IS the eye.
model
model
I finished texturing the face, hair, and everything above the body, but I can't salvage any motivation to bl ock in the rest of the model. Especially after manually drawing out the topology as I feel that even though I can edit the edges and such with ZModeler, I still feel Topogun gets that instantaneous satisfaction once you take the efforts to draw things out first. I still have to do the sword and pumpkin, and I'm really skeptical if I should even get this rigged. I took the risk of buying a program called Shroud Studio Cloth Simulation when I realized my credit has been pretty good for a long time now. I can say that I don't regret making the purchase, as it's going to convince me to tackle other concept art with a lot of dangling clothes, and such.
I try not to be materialistic about this, or rather, obsessive over a program, but I think it's going to make me open to take more risks, now. I thought that for my 2 and a half days off work, that I would finish this model, and be half way through another one. But no, I realized how much I over-worked myself doing this in a short period of time, along with work, and getting little sleep because I get too spirited doing this stuff.
I noticed the model isn't exactly like her, which kind of bummed me out. I tried doing some editing, but I'm not sure it's probably because of the right hand side (as if you're looking at the screen) of her face has a different eye shape than the left. Or, I'm just a walking Dunning–Kruger.
I'm trying to do someone's OC, basically. They gave me artistic freedom, fortunately, but I don't know how this one will go.
Concept: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/379146862362269801/
Concept:
Just a quick test after re-targeting the test rig with IKinema WebAnimate.
So, this concept is a Doberman doesn't have an arm on the right hand side, and the hand apparently can float. Another quirky thing is that flames can come out of that same cut off arm, and could probably be a substitute for an actual arm. Not sure if that implication can set up for some kind of backstory over how long the fire can persist, though. Anyway, this took me about 3 and a half hours. I think I'm starting to get used to seeing 3/4th view of concepts, and trying to create a front and side view of them. Even though this concept isn't really complex, I think I'm going to be less turned off by concepts that only have a 3/4th view because I have to trust that somewhere along the line, those models that I made in the past helped me get some visual understanding of what the front "could" be. The side part seems to be easy as it's just a little turn over from drawing it out.
I wanted to sculpt something male related to see if I would have problems transitioning from female to male sculpts, but, I don't think I have any. I think sculpting the male seems to be vastly easier than the female, for some reason. Or, maybe I'm just improving overall, but something feels weird about it being sculpted so fast. I don't know, it just cringes me. I could justify it as my mind making those little clicks, and finding a silver lining of how to do these things faster...but I think I'm over-looking something...
Anyway, for some reason, I lost all motivation for now to do something else. Even the commission I'm on right now for another model. The person commissioning me is understanding of my thought process as to why I was taking a break to do other models, and they don't seem to be in a rush, thankfully, but really...I'm not sure where I'm suddenly becoming apathetic in doing another model. Maybe, I'll just take a little break, and come back to it later on.
Also, something about this concept makes me think, WOAH HOOOO to the extreme. Just add an eye patch, a body suit, and a metal-saturated arm to compensate for the lack of an arm, and we got ourselves another snake listening to the tonality of an Ecuadorian female!
WIP of another adoptable I got a while ago. I intend to animate her, and even use cloth simulation for once. Maybe even facial expressions, too, for the sake of getting back into practicing these things I've neglected for a long time.
Really need to work on those alphas, man.
WIP so far:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/QQndd
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DblGA
Another concept I wanted to practice the Reilly Method of Head Drawing on for the first time:
Looks weird without makeup, but that's inevitable even when I was drawing out the planes of the face for other character designs in the past. I'm glad to get myself into making my own instead. The next project after this blacksmith one will be this face I'm envisioning to become actualized for once. That is if I can even contain my excitement to just hop off one, and then do another only to find myself scatterbrained again.
I took notes down from a guy's video, Kyle Hefty on YouTube that explains it concisely and very fluidly for my ears at least.
I always wanted to make myself try it out, but it felt so daunting for me. Now, it's making so much sense. Of course, there's always room for improvement, but I'm happy that I'm getting myself to make some action for once. It's nice having notes, like I've done for other workflows that way, I get myself into building consistency.
Before, I dreaded even thinking about how I could even do anything for myself rather than iterating someone else's design (and most likely doing it disgracefully). Now, at least I can revel in my own flaws and work on that.
2 hour study
4-15-18 Leg Study