Candy Land Archer
polycounter lvl 7
LATEST:
So even though I have a few projects I'm currently working on, I've decided to prioritize on adding another finished character to my portfolio. After having my website reviewed the other day, a common theme was not having enough completely finished polished characters. This concept has been sitting on deck for a while, and I think it is going to be pretty straight forward. It's not too many bells and whistles and I love the style. I'll be staying as close to concept as possible this time.
The concept is by Melissa Manwill. It's for what I understand to be a spinoff story based on the game Candy Land. More of her work here.
Here is my progress after a couple hours tonight. Shapes are still pretty primative for now. More to come!
So even though I have a few projects I'm currently working on, I've decided to prioritize on adding another finished character to my portfolio. After having my website reviewed the other day, a common theme was not having enough completely finished polished characters. This concept has been sitting on deck for a while, and I think it is going to be pretty straight forward. It's not too many bells and whistles and I love the style. I'll be staying as close to concept as possible this time.
The concept is by Melissa Manwill. It's for what I understand to be a spinoff story based on the game Candy Land. More of her work here.
Here is my progress after a couple hours tonight. Shapes are still pretty primative for now. More to come!
Replies
I just can't shake the feeling that the neck should be a bit more like this in the way it attaches:
EDIT: In fact, confirmation on that, you can see that it attaches in a more cylindrical fashion on the expressions sheet for this character. Very Disney-esque.
And more notes on general flow/rhythm:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=148062
https://www.pinterest.com/cocoacanoe/character-balance-action-lines/
Otherwise, great start and I'm looking forward to seeing your progress
I had been working on the head for a while before I found the expression sheet. I'll pay closer attention to the subtle details, especially the neck.
One note, watch out for the pinching you're getting on the upper lip corners. You don't want that to come back and bite you in the ass later down the line when you're at a higher rez.
Like the face. Are you going to overlap the outer corner of the top lip? Looks a bit floaty. Good character choice.
So, you're saying I should inflate the eyelids a little bit or just make them less defined? I'm leaning towards the less defined option once they're merged. The concept has very minimal indication of eyelid definition.
You really fleshed that character out nicely.
As I said before, I'm taking my time with this piece. I don't want to cut any corners, and I think I just found my first corner. No matter how many times I zremesh this model, the eyes refuse to shape the way I want them to. When I try to sculpt in more detail I get this pinching. I'm thinking that if I re-top the head and bring it back in to sculpt I'll have an easier time. Do you think it's worth it to make that change?
I might retop this part as well since it's a strange shape anyway. Retopping might save me the time it's been taking to tell zbrush what's good for it.
Anyway, here is the full character so far. The boots, hair, hands, and skirt still have a long way to go.
Thanks Neox, my gut is telling me to retop. I've never done it this early in the stage but I think I'll have more control.
The mouth also looks smaller in the concept.
It is not a tutorial but a modeling class. We choose a character design and the girl is the design I chose. The class is through Animschool.
I've re-topped a few other things just for cleaner polyflow like the boots and skirt. I threw on a rough poly paint and I think I'm ready to move on to my next step.
I'll be retopping and unwrapping. Then for some bakes. So once again, it might be a little while until my next update.
Here's what I've got so far:
@dpadam450: After stepping away from this for a bit a and reading your comment, your suggestions for changes jumped right out at me. I did my best to address them. Thanks!
@nickcomeau: It's true, retopping was a little tedius, but sooo worth it. Cleaner meshes make me happy. Also, dividing the model into polygroups is waay easier. Thank you!
@Fenn: Cool! How's the project coming along?
I finished it recently. There are still things I would fix, but I am pretty happy with it.
Artstation Link
Your character looks sick! (I see you too opted out of the perfectly outlined pink cheeks.) I absolutely love the hair! What was your process for that?
So before moving on, in order to continue the trend of taking my time and not cutting corners, I decided to polish the hands a bit more before moving on. I love the look of boxy fingers look which I've seen on characters such as Carl from Up, Fix-it-Felix, Wreck-it-Ralph, and Hiro from Big Hero 6. Using those hands as reference, along with my original concept (which also looks a bit boxy), I came up with this...
Here are the images I used for reference.
I've been following this thread for a while! Its looking super rad man! The Face is really appealing and the hair is awesome too. I know you probably don't want to hear this, because it looks like you put a lot of time into it, but I think the hands are looking a little too balloony. It seems like the meat on the inside of the thumb would curve the other way. Also it might help to add a little more detail into the lower joints on the fingers.
Love seeing the progress! Its going to be great!
I guess I was looking at the old hand image but I did a really quick sketch over anyway!
I am so sorry for not responding. I didn't get any notification via email. I am going to re-subscribe.
Thanks. The hair was a custom brush from my instructor. Basically just curves and curves and curves. It took forever. I did a base sculpt first and used that as a guide though. I can't pass that brush out though. I have made a braid brush that is not perfect but it shares similarities. PM me if you want.
The perfectly outlined pink cheeks didn't work in 3D. That is a purely 2D aesthetic. I am sure somebody better could get it to work though.
Weight is hard to gauge from the front view for me. But if you already saw to it then that is cool.
Your progress is awesome. I am loving it. I have one critique for the mouth. I can do a draw over if it doesn't make sense. The lower lip should, at the corners, tuck under the upper lip. You already have a load of appeal in this, so it should just make that face pop.
Hands are good. I took forever with the hands and still felt I could do more. I think beesonmann is correct, but aside from that you are really giving it a nice feel. Maybe bring the nails out slightly further, something I need to do to. Sorry for the monologue but I am excited.
Yeah, I tried to create the perfectly round cheek outlines for the heck of it, but it was always my intention to skip that detail for the final design. Replicating it in 3D is one thing, but I'm just not a fan of it for a male character.
The only change I was able to get to was the lip since it was an easy fix. (Haven't tackled the hands yet, sorry beesonmann)
I was having trouble with the lips, so I'm glad you pointed this out. I've also toned down the saturation of the skin and added a speckled gloss map to give his skin a more realistic look. I also increased the stroke on the circles on the boots... a tiny detail that was bothering me.
Thanks for the tips everyone! I'll try to keep this thread updated as I go along.
The drawing on the side shows that there is a tiny bit of muscle or whatever that overhangs past where the bottom lip tucks in. It isn't part of the nasal labial fold though. I am not saying to make it puff out like the blue lines, I just drew those to show the gap and the flow.
The character is already super recognizable. Just being nit picky because you have obviously put a ton of work and this wouldn't be much more.
Thanks again for your help beesonmann. I tried my best to reshape the thumbs in the way you suggested. I think they look much better now. Thanks
Fenn, I attempted to tuck the corners of the lower lip under the upper so that it matched better with your feedback. I've been staring at this too long now, but I think it's an improvement.
Ultimately, I plan on making the final pose to be the one in the concept, but I still see the importance of getting these things right before moving on.
I'm moving on to the Bow and quiver tonight. Stay tuned!
I'm happy that I finally took my time with a project. I feel like it's really paying off. Can't wait to wrap this one up, although I'm thinking of giving him a platform that gives him a little bit more of a story.
Maybe a few small peppermint plants like the ones here:
or the ones on the upper right here:
Well done
The concept is from a series of characters from the mind of Melissa Manwill.
There isn't a lot of backstory on the two human characters other than the concept of "players" from the Candy Land board game. I picture him as a character who was disjointed from his world into fantasy land. Think Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz or the characters from Naria.
Maybe it would help if I put a road sign on the platform with arrows pointing to different locations?
Peppermint forest --->
<
Ice Cream Sea
Gum Drop Pass ---->
<
Molasses Swamp
etc...
This would maybe show that he's lost and this world is unfamiliar.
Here's the classic game board with signs similar to what I mean.
Also, I had the idea of adding 1 or 2 colored squares on the platform to show he's walking along the "yellow brick road" of sorts, but the Candy Land version.
Thoughts?
*off topic* Wow I really like the girl concept.
I noticed the concept art painted him rosy cheeks and the skin tones are redder and brighter. Similar to his belt and arrow pouch-thing. This is a personal preference, but I thought it gelled the character better to the candy idea with its sweet and red theme.
The model is already holding up well by itself, but you could push it a little further to make it cohesive regarding the colour tone.
Your platform is very candy-ish atm, I think the squares are optional.