Don England's Character Improvement - Critiques Welcome

DonEngland

Thank you for taking the time to look. Critiques greatly appreciated.

donenglandart.com

I'm working on improving my characters and would love some help. In this thread, I intend to post my improvement schedule and log my progress.

Current WIP:

• Shaman (Concept by Alina Ivanchenko)
  

Last:

• Blizzard Fan Art - Demon Huntress bust (Concept by Tyson Murphy)
  
• More on artstation:https://www.artstation.com/artwork/wOXoY
  

Queue:

• Select new male character

Schedule:

• Daily sketches from my pinterest boards
• Daily sculpting
• Material studies (cloth, leather, metal)

DonEngland

Update:
Wolf Guard Axe from Monthly Character Art Challenge
More on artstation:https://www.artstation.com/artwork/wolf-guard-axe


I'll be finishing up some client work and moving on to the Demon Hunter Bust:

fabio brasilien

Great job! I don´t have much to add. The presentation is great and it is very well organized without much of unecessary stuff. The quality of the work is good too.
I am only missing some released titles, if you have something that is worth to show you should show.
By the way, your resume has a lot of very cool stuff, even though I am not sure if all that is necessary for this industry.
But there is one thing that sounded off to me: "Award winning leadership and followership"
I am not a native english speaker, so I might got this wrong. But sounded a bit over for me.

DonEngland

@fabio brasilien: Thanks! I considered putting some game jam titles up, but my main contribution for those is gameplay programming and the art quality is extremely low. I can see how that line can be taken negatively and removed it. The awards are still listed at the bottom.

Update:
Started on the demon huntress. Horns were made with curve insert brush with sub-d tri-parts mesh. I'm not sure if I should dynamesh horns to sculpt the lines I want, or go straight to low poly. Hair will be replaced with hair cards.

DonEngland

Update:
Refined the face a bit and changed the horn shape. Tried several hair variations, but didn't like the results. Here is a shot of my progress so far.

DonEngland

Update:
I made some simplified hair to stand in for now. I am not sure about deviating from the concept hair. Working on the horns next.

DonEngland

Update:
Things got a bit busy. Some texturing on the skin. Horns, hair, and cloth roughed in.

DonEngland

Update: Texture progress, handpainted in substance painter using hard/soft round and single texture channel.  I'll be iterating on the metal and tattoos.  Feedback appreciated.

BradMyers82

Great work here man!  The proportions of the face look a little wonky.  Eyes look too surprised and cheeks/face looks too thick.  I remember seeing that cat from somewhere that you have on your portfolio.  That's really awesome, def. your strongest piece.  I'd consider getting rid of the axe on your portfolio tho.  Its not on the same level as your other work right now.  Overall I dig you work, I think you have some really cool pieces.  One things I'd work on if I were you a bit more is lighting and presentation.  I think your stuff is generally well lit and presented well, but it could def. be pushed further.  Good luck man, looking forward to seeing more! 

DonEngland

@BRADMYERS82: Thanks!  I've made a few changes to the face and sharpened the eyes.  The cat was a fun piece to make, I'm glad you liked it.  I see what you mean about the axe, it doesn't really fit the rest of my work.  I'll remove the axe when I update my site with this piece.  Thank you for your time.

Update:

I updated the textures, pose, and added lighting.  Probably going to wait a day or two and try to look at it with fresh eyes.

BradMyers82

yea, Id recommend putting your model in  a similar 3quarters view as your concept, take a screen shot then try to overlay your image ontop of your concept.  This will make it really clear where you need to make changes if you want to match the concept more.  Its hard to say exactly but the head in the concept just has a much smaller and thinner feel then yours.  I think yours def. looks a lot better now, but I think you can push it further.  Good work man!

DonEngland

@BRADMYERS82: Thanks for the feedback, I see what you mean now.  I appreciate you stopping by.

Update: I refined the mesh and texture.  Not sure if I should keep pushing or maybe make up a deadline to wrap things up.

BradMyers82

looking a lot better man!  Another thing you can try is taking a screen shot of your model and fully desaturating yours and your concept image and comparing the values you have.  Yours is a little off, but if you compare the values without color it will make things a lot more clear.

BradMyers82

also, I sorta like how the concept clips her at the bottom.  I realize you went thru the effort to give her some clothing but what I would do is slice it about half way and slice the area under the shoulders as well.  I think it will make it look a lot more sharp in terms of composition.  I totally understand if you are opposed to doing that but I think it will make it look a lot better actually.

BetaRazer

This all looks great! I don't have much to say on this one. The topology is clean, and you've got some nice materials going on, especially on the Cannon Mech. I really like how you've presented the whole site; you're stuffing the art in my face at a good decent resolution without me ever having to scroll down. Good stuff. One thing though; is it your intention to become a character artist? If so; you should state that at the top of your portfolio! Then others know what kind of artist you're aiming to be. Makes life a lot easier in the future. Keep it up!

DonEngland

@BRADMYERS82: Thanks!  Desaturating is a great idea.  I will definitely use that once I have everything blocked in with the updated model.  I went ahead and clipped the model and moved it more inline with the concept.

@BETARAZER: Thank you!  I am not sure if I should put hardsurface or character artist down.  Sub-d modeling is great and characters are fun too.  Right now I have a bit of a middle ground where my models are mostly mechanical characters.

Update:

I started polishing the textures but the hair was not working with the clipped torso.   I updated the hair and refined the face a bit.  Paint is very rough at the moment.

DonEngland

Update:

Texturing update.  I'm not sure about the horns yet.

BradMyers82

Dude, this looks 100 times better!  Great work!  I think the horns are great, I'd just make the tapered part (towards the tip) More angular like the front part.  I realize its not quite so angular in the concept, but I think it would look cooler to push those forms.  Keep up the good work!!!

DonEngland

deleted

DonEngland

Originally posted 1-Mar-2016, I guess it didn't take.

Special thanks to @BradMyers82 for the help on the Demon Huntress, it really helped me push it.

I'm restarting a shaman I attempted in a Monthly Character Challenge http://polycount.com/discussion/152313/the-monthly-character-art-challenge-may-2015

Concept:

I'm starting over from scratch for this and will be applying the lessons I've learned since then.  Things have been a bit busy lately, but I'll be squeezing in some time for personal work.

Special thanks to @leaf for the excellent feedback on my original attempt.

My goal for the Shaman is a stylized PBR character with "realistic" hair.

DonEngland

Blocking out the accessories.  Working on cloth next.

DonEngland

Updated the cloth and belts, foot wrap and accessories next.