Looking for some advice on my portfolio pieces

MyattC

Hey everyone, i've recently joined the polycount forums and look to contribute what i can to people who need help with the information i have gained along the way. Currently i am working for a supermarket and spending my spare time studying. I have a degree in automotive design yet i didn't want to go down that route, my choice of course was due to my likes at the time and the interests i had gained through a foundation degree, which as i have aged have changed.

I've loved games since i was a kid, my dad managed to hook up gta 1 and doom 1 on a network and i used to play networked from like the age of 8 with a friend. I loved games. I've played amongst the wow community for a long time along with friends along the way through working different jobs. But i always felt i had something to offer as a creative.

After Uni, i basically lost touch with CAD, and took a break (nothing wrong with that). But after a few years just working a minimum wage job and getting by, i realised this isn't the way to be. I was taught modelling through solidworks, which was pretty rigid. my final year consisted of 3ds max, which i enjoyed as it had alot more freedom. But after uni, i couldn't land a job straight away. so i seemed to take a back foot and my skills took a backseat. I was introduced to zbrush last year around november and i thought this is it. This is what i should be using. it gave me complete freedom to do what i wanted to do and in turn i've been able to create work that i am happy with at my level and this is what i want to share with you. Yes i am not professional but i hope i am good enough from a starting point.

My next task is to pack in working in retail and go full time in design. I love it and i want to improve dramatically! Since november when i picked up zbrush i have been trying to sort out portfolio pieces and these are the pieces i want to show you. Please critique and let me know what you think. I got to the stage of rendering but im not sure on the layout, maybe you can see a better way of representing the models i have created. 2d artwork is from Darren Bartley, Leonid Enin, amazing artists who inspire me. Please check out their work also.

:thumbup:
These images are BPR from zbrush, composited in PS, the usual passes. around 1500 px width should i work on the render?

BeardedMike

For being fairly new to zbrush you have done a pretty good job capturing the large form and details based on the concept. At quick glance my advice would be to look over the model from all sides and see if there can be any improvement to the character's silhouette. You can also push the small details way further, for example the front of the rock creatures arms have nice hard surface shape but are a bit too smooth, but could use more pitting and wear that can be seen in the concept.

PyrZern

A few things I think you should improve.

1. Presentation. Right now it's hard to see anything there. Well lit object + multiple angles will help a lot. Big big render is also normal.

2. Material definition. Is that Golem made of rock ? The concept seems so. Yours, not so much. The armors and the cloths on the dude doesn't read as such either. And almost everything on the dude seems muddy and blurry; which usually means you go up too high on subdiv for the level of details you have.

3. Proportions in general. Your Golem seems like he has big hunchback. While the dude has long body and short legs. His helmet's shape is also off.

Also, if you want to make characters for games or animations, you have to be able to make lowpoly models and texture them too.


Keep up the work man.

MyattC

Thanks bearddedmike and pyrzern, these pieces are from the last couple of months so since then i've learnt a heap more. I will revisit these this weekend and take on your advice and do a reupload over the next few weeks. Any tips on high details? My computer struggles at about 7-8mil poly which im not sure is high enough? Will retopo some lowpoly models and texture done also for some pointers. Thanks

flipside8404

I am not much of a position to give advice but I agree with PyrZern, the golem on the concept looks like it was made of rock, the body of your golem looks very organic, and the rock on his arms is a bit out of place "material" wise from the rest of him.
*for high details, have you look into HD geometry? http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/lesson/zbrush-introduction/#hd-geometry

you could also use Zremesher (with guides), after getting your large area defined, so it's much easier to sculpt. It could be doubling the work, but I tried retopologizing early for sculpting purposes, plus it gives me practice on retopo.

@BeardedMike: how do you deal with concept that only gives you a front view? As an artist, how much of a leeway do we have to "make it up" if the concept is lacking the details/information or just in general "stir" a bit away from the concept for "improvements"

MyattC

Thanks flipside, i've worked with zremesh before but never with guides, will check that out on digitutors on my break, i guess it gives more polys in areas you want to create high detail in? Looks like you all are hitting the same spot. Need to get more detailed. I think im going to redo the armor and proportions on my soldier mod as i know i can improve it dramatically now. Thanks for your advice guys, glad i joined here!

PyrZern

Zbrush handles multiple subtools of lower poly better than 1 big dense subtool. So, keep em all low while you work. Only bring it up when it's all done to render. That said, usually I keep all my subtool lower than 2mill point each (4mill tris). Most are in the 500k-800k tris points.

Monthly Character Challenge will start in a day or two here as well. You should join in It will be fun, and educational.

Har

For information about rocks you can also have a look at the rock thread here on polycount and read what tools they use to get that rock look like rock . Keep up the work.

Rock thread

MyattC

Thanks pyrzern i will split him up currently he is one dense model which lags my system cos of the effort. Will polygroup his limbs torso and split him up. How do you work around boundaries between subtools? if its split it will only detail up to the edge? Is there a way of dealing with this? I saw the challenge board will definitely join that for fun and improvement! Will be fun!

Har thanks for that link! Will check it out when im home!

BeardedMike

flipside8404 wrote: »

@BeardedMike: how do you deal with concept that only gives you a front view? As an artist, how much of a leeway do we have to "make it up" if the concept is lacking the details/information or just in general "stir" a bit away from the concept for "improvements"

I would say your amount of artistic freedom depends on how much artistic freedom you are given! If it is for a client who provided you with a concept vs. something you are doing for your portfolio. In general with a good concept you want to follow it as closely as possible. If you are only given a front view you are pretty much forced to make up the rest, so the advice I gave earlier about checking the silhouette from the different views aids in creation of the unknown areas of the character, especially if he wanted to render from a 3/4 view or something later (or even better retypo, rig, and animate )

Tectonic

When you are working from a concept that only gives you one perspective and limited information, its up to you to gather other references to fill in the information. in your first character you should have gathered reference images of rocks and their textures, of creatures with similar proportions or characteristics. his head looks like it was inspired by a reptile of some sort, and his body more like a rock golem.
Your second character shows you need more practice with hard surface in zbrush. a good tutorial for sci fi helmets can be found here for free: http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/lesson/helmet-design-with-joseph-drust/ the gun is hard to see but it looks very polished compared to the rest of him, his clothes look very 'muddy' or lumpy and undefined. this guy has some good techniques: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1NpLVsOhCU[/ame]

Your third character is a simple concept that draws a lot on human anatomy, and in your rendition its really clear to see that you don't understand how the muscles are shaped or how they connect to the skeleton and which direction they go in. definitely look at a bunch of anatomy reference, and practice some quick muscle sculpts. this page has a wide variety of references (some better than others though, so pick wisely which ones you learn from) https://www.pinterest.com/characterdesigh/

keep at it! keep practicing. there's lots to learn, and there are some great resources online.

MyattC

Thanks Tectonic you are right with the muddyness, i think i can improve on it way better this time when i revisit it. I'm starting with the golem, the artist says he's a Mechanical Sand golem, He has a exhaust coming out of his back, i thought it was a cannon like an artillery piece. Here's the original image:




Anyway, got up early this morning and have zremeshed my model of the golem to start focusing more on form. I'm taking your advice on references, i feel it's head is similar to a snapping turtle and working on the head from that. I came across the above image, which actually has side and back shots of the golem which is cool so have a bit more reference now. Will post updates once i've got through this step. Thanks for your advice so far

Tectonic

awesome, I look forward to watching your progress!

MyattC

Need to ask you guys about this. So i took my original model and changed the proportions quite a bit, just roughly to get more shape in regards to the concept art. i then remeshed it down to around 15k tris for a lowish poly model and created some Uv's on it.

What i was hoping to do, but seem to have hit a wall (it'll probably be something obvious, but this is new territory for me so bare with me), was import the Uv'd Low poly and Subdivide it up, projecting the newly shaped higher poly onto it. then to carry on sculpting details for the textures.

However this happens:

When i divide and project a gap forms, I've read and watched that i should crease the edges to stop this happening, but that doesn't work as you can see in 4. I guess i went about this the wrong way.

If you can give me a nice workflow to go through that would be great also. Keep it simple, i'll do the research on it, just bullet points.

1.Lowpoly model, the model has been detached into body parts in 3ds max, as i was going to subdiv each part as a subtool in zbrush for more detail as suggested by PyrZern.
2.The model repoportioned ready for the low poly.
3. Simple uv
4. The gap problem

PyrZern

I would split it into subtools, not just different polygroups. Then use 'close hole' on each split limbs. And zremesh each of them. The subtools can overlap, it's totally fine. Yeah, I would make the arms separated pieces from the body. (shoulders stay with the arms)

itzaspace

good job
i yhink that u need to work more in the presentation and put more textures and work more in materials