Characters, for character artist portfolio

Nuclear Angel

Current WIP 

Parkour/Freerunning girl (in progress)



Jouster  (DONE) :





Game character for school project (Done) : 

First Post

As the title is saying, I am going to be creating characters for my portfolio in this thread. And why do I start with this now? It is because I am currently attending a polytechnic school, which means that after the second year (as I am in at the moment), we will be having a 9 months internship at a studio where-ever we can land a position. So that requires of me that I will have a portfolio by the end of April so that I can start to apply for internships all around the globe (probably sweden and Denmark most though) . 

So where am I going to start? 

I am going to be starting with a female Samurai, as after I found an amazing piece by Paul Tosca, i just really wanted to do something like this.
 http://www.cgsociety.org/cgsarchive/newgallerycrits/g91/253891/253891_1362516118_large.jpg

I have made a little collection of references that I will be using as a base, but as I want to try to create a rather nonfictional samurai. And try to match the design of what I want to do, as much as possible from real life armors, I would be super glad if anyone have a lot of good references to share for samurai armors. But here is my sprint of point when it comes to direction and such.

 
"Disclaimer" I will be doing a more proper concept during the weekend and at the start of the next week. 

The thread will not see so much character art at first though, and that is because Currently at my school, we have a course which is pretty much that during 6 weeks, we should create 3 game-ready assets, and I started on the characters face as a 1 piece asset already. So that is worth to be taking in to consideration. That I will be working sort of weird on this character, as I will have to do some pieces separately, as that is required for the course. But once the course is done we only have a portfolio making course left.

So what do I need help with?

Well I am mostly concerned about the design aspect, and even the question if this is something that would be a good idea for a portfolio? Is it interesting enough with an armored female samurai?  Or should I make something else entirely? But for now I do not have a proper concept, and until that is done it is very hard to see if the design would work or not. I will post the face here that I did for the course I have now.  So if you people see anything that is wrong with it, let me know. 



After I have finished the concept and I decide that this is a character that I want to spend time on. I will redo the face entirely, as the topology and texturing was rushed for a deadline. So I am not happy with the textures, just for everyones attention . 

Sorry for the wall of text, but thank you if you read all the way here. Have a great day people! 

Panupat

Even for a stylized character you cannot ignore anatomy. Her face doesnงt look human to me (I'm Asian myself). She looks more like a fish or alien evolved from fish. And I think it's the area concerning eye sockets that caused this.

If you want to make this right, redo her from the skull level and get her facial structure right. Don't try to fix it in texture/topology. You cannot hide a flawed foundation by pouring icing on top.

Nuclear Angel

@Panupat  Thank you! And yes I will actually redo the face entirely, especially when you say it like that, it becomes quite awkward that I missed the mark so badly =3 But I will redo it with a lot more reference than I had when I did this, as the sculpt was rushed out in 3 days. Thank you again for pointing this out to me.  

hreazee

having done portfolio pieces myself and still being in school like you are,  the design you are going for (specially if its a whole body) is too ambitious In my opinion, unless you have like a great amount of time to do it.
I would suggest focusing only a shoulder bust, showing the armour partially. that way you can focus on the anatomy and skin creation etc. the portfolio is all about quality, not quantity

Nuclear Angel

@hreazee Thank you so much for this I got that feedback from other sources and you are absolutely right about that. If I would do a character like that I would have to commit way to much in to it to make it to the level that I desire. So I will focus more on simpler but more realistic stuff for me to achieve before April of the next year.  

Also I will let this thread rest a bit, and I will pick it up when I actually start on a piece I know that I will have for my portfolio. Since I don't know if what I am working on now will be worth to have in my portfolio or not later. But I do got a link that leads to what I am working on at the moment. It´s here  

Nuclear Angel

So I finally picked up a project, the first character for my folio. I am doing "orange jouster" by Marc Brunet, as I want to have one hard surface character, and I really love this concept and the level of details. The project is going for 6 weeks, so a lot of late nights.  But I do believe that I can pull it off, even though it might take a lot more effort than I imagine. 




I did a quick paintover for the lines of the basemesh that I have created, not perfect but it gave me a good sprint off point. If something seems wrong with my sketch please notify me! 



And here is my current dynamesh WIP: 



I have primarily focused on the head since the body will be covered in armor. Tomorrow I will work on the hands, and after that I will do a block-out of the armor. And then it will be more clear how my proportions are holding up. Any feedback is appreciated.

On a side note, I am going to start on my portfolio website soon. But I can't decide on a name. What do you people think of "Nuclear Art"? Because I do not want to use my real name, since it is a very standard name. But is "Nuclear Art" a good name, or is it to "try-hard" or something similar? Any input on this question would be nice, have a happy happy new year Polycount! And thanks for stopping by this thread. 

Nuclear Angel

I blocked in the hands, and I will continue after the new year (tomorrow) when I can see the proportions with a fresh eye. 


Critique always appreciated. 

Asura

The body is a great start so far, but i think you can push the proportions a bit more. The character concept is really stylized and if you take the upper body into account from the concept, it looks like the jouster is a bit leaner. Also the legs are really big for and once you add armor on it'll only get bigger. Try starting with a leaner gymnast body type and do a rough block out of the armor to see where things are going proportionally. 

semajnothing

Its looking pretty decent in terms of overall sculpt quality. However, the underlying anatomy needs some work. Proportions seem to be good, aside from perhaps her massive thighs. (but its stylized so its fine) The pectoral muscle should tuck under the Deltoid, rather than into it. The other side of the pectoral should extend up to the collar bone rather than curve towards the shoulder.  The upper back region seems to be lacking a lot of features. The scapular extends too close to the spine from what I can see. The Pelvis shouldn't visible all the way around. You should only be able to see it starting from the Anterior superior iliac spine and for about a quarter? (don't quote me on the distance) before it gets covered by fat. Those are some of the more glaring issues that I noticed. I would recommend getting an anatomy for artists book and studying that.

Nuclear Angel

@Asura I will do a paint-over of my current sculpt and see how it looks and post it, but I agree, I might have gone a bit overboard with the proportions. If it looks wayyy to wide, I will take back some of the shapes on the sculpt. So thank you for the heads up! 

@semajnothing I do agree that the anatomy is severely lacking, and thank you for the sweet list of pointers. But I never intended for correct anatomy, since she will be covered in armor. If I had time I would work a lot more on making her more correct. But as I am on a time constraint I only focused on her proportions. Thanks again for the feedback! 

Nuclear Angel

I did not work on the character a lot today, but i tweaked the proportions, so I am soon ready to start blocking out the armor. I think her arms are a bit short though, so I am going to adjust that before moving on.  Is there anything else you guys notice is wrong that I should address before blocking out the armor? Thanks in advance!

Nuclear Angel

I am working on blocking out the armor of the jouster. But I am thinking of making the head smaller, to match the concept better. 

Nuclear Angel

More work done on the character today, I am still blocking out the armor, so it is rough in some areas. But I am trying to get the proportions as good as possible. So any crits would be godsend. Also I attached a closeup on the face to show what is going on there. 

Nuclear Angel

I have picked up this character again now after being away for a while. The second picture is with ortho camera. I would love feedback on the proportions, as I do not want to move on with the sculpt until it is "perfect"

Nuclear Angel

Still chipping away at this, I am starting to feel happy with the proportions, still need to look at the legs a bit, but I am going to start refining my rough blockout shapes. And then it is on to detailing. All feedback is appreciated.

Nuclear Angel

I have chipped away more at the proportions, I am feeling they are getting quite where I want to have them. And I also did a polished version of the helmet. To see to which level of detail i want to take this character. 

Nuclear Angel

Working more on refining the hard-surface pieces. Working on the torso at the moment. I really want to get back to the face, but one thing at a time. 

Nuclear Angel

Current progress on the highpoly

DanBullockArt

Coming along nicely, keep it up! The really sharp highpoly in the last post looks lovely, so nice and clean  
To me the legs are feeling a bit too bulky. I know they are in the concept, but they feel quite cumbersome and impracticable to me. Just my opinion, and maybe it'll come out a bit once you've refined the legs, but I'd just recommend trying to think about how they work a bit more. Make sure you make them as practical and functional as you can, and that should really help the design
Like where its going, keep pushing

Nuclear Angel

@DanBullockArt  Thank you for the feedback. I am a bit scared of changing the design at all, since I want to try to stay as close to the concept as I possibly can. But I will consider tweaking the legs now when I am refining them, I will update later so you can see the result. And thank you ^^  

DanielJohnsson

Hell yeah man!, great work so far!

slosh

Progress looks good!

Nuclear Angel

@DanielJohnsson  and @slosh  Thanks guys!

Progress since last time, done with the highpoly legs, working on the arms, and then it is the jetpacks and the head. After that it is all retopo. 

Brian "Panda" Choi

Awesome progress!

Right now, what is bothering me about the design is that the knee joint will NOT completely bend back to 90 degrees or more due to the proximity between the thigh and shin armor in the inside of the knee.   I would open that up to make the animation make more sense.

Nuclear Angel

@"BRIAN "PANDA" CHOI" Thank you! And I see what you mean with the knee joints and I do agree. But also they are almost tighter in the concept, so I do not know if I want to take such a liberty to change that part of the design. Since I want to really match the concept to the best of my abilities. Do you still think I should loosen it up even more to make it more deformable? 

Thanks in advance. 

Nuclear Angel

I am almost done with the highpoly. I need to add the tube at the back, work a bit more on her rump, add the engines in to the empty cylinder shapes and take up the head to an acceptable level. Then it is on to retopo town. Also Brian, I tried widen the joint distance on the legs, do you think it is any better now? 

Nuclear Angel

I fixed up most of the highpoly stuff. I only got the face left and then it is retopo time! 

Nuclear Angel

So I am done with the retopo and baking, now going to start texturing her. AO and normal shot from marmoset, around 20k for the lowpoly as of now. 

Optey

Cool model!Looking at the high poly sculpt I feel the head would need more work...especially in the eyes/cheeks area...it seems a bit weird to me, even if it's a stylized character...:)

Nuclear Angel

@optey Thanks, and I never put up a picture of the final highpoly face, so that might be why. Going to upload one on sunday. 

Nuclear Angel

Working on the lowpoly and texturing, I am going to do the hair and eyelashes, then onwards to presentation. I am going to tweak the skin a bit more as I am not satisfied with it, any feedback is appreciated. 

Highpoly of the face. 

Lowpoly with textures

PyrZern

Is it just me or are her iris too big and too high ?

Nuclear Angel

@PyrZern  I see where you are coming from, and I will try to make it smaller and it might make it look better. Will post an update later today, thank you. 

Nuclear Angel

I updated the eyes, though I have not had any time to work on the Jouster since I this monday had to start a new character for a school project. So I am working on the jouster on my spare time. So the jouster will see some slow progress moving forward, but I will not leave it in the dust, just having two projects up at once. And the other project I started on yesterday, so slow progress, trying to find proportions and general shapes down before detailing. 

Jouster progress:



Character for game project in school progress: 



And what all the different blocked-out clothes are going to end up being



Face closeup:



Thanks for watching

Nuclear Angel

So I made some more progress on the big dude. I will continue with the jouster during the weekend and on my free time, but damn my schedule is tight. 

Nuclear Angel

I finished my big dude, more images on my art station

karytsukino

Nice characters here. You are doing a great improvement . Keep going =D

Nuclear Angel

@karytsukino Thank you! And I will ^^ 

Nuclear Angel

I made some progress on the jouster, going to do her hair, eye lashes and then polish her eye and makeup, and then pose her and she is done! 

Nuclear Angel

I am slowly chipping away at the hair, currently trying to build up the main shape before making individual strands to make it more appealing. I need to make the hair longer as well, but slowly getting there. 



Also I have made a concept for my last character that I will have in my portfolio, I am not a concept artist, but I would appreciate feedback on the design. 

Nuclear Angel

I finished the Jouster Character, I took my time on it, but it feels soo good to be "done". There is a lot of things I would like to fix, and make better, but time to let her go. Thanks to Marc Brunet for letting me model his concept. 

More images on my Artstation and a marmoset viewer. 

Bubblez

Awwwwww duuuuuude. I totally had my eye on that Orange Jouster concept. You beat me too it. And did a great job man! Nice work!

Nuclear Angel

Thank you so much @Bubblez! Even though I already did her I can really recommend you doing this character, she is a real challenge, especially the shape of her legs. She is also a ton of fun, even though there is so much to her.  Thanks again ^^ 

Nuclear Angel

I started chipping away at the parkour girl. I am right now only blocking in the major shapes, clothes and such. 
Feedback more than welcome. 





I also updated my character from before with a more crisp presentation picture. 

Nuclear Angel

So I have worked more on her pants now, and they are almost done. The shoes are also complete. Next up I am going to start on her arms and chest anatomy before making her tank top. 

Nuclear Angel

I worked a lot on her arms and back today, feedback more than welcome.

PeteDeee

Man, i love your work there, keep it up

I'd love to give some critique but you're at least 10 levels above me currently and i can't find flaws other than the head looking really weird in the last piece (looks more like a design choice though).

Nuclear Angel

@PeteDeee Thanks man, and that feedback regarding the head is great! I have not gone over the head yet since the block in, but I think it is the cranium that is too large. I will look over it and make it better. 

kanga

Nice character!
The eyes look like they go too far around the outside of the face atrm.

Cheerio

Nuclear Angel

@kanga  Thanks man, I think i have solved the issue, on my artstation you can find the updated character or on my portfolio. 

Update on my parkour girl, highpoly 96% done, only minor tweaks left. 

Nuclear Angel

Progress on my parkour girl, feedback more than welcome.