[Blizzard Student Art Contest] - Jiu Ming

jfitch

Hey folks  
I'm starting to work on the Blizzard student art contest for this year, since I've been putting it off for the last threeish years of college. I've been planning and sketching for a little while, and this week I wanted to get some concepts worked out. 

So I'll be working on this dude, Jiu Ming (nine-lives if google translate hasn't failed me), a sphinx cat swordsman who lives in the hills of the Jade Forest in Pandaria. Still working out some of his backstory and how he came to exist there. Comments and critique all appreciated!

Week 1 : Concept (plus some possible head variants)

 

ArtisticTiger

Okay okay, i can see that working, looking forward to this.

jfitch

Finally got some time to work on this, the end of the semester fast approaches! Working on a quick high poly version to get a base for topology and proportions. Probably going to re-do most of the wrinkles but I like the way it's turning out so far. Some of the proportions feel like they need work but I'm not sure in what direction quite yet (legs could be thicker, maybe shorter even, hands could be more like paws perhaps?). Still very much a wip, going to do some retopo now and then play with the proportions a little further. After that it's time to model some armor pieces!

As always C&C very much appreciated. 

artbychien

The sculpt looks really good, keep it up

Antone_m

this is looking pretty good so far , keep going 

jfitch

Thanks guys

jfitch

Frack! This update has taken a while. Holidays and all that, y'know. Working on getting all the little pieces into zbrush! Time for some secondary forms and some details. Going to do the scales with an insert mesh I think...or maybe nanomesh? Starting to get little issues with some of the sketch parts not reading the way I want in 3d, but its fun to figure out ways to fix that. 

FreneticPonies

Well that's just looking excellent

jfitch

Gracias!  

jfitch

Still chuggin! Wanna get the rest of the high poly done by tonight. Unfortunately I had to take a break last week, but it was worth it. Hopefully this week and I can get the low poly, UVs, and texture done! It's gonna be close...

skadoo

I like your choice of proportions. The sculpt is something to be proud of for sure.
 

jfitch

Thanks! Hopefully the low poly will come out nice too haha

jfitch

Working on retopo. Not loving the topology right now but it could be worse! There's a monty python reference to be made here...
Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll make the submission date, but that's okay. Going to keep working anyway.  

jfitch

Welp, I missed the deadline as I assumed I would. Still working though. Here's a shot in Marmoset, I decided to bake out a normal map, curvature, and some light maps just in case. Maybe I'll do something in the vain of HotS? Tri count sits around 7k. On to texturing! First time really using 3D coat so it should be interesting.
 

jfitch

Not sure about a color scheme yet. Playing around with some gradient maps. Also that render (above) is making me cringe for some reason...too blurry maybe? Meh. Anyway I'm gonna go catch some sleep.

Nekhro

I love it so far!
I think you could go this way with coloring (mind its just quick paintover)

jfitch

Thanks for the paintover Nekhro! I'll try out that color scheme and see how it looks. Love the pink in the ears and the darker nose, I'll have to play around with that, too!

This is what I have so far with a little messing around, but I think I'll do a bunch of schemes and do a lineup shot, pick my favorite. Also started posing and put in a temporary weapon. Need to go in and add some highlights for the metals and leather, give it some more contrast I think. Gotta try out the face stuff you added as well.

FreneticPonies

@Nekhro has some great coloring, but to add a little to it:



Either way keep it up! Looking forward to more.

jfitch

Still gotta play with color schemes (thanks guys!) I'll be doing that tomorrow I swear haha. Been a long week, working on a freelance film gig that's been taking up all my time. Managed to do some scribbles for weapon concepts though (heavily inspired by Joe Mad/BattleChasers/Darksiders) and after deciding on staff I did a little iteration on the head since it was brought to my attention that it's pretty much the starting shape for the pandaren monk staff. Oops. Anyway what do you guys think? 

Nekhro

Those are fantastic! They fit the style pretty well!

praetus

Neat designs but they need to be bigger.  I like the basic shapes, but warcraft has all shape language turned up.  Look at some of the weapons in the game currently and they're almost a caricature of their real life counterparts.  I like your ideas, but I think you need to push it further into the silhouettes that Warcraft uses.

jfitch

@Nekhro - Thanks!
@praetus -Ah you're totally right! I was just thinking the same thing as I was scrolling through the Legion artifact weapons. Right now I'm thinking #6 but with the head larger and the staff a bit shorter to make it feel kind of chunkier.

Thank you guys for the feedback  

jfitch

Okay!
Color schemeeeees. Tried to make sure the colors at least fit well together...some feel odd. Personally I'm feeling 1 the most, but 7 and 8 are also pretty sweet. Not really feeling the heavy red despite the advice but 2 doesn't look too bad. Anyway once I settle on one and quit playing with gradient maps I'm going to go in ado some more detailing. Trying to get the highlights right on the scales has been a pain. 

Burpee

I'll go for 2 or 8 imo :  )

Amazing stuff btw ! keep the good work !

TomGT

Looking good!

 I'm drawn to 2 and 9. The white robe on 7, mixed with the green arm and shoulder guards from 3 might look interesting is well.

Nekhro

Loving 5 & 6. They give of villain vibe. Be sure to work more on skin texture/color.

Tectonic

I like 1, 4, or 6. Looking really good! I'm excited to see this when its finished.

jfitch

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback! I ended up going with seven, and I think it's about time I wrap this dude up. Here's the final artstation page and some beauty renders. C&C Still welcome obviously! 

Dethling

This looks really awesome (also the idea with the "base" ist very nice and well done)
Only thing which breaks the "WoW-Feeling" is the outlining of the hole model in the first screens.

jfitch

Ah true man, maybe I should rip that out...feels a little more League-like! Thanks for the kind words and the cc! Don't get enough on presentation. Didn't realize how hard it can be sometimes just to show off your work haha. 

GravityBwlast

Hey @jfitch , been lurking on your project all along. The outcome is really cool. Great colors, especially on the skin and ears area. I agree on the outline advice though.
I like the floor texture as well !

Great job, cheers !

jfitch

Thanks for the kind words Guess I should kill the outline then! 

jfitch

Thanks @GravityBwlast! Thought I responded earlier but it must have been in a dream haha. 

Ren

Some nice attention to detail here! Cheers on a project well done!