The Beast: Eastern Concept
polycounter lvl 3
I decided to do the Beast from the fairy tale but in an eastern flavor, with the tattered/tarnished garb of a noble warrior. I thought it would be a neat twist. I want him to look ferocious, but retain some relate-able softer emotion; it will be a difficult model like I've never done before.
Here is my first initial sketch (done in GIMP). I'll do some more concept work, and some silhouette sketches before I begin the model. If it's done right, I think this idea could be really awesome.
Here is my first initial sketch (done in GIMP). I'll do some more concept work, and some silhouette sketches before I begin the model. If it's done right, I think this idea could be really awesome.
Replies
I like 2, 8, and 12 the most so far.
I know he looks like a wookie in this picture. And I'm definitely trying to avoid the Kung Fu Panda look.... This main sketch is about his clothing/armor... I think I'd like his head to be a lot larger.
I tried full armor on him but it took a lot of the charm out of the beast. But I didn't want him looking too scholarly either.
I settled for a non-symmetrical design with half armor and half noble garb. I think it's ideal for this character. I'm almost ready to begin working on a base mesh. Just a few more iterations for his arms, legs and feet.
I like the start of the outfit.
The Zbrush approximate would be the dam standard, or (if you're in Mudbox) the knife tool. First I have to create the locks of fur with the layer brush so I don't get confused about the flow. Then carve in and upward alternately with the crease tool over each clump. I plan on going over each one again in Substance Painter for even finer detail.
I don't think alphas get as good of results for this sort of effect. It takes forever so it's a good test of zen.
I'm glad you like it
Can't wait to see the head
My idea is to make the beast more "hansome" and favorable as a main character in a story (about as much as a beast can be I suppose). I used a curved cylinder to form the gums and started by adding the form for the teeth, moving things around and getting everything to line up.
Afterward, I added a displace modifier (set to 0.005) to the teeth to explode them a little and tighten the gaps.
The braids will later terminate in ornamentation.
My next task is to make a tongue, finish the braids and add some jewelry. Then I move on to the lower body.
Also I can't see well for the face, is it fur ? Because it looks a little bit like scales (fur scales ? ^^).
(It might be stupid to mention it but I greatly appreciate that you explain how you do your little tricks with braids and else because I just discover how ignorant I am about the tools I've been using for years ... and am learning a few things !)
The horns will be decorated. I'm not done with the head yet, just the basic form over which to add detail.
As for the fur, we'll see what happens. Patience, grasshopper!
As for the tricks, you're welcome. There's a lot of pretty cool stuff you can do in Blender.
After several test bakes in Substance Painter, I have a nice UV layout for the upper body, which will be one 4k material. It's at 13.5k polys so far.
Next I remesh the teeth and tongue, and then on to sculpting the lower body.
working on uploading some new stuff. I just got his pants done.
Here are the sculpted pants. I'll finish the tail and legs when I have a few spare hours.
I've started blocking out the armor to see what needs to be done. A LOT. And not just what you see here. Straps, pouches, flasks, ect. I wanted to make something beautiful and extraordinary with the details on the clothing and armor.
I'm pretty sure this model isn't going to be ready by the contest deadline. I'm also pretty sure that it's going to take more than 100k triangles. The upper torso (without armor) is 13k polys. And then there's texturing, rigging and posing the model... and the stand... I imagined him next to an intricate chinese archway, standing atop a crumbling lion statue, leaning on a beefy pole-axe.
So, I'll continue working at a leisurely pace and do this right. I plan on finishing the model, even after the contest is over. It will be a pretty killer asset.
I'll continue posting progress in this thread past april 11th.
While you were on very detailed things, progression looked really slow (by "slow" I mean "quick as a lightning" compared to me ^^) but just the blocking of the armor already looks like a big step forward. It's sad that you can't make it before the end of the contest but I think too that it has great potential and it would be a shame that you let it unfinished (after the end of the contest I mean).
You have the good philosophy though, I didn't have the skills to enter the contest but I could have tried just to challenge myself, it's way too late for me now ^^, I'm living this competition through your work ! (that sounds so selfish oO)
And I'm learning things during the process so I guess you've won an annoying supporter right here ^^ (not too much I hope).
I do plan on finishing the model completely and work on it a little each day. I have a lot of other projects I have to keep on as well, but I've made it a habit to always finish. I'll post detailed updates to further enrich the Blenderheads reading.
This model was an opportunity to really explore Blender's sculpting capability.
Before this I wasn't aware of how powerful Blender's sculpting tools truly were. I can create custom brushes that can mimic virtually every tool in Zbrush, and it handles as well as Mudbox in terms of feel / control. With the Quick Prefs addon, I can adjust lighting dynamically as I sculpt. It even has radial symmetry and dynamic topology. I can even paint height maps right on the model and use them with a displacement modifier (something I'm doing now to make detailed jewelry for the model). Furthermore, all my traditional box modeling tools are right next door.
Now all Blender needs is a good remesher. If it can do that, then it's got everything. In my humble opinion, with Blender's recent updates, it is a legitimate professional modeling/sculpting tool.
I'll keep this model based in Blender and exploit its features to the fullest. I'd learn a lot from it, and it's pretty fun so far.