Platformer Character

Melazee

Most recent images:



Hi all!

Some of you might remember me from my "Next Gen Jak" thread. That's still going, it's just on the backburner for now since I wanted to do something a little simpler, and I realized from other things I've worked on that the method I'd used for Jak wasn't exactly the best. 

Now, a little bit of backstory- I LOVE platformers, and I really don't see enough cool platformer characters being made anymore with the appeal that Ratchet/Jak/Sly/Spyro/etc had. So, I've been working on bringing back a really old character of mine. I originally started posting this in the sketchbook forum, buuuut I've decided that I want it to be a main project of mine that I'd love feedback on.

I've created a base mesh that I'm going to pull around and refine, but I think I'm happy with the overall shape so far (I'm a sucker for top-heavy characters). 

 Here's progress:



Here is a rough paintover of the base I did a while back. I'm not too keen on the jeans as much anymore, so I've changed them for a cloth at the moment (the original character and story had an Egyptian-ish theme going on). That might change again though. 



And my original concepts from a few years back that I'm working from. I've given him more of a Fennec Fox look now, and oversized some parts for more appeal. 





I'll probably sketch out some new solid concepts before I move on with this model since I'm still unsure about what to make him wear. He needs some kind of shoes/sandals I think to balance him out a little more. Also, my original concepts could do with an update ha.

Feedback/ideas welcome!  

BagelHero

Loving the proportions! Bookmarked for updates

Melazee

Thankyou! I'll try not to disappoint :P 

Did a quick concept for roughly what I have in mind. I'll concept weapons and such in more detail in a bit since this was mostly done on a Surface Pro on the train at 6:30am ha. Didn't have my originals for ref either so the swords are the wrong shape here, although I kinda like the bat wing look...?
 Decided to change the tattoos to blue to make them stand out more as the original yellow colour blended into the fur too much.

Still not sure whether to go for alpha cards or sculpted hair. Hmm....

grimmrobe

Yeah! This is cool. Could you potentially push the Fennec fox look some? He looks heroic here, but maybe there is something interesting to be had in the proportion of the face to the ears and the striking silhouette of that V shaped head. 

Either way this looks really cool. Look forward to seeing your progess :-)

Melazee

Thankyou very much! You're right, I could push the face more. I've done some sketches of a new face which aren't with me, but I will make modifications to my base in Zbrush. I've worked some more on the base, added some extras from the concept. Nearly done with the base, although I'm not so sure those swords are working any more... hmm. Struggling to see how he would effectively draw them in battle haha.

Steve Schulze

The tufty hair and lanky limbs makes me think of a maned wolf rather than a fennec fox. Not that that's necessarily a problem.

If you really wanted to push the Fennec foxiness, I'd be inclined to change it up a bit. I hope you don't mind, I did a quick sketch over one of your concepts.

They're pretty distinctive looking little guys, so there's plenty to play with in terms of stylisation. They're tiny - like a fox chihuahua, with enormous ears. Short fox muzzle, almond-shaped eyes and fluffy fox tail. That's not to say you have to make any of those changes. I think what you've got going there works fine.

With regard to the weapons, if you flipped them upside down, he'd be able to reach over his shoulders and draw them

Melazee

Thanks for the paint over! You're right, Fennecs are stubbier creatures, and much pointier looking. The large nose on my character wouldn't work for sure if he was a Fennec. Perhaps a Fennec fox is the wrong term for this guy. Funnily enough though, this character used to be a lot stubbier like here, but I changed him to be more lanky. 

He he was always originally based on a dog (an Akita if I remember correctly). I wasn't a fan of the Akita tail on him though, so I changed it.



I will definitely turn the swords upside down, can't believe that didn't occur to me! Now I just need to do some sketches to figure out how they will fit inside the bag, but also be able to be drawn without catching awkwardly on anything. Could be tough! I've been thinking I might have to make them thinner, and turn the backpack into a sword sheath instead in order to make more sense. 

Melazee

Base mesh done! Figured out how to get the weapons making sense in the end. I turned them upside down after the suggestion, and I made the backpack have a button fastener that would pop open when he draws his weapons. That way it would make more sense, and it would make the weapon drawing much easier for him.

Now into Zbrush! Everything is quite low poly at the moment, so I will probably retopo a lot of this after the sculpting (weapons and the backpack are placeholders, they will be completely reworked for example). I quite like the idea of having the cloth around his hips quite frayed and torn, that will be fun to experiment with.

Melazee

Update! Not had much time to work on this, but I'm trying! 

Going for a sort of Disney Infinity style, but not quite. As you can see, I've been experimenting with the hand style as they are both totally different. I think I'm going to keep the chunkier look and not have that more hard-edged looking hand on (our) left.

I think I will thicken out that cloth around his legs, and perhaps start blocking in the hair details next.

More to come!

Melazee

Been busy for a long while, but managed to get some more of this done! Done the hair, fixed the dodgy leg shape (although I might thicken his legs up around the inner thigh) and a few more tweaks here and there. Lots I want to fix still, suck as the cloth and the hands, and I also want to redo the bandages (especially around the ankles). 

As always, feedback more than welcome!  

dpadam450

Eyebrows look too high. The hair needs to come to the front of the head. It almost looks like a hat. Look at the reference. Give it some weight as well. It is super straight.

Melazee

Thanks for the feedback! My 2D skills are better than my 3D skills, I need to be able to transfer across small things such as these.

Cheers!

Melazee

Long time no post! Finally went back to this tonight, been very busy at work, and took some time to work on another model in my free time (which will be finished and posted soon, I learned Substance Painter with it but I digress!)

Only did a little more to him this evening, but now I've come back to it after having not seen it for a long time, I can see ways I can really push him. Here's an interesting comparison to his 3D model I made back in 2012! Crazy stuff:



I'll be working on him seriously again once I have this other model out of the way, I have so many changes I want to make now I've taken a break (not so much to the head, more to the rest of the body, such as redoing bandages, redoing the cloth on his hips, redoing his hands, yadda yadda). I like the chiselled look and I think I'll try to keep it consistent across the rest of the model.

And yes, I ended up lowering the hair from feedback, although he doesn't have such a strong silhouette from the front now. I'll have to decide what I want to do with that, might be something I might just end up doing in rigging.

Melazee

Makin' progress! Finished my other model, here's my most recent update on Ven:



Legs need more work since they aren't flowing too nicely with the rest of the body right now, but I'm getting there. The sandals were accidentally smoothed before I exported this to render, they aren't final don't worry Obviously needs hands! I hid them because I haven't reworked them yet. Thinking of adding tassles to his skirt bit too, might be too busy looking though. I'll do a test and see at some point.

I took a bit of a different direction than in my original concept, decided to go a bit more hard surface all over. I like it much better than before, a bit more interesting.

Melazee

Tonights update! Worked on the hands, did some more on the tail (although I've just noticed it's not properly symmetrical on the end there, need to fix that), fixed up the legs and pulled them inwards a bit more (they looked odd before). Added eyelashes! Although I painted over them a bit here because they aren't quite thick enough on the model yet, ha. Getting there.

Feedback welcome!

Melazee

Added some teeth today! I've actually done a lot of work on the rest of the model too, but I want to do a bit more before I show it... however here are some fun expressions I did with the sculpt this evening

Melazee

High poly done! He changed a little bit from my original concept as some things didn't work, and other things worked better, but I'm happy with it Retopo next!

mwgrafx

He turned out great! I love the style. The only thing nagging me is his toes. They don't read well.  Cant wait to see him textured.

Tits

Looking great!
Are you going to turn it into a game rez character?

Melazee

Thanks! Yeah I thought there was some kind of issue with the feet, perhaps they aren't big enough? 

And thanks! He will be a game res for sure. Haven't fully decided on a texturing style just yet though.

Melazee

So... want to see something REALLY funny? I went through my very first posts on my Tumblr account from about 4 years ago, and dug up my very first model of the very same character I'm modelling now! What a gem! It's interesting to look back at how far you've come! And hopefully, inspiring to others?  I had a very rough start with 3D, I just could not understand anything about it. 

Melazee

Retopology is done... for the most part. I can see areas where I want to go back in and optimise some more (specifically, on the sword handles (I'm trying to keep the overall bandage shape on the swords, but also use a bit less topology for them) and around the leg bandage area), but hey ho. Getting there! He's around 30k tris right now with both of the swords.

grimmrobe

Dude, this is looking great. Are you just working on the character or are you doing some environment / level stuff as well?

Melazee

Thanks very much! I'll be doing just the character I think, not much of an environment artist

Quick screengrab from Substance! Feedback still welcome! I tried doing gradients in Substance, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. There's a lot here I'm not happy with, I'll continue working into it though.

Leinadien

Now animate it and put it in a game.

Melazee

Haha, I'd love to animate him! I'm not a terrific animator or rigger sadly, but I will certainly try  

Melazee

Update! Here Ven is in Marmoset. I'll be doing a basic rig and pose on him soon too. T-pose is a lil boring! Also forgot, need to tone down the spec on his eyebrows and some other parts there. 



Darker environment to test the glow:

Melazee

Calling this guy done now, finally! He's been going for far too long, decided I'd push on through and finish him up!





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