Narjal, the Forest Guardian

JRAnimation

Hi all! Long time watcher, first time poster. I am REALLY pumped for getting in on a competition and I hope to finish this one for sure . Here is an initial sketch I worked up that I now plan to work on my ZBrush sketch. C&C welcome and I am looking forward to what people create!

Here is my creation so far with this competition.

Here we have the Forest Guardian, Narjal. He is a beast creature that once thrived in the forest areas on a far off world that became the last of his kind. The goddess of nature granted Narjal eternal life as long as he protects those who reside in the woods from meeting the same fate as his species. So now he roams, forever alone.

initial concept sketch:

When starting this competition, I had no idea what to do. I didn't get much of a feel of inspiration on much right away but I didn't want to waste time as I am trying to create a character a month for this year. So I figured I would use this competition for my "February Character". I left the sketch to where it was (above) and moved on to sculpting to find the design more to how I felt it evolve in to.

C&C welcome !

Current WIP (Feb 23rd):

Been a while since I last posted, so here are some updates.

First I finished what I liked with the design overall for my beast character, Narjal. At this point, I figured it is now time to start retopologizing before moding on for more detailing.


I spent some time working on his topology, and didn't like it. I went too detailed too fast. So I started over super simple.


But in the end I wasn't happy with how this was going. So You know what they say, third time's the charm . So my current (and third attempt) is going well I believe and I like how the flow is much more.


Just keeping it simple and adding as I need more.



So now I am trying to connect all the pieces together with good flow before adding in geometry where I need it. After this, I plan to UV unwrap and bring the clean geometry in to ZBrush to project the details on. Then pose him out just like my initial sketch and detail him up from there and hopefully finish him off in a couple of weeks.

Hope you enjoy this! More updates soon .

~Josh

JRAnimation

Put a little time tonight before bed on an initial base form.

Tomorrow I hope to refine the major forms and get the muscle structure working.

JRAnimation

Got some work done working the proportions and muscle structure. Next will be fixing the hands, then working on the secondary shapes.

JRAnimation

Getting some more work done on my beast creature. Taking a moment to figure out what I want to edit/change. Any suggestions/comments?
https://youtu.be/qcFJUwTt1eA

Shurkuris

Were you going for a sad face in your original sketch? It now looks like a skull in your 3D concept.

I can barely see your 3D model in the turnaround video, your model is taking 30% of the total space.

JRAnimation

Here's a better turntable for my sculpt. Yeah, originally He has a sad face in my sketch. I was exploring shapes and making some tweaks from the original. Still going to try to get that vibe in there though.

https://youtu.be/to_Lobk9fOA

Shurkuris

His thigh muscles are smaller compared to the rest of his muscled physique.

Fingers aren't roundish, if that is what your aiming for.

Antlers are really thin and would probably break if he brushed his head against anything really.

The tail looks cool but I just don't know if it will work out with your Beast... *shrug*

JRAnimation

Thanks Shurhuris. Initially I was thinking the thighs being short like how I have the biceps small, but I elongated them back and DO like it more. The hands I still plan to work on but I wanted the tops somewhat boney to match up with the character more in some areas, but I will see where I can soften things up on the underside when I work them up more .

The antlers I did inflate and still have some tweaking to work on. Thanks for the feedback.

Heading out for the night. Here's where I'm finishing things off for now! Have a good one everyone and I'll post more soon!

~JR

RakibHasan

cool man. this pose looks little weak . Give him a stable pose then work on it. you will feel comfortable ! 

dreadleft

separate horns, hooves and that thorns things on his back and tail on different subtools . And try not to subdivide body too much. work with polycount in near 200-300k or even lower until you super happy.

h2olt

This seems pretty cool.  The vagueness of the original concept contains a lot of potential. I'd spend a little more time concepting (in 2d or 3d) the anatomy and asking yourself whether the character is human or animal. It feels like you're settling into human anatomy  choices which no rhyme or reason as to how they blend with the animal parts.  The face especially seems to be almost pure human anatomy with some extra details tacked on.  

Back off from the polishing and creasing for a bit and define what was working in the original sketch and figure out how that might be constructed. 

JRAnimation

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll be looking in to my design more this weekend with all that in mind .

JRAnimation

Here is some progress on my design. Still rough and flushing it out. I wanted to get more "bones" in the design and I went in to get more stag muscle anatomy in the legs. More bend in the legs too to accommodate the anatomy and balance. Still a fair amount of work to go before I go pose him out.

JRAnimation

Been a while since I last posted, so here are some updates.

First I finished what I liked with the design overall for my beast character, Narjal. At this point, I figured it is now time to start retopologizing before moding on for more detailing.


I spent some time working on his topology, and didn't like it. I went too detailed too fast. So I started over super simple.


But in the end I wasn't happy with how this was going. So You know what they say, third time's the charm . So my current (and third attempt) is going well I believe and I like how the flow is much more.


Just keeping it simple and adding as I need more.



So now I am trying to connect all the pieces together with good flow before adding in geometry where I need it. Then I can bring it in to ZBrush and start projecting the details on the UVed/clean mesh.

Hope you enjoy this! More updates soon .

~Josh

JRAnimation

Hey all! Been a while since I last posted. Work has tied me up a bit with another character and other tasks and this project had to take the side lines for a while. Anyways, progress is coming along with the re-topoing with just the inside of his mouth and back plates left. Then UVing and bringing it all back in to ZBrush to transfer the details.