- Final submission -
- M'ling's final moments -
The Beast - M'ling had too much to drink
polycounter lvl 9
"Barely clinging to his life, his neck bitten open, he clutches his weapon in a sense of protection for his beloved master. The last thing he can do is at least reach out to him before he accepts his fate, he tries crying out but no words come through, this is it, the end.
He will forever cherish the time spent traveling together and serving his master on the island, for Montgomery was the closest thing to M'ling in terms of love, his family, his big brother, his only acceptance."
He will forever cherish the time spent traveling together and serving his master on the island, for Montgomery was the closest thing to M'ling in terms of love, his family, his big brother, his only acceptance."
Beauty shots:
Wires, data and tex sheets: 
beast final tri count = 98337 pedestal tri count = 1532
-tex sets-
body 1x4096
coat 1x4096
bottle 1x2048
eyes and tongue 1x2048
hair 1x700
sand pedestal 1x 2048
Body
Coat 
Extras:Turntable from Marmoset:
Sketchfab link from Substance Painter,without fur:
PS: this is how damn good it looks in substance, and I'm still sitting here cringing because I can't find the 2sided button or because it doesn't support transparency yet
Replies
This is my moodboard/styleboard.
and here's a process of what I came up with till now, (note I am not very talented in 2D...*sigh*)
then I drew the muscles, and some furry concept, which now I'm taking it to sculpt cause this is nerve wrecking for me
I used the color palette of the dragon reference from Dark Souls.
I really wanna go for a From Software, dark-fantasy theme and a Keith Thompson like style with a bit more biopunk elements, maybe include a few mechanical parts etc, and finish it off with a dark Tsutomo Nihei effect with the pedestal and post effects. But I wanna do it in 3D, I find its much faster for me!
I've looked at almost all entries and my favorite so far was Fantasymasters's Samael, too bad he canceled it, but I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!
My other favs are: Clockwork.Orange's beast, YuchiChin's and Cercei_Lanisters's amazing Manticore of course!
Other cool stuff I'm waiting to develop are: yours Armians, Harry1511's entry and PotatoJim's stonemason.
Personally I was looking for the most pain stricken looking and the #scaryAF entries.
Good luck to everyone!
I like the mix of animals you chose here. It feels like a creature that could be either fierce or gentle, at the flip of a coin.
Just watch out for its balance there. It's quite top-heavy as it is, so those tiny legs would have a lot of trouble supporting its weight. The reverse knees would also make it harder to walk unless it's using its arms for support.
Do you plan on making it furry or scaley or anything?
Hehe, yeah, the head is just the skull right now, I'm saving it for last. It will be furry with bald patches here and there. Still thinking about the concept. I want it to have a more dog like head than it's other features. Like a sad and angry dog on a rampage because his master died, and worse, he was the one who killed him.
Not gonna go undead though.
I also did some silhouette shots to check stuff
I really need some feedback right now cause I never did fur before and the next stage seems really scary to me.
Nice work so far. However, I'd stay a bit more with the muscles and the bone structure. Right now the arms look really weird: You have 'roided up arms grabbing on to a small socket. If the clavicle isn't thick enough, that thing would snap. It also feels like it doesn't really blend in with the vertebrae you have sticking out.
I did a paintover by looking at some oxes and taking in more of the shapes they have going on in the upper torso.
Notice how the shapes look more ox-like because of the huge traps, while still keeping the shoulders in a place where they feel more natural. I shrunk the upper arm and left the forearms big so you'd also have more variation in the silhouette.
Also, suck that butt in. It looks like it's trying to twerk.
Love the head so far. Keep up the good work, buddy
I don't think the butt should be flatter or sucked in cause if you got them hind legs you reeeaaally need a tone butt to sustain them, especially if you're running, and there's a lot of running going on in that book. Also, what the hell, "I like big butts and I cannot lie!" XD
Thanks a bunch bro!
So I now know that he has black bristly hair and hazel bloodshot eyes with large teeth. Didn't really work these details in yet but I need to add a "blue serge" that he wears. Seeing it's the 1800s I'll be going for a navy uniform and I'll try using MD to do it
This is the latest version with the anatomy adjustments, the clothing and the "hair" is just a bed sketch to get a rough idea of placement.
I would take another look at the shoulder area though. The trapezius is working well now, but the shoulders themselves don't feel like they're attached to the joint. It's a combination of how high they are, how square they are, and how large the socket seems to be. I would consider keeping them below head-level, and rounding them off towards the joint.
Quick note on the clothing (I realize you're gonna simulate in MD, but it's still good to keep this in mind): watch out for that symmetry. If you keep symmetry on for too long as you sculpt, things like clothing and hair just won't feel natural anymore.
- remade the legs, book said we was predominantly bear and was one of the most human of all the beasts so the huffs were definitely a no no
- added bull teeth and a wider+shorter frame, book said he was broad and part ox but didn't describe anything weird like on the others (teeth are from badking's monster teeth pack, so I want to thank Jared Bogh for these if he ever sees this)
- prepped the whole thing for rigging to do a final pose but I need to finish all the details for that so it's gonna be a looong week
Still need to make: - an axe, clothes, and the pedestal which should be a small part of a sandy beach, I just hope I can make it in time
I hope I can finish the high poly A-pose this week and then start posing and clothing.
I'm having trouble SCULPTING an open wound cause I can't really imagine its "texture" , also I have a dilemma regarding blood, like how do you even make a dripping blood effect. I'm really sure it's post effects but I gotta research that one.
Still need, a smashed bottle knife, and a sandy beach pedestal which should have fire and/or shallow waves coming in.
But that comes after the pose anyway so I won't even bother right now.
Good luck for the next step !
Now I realized my posing should be done after the retopo if I did it this way, so far....
This is the pose I'm gonna go for once it's done, also did a bit of silhouetting.
Feedback much appreciated!
I retopod for almost 3 days straight and it came out nowhere near good, but I just accepted it for the original deadline, so next I posed it and added the pedestal.
This is just a shot from max.
Still missing the bottle of brandy.
After the texturing I'll add cards for fur. I was planing on it originally but those seems...they're just asking for it!
I'm still at it, had some trouble with MD, polycounts and baking clothing. I realised a lower poly piece of cloth is just the way to go rather than a hi-poly bake. If I can paint normals for creases I'll do it but I still think the cloth came out nice like this too.
Here's a few shots, everything is ready for texturing that I hope I'll be done with today. Lastly I'll add the hair, after much research I realized it's almost the last step.
Keyshot doesn't really like normal maps does it? I now realize, I think I forgot to add material to the bottle. derp..
Here're a few shots.
I think I need to loosen up on the blood but a real fight to the death would really be this bloody, I'm confused, I don't think I'm getting the blood right, I'm quite conflicted on the color, cause it's really fresh but I think it needs variation... I would really appreciate some feedback. Can't wait to start on the hair cards, and at the same time I fear nothing more.
Thank you guys for your support, and best of luck in the contest, you were all and are awesome, and I can really say it was a pleasure competing and working with you in this event
Cheers to Allegorithmic and polycount for hosting it, thank you, I finally finished a worthy portfolio piece
Hats off to the amazing artists once again that participated!
Tech diary:
All I can say now that is has been 30+ hours into texturing and creating fur but I can safely say that I have a long way to go in fur and hair. I must say it is the hardest thing to do that I ever came across and all my friends too, and it seems like 80% of the internet. I refused to create a new thread just to be ignored or redirected to google and shamed for not searching but seriously, by all means, it's a really scary jungle out there regarding hair and fur, from start to finish.
I am still pissed about how my fur came out and was really close to submitting my entry without it but with a few tweeks and camera angles in Marmoset I managed to make it look almost decent, so I'm somehow happy, and I'm really happy it's over.
I need a break!
But his face looks like dog
model is good,but pity of the texture.
speedup man,you can overcome it after the contest.
But it's not the sheepman from dr.moreau if that's what you wanted to say, it's M'ling, he is part dog, part bear, part ox!
The sheepman from "The Island of Dr.Moreau" doesn't have a name, they call him "The gray thing"
Will be updating my portfolio. You know how that Stockholm syndrome works, first you hate it, then you love it, hahaha xD