Soldier Tina
polycounter lvl 4
Hi guys, this is my latest piece, any critiques are welcomed!
You can view the ArtStation Marmoset Viewer version here.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/4yr0n
You can view the ArtStation Marmoset Viewer version here.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/4yr0n
Replies
Would love to know what do you do to make the hair look so cool and clean, is it baked from fibermesh or something similar ?
I was recently on a judging panel for a character artist competition. Every entrant had something of this ilk in their portfolio (sexy semi nude woman) and every Art director I spoke to said that they are sick of seeing this 'crap'. The character has no emotion or 'character'. The character's in Naughty Dogs games for example dress like people actually dress, and they convey more emotion because they look like they would actually exist.
Forgive me for sounding critical, the art technique here is superb, but the character design is none existent.
That mouth topology is not good and it deforms badly.
Your material definition is also very lackluster and it looks like a quick smart material slap onto the object.
That's my two cents for what it's worth.
Some people may be sick of sexualized female characters in games, and I can certainly see where they're coming from. You'll get sick of anything when it's overdone.
But that's still quite relative. Some people better enjoy "tasteful" designs. Others enjoy sexy designs, often because they don't look like what reality sees, and imagination's a safe place to explore exaggeration. One man's tasteless is another man's escape from mundane reality.
Personally, I finds much of Naughty Dog's work as quite mundane. It's decent work, but I personally don't relate well to motion-captured characters in video games, textured with drab color palettes. But that's just my taste sometimes. There's room for it in the industry.
Also, just how interesting a character is or how well they convey emotion is relative to execution. You can have a sexualized design where the character's still interesting and believable.
Many female characters in the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist are overtly busty, but they're emotional characters full with depth, strengths, and weaknesses. Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell got naked at seemingly every opportunity, but she was still one of the most complex fictional characters ever designed.
And you say the subject matter's in poor taste, but what if you're creating a game with a character who deliberately has such "poor" taste? Not every human in reality has good "taste"--sometimes you want to portray such.
And finally, whoever said character design had to be based on the existent? Where's the rule book? At the end of the day, character designs are a product. The industry is a business of selling appealing products. They're not some singular guide for "taste." The bottom line is to render appealing entertainment value. And such varies with the target market.
I also agree that you should do whatever you wish, I was simply highlighting what some art directors were saying. I won't mention which studios they were, but I can confidently say that they are very well known and their opinions are worth taking note of.
Taste is obviously subjective, and I admit I find this in poor taste personally. I'm not 'sick of sexualised content', there is a time and a place for it.
My bigger question is about the character design. Who is this character? What does she do? None of that is shown here. You could argue that she's a combatant, but nothing here shows anything that would hint at that. Okay so she's a model in a gun magazine, which again is fine, but there's nothing here that gives any hint to that, the poses aren't 'glamourous' enough.
If you want advice, just show her nude. You're hiding all the good work you've done. Show off how good you are at anatomy, show areas that you have demonstrated expert skill on (The knees look amazing). Let us see how good the topology is, and how well she would deform when animated. This is the sort of stuff people are looking for in character artists.
But I stand by my comments, I think this is crass, and it's let down by the 'clothing' that has been attached to her.
Just remember to take any critique and advice with a pinch of salt. It's not whether we're happy with it, but whether you are happy with it.
But a great execution and character, good job!
Anyway, thank you guys for commenting here! appreciated it!