Podrick Game of Thrones Fan art: Help and critique needed! :)

melli06

Hey all! I am starting a new character and have run into a couple road blocks:
Here is the reference:

First off is Podrick's jacket pattern. Currently really puzzled as to how I would make something like that.
So far I tried anchoring out the rectangle pattern bits individually which looks okay? What is the best way for pulling something this leather jacket off? If I were to go down the manual placing route I would definitely redo it as its not that nice looking on the edges etc. but I imagine there is probably a better way to be found before I waste a bunch of time.
Second problem is that I am super weak at doing likeness sculpts. Does Podrick even remotely look like Podrick? Any tips to achieve a better likeness?

Everything is still super work in progress but any and all critiques are super welcome! Be brutal if your feeling it! Thanks! 

AgelosAp

Have a look into NoiseMaker&Alphas for the jacket.
Other than that, you should work a bit more on your forms/silhouette before going into patterns like this, right now they look really soft and simple. Try blackening your material in ZB and look at the silhouette, there are barely any breaks even on his shirt to arms area, which is the harshest break on your reference.
Also some tips about ZB
1.the default material in zbrush doesn't work well for human perception of depth , try something simple with a high specularity.
2. Change the perspective FOV to something like 30+-, by default it is 90 which really distorts the way you look at your model, either 30 or close perspective altogether.

melli06

@Firith Thanks so much! Yeah now that I am looking at it the silhouette and shapes are pretty weak. And that Fov thing is an awesome tip! was wondering why everything in Zbrush was so distorted. 
Hopefully I will post soon with a little more progress and with your feedback, thanks!

melli06

Hey all! Back with some more WIP shots. I honestly have no clue if this looks like Podrick's face, thinking about restarting his face sculpt.As always any feed back is super welcome! 

Maxilator

Firith said:

Have a look into NoiseMaker&Alphas for the jacket.
Other than that, you should work a bit more on your forms/silhouette before going into patterns like this, right now they look really soft and simple. Try blackening your material in ZB and look at the silhouette, there are barely any breaks even on his shirt to arms area, which is the harshest break on your reference.
Also some tips about ZB
1.the default material in zbrush doesn't work well for human perception of depth , try something simple with a high specularity.
2. Change the perspective FOV to something like 30+-, by default it is 90 which really distorts the way you look at your model, either 30 or close perspective altogether.

I'm actually making a brigandine (this kind of armor) at this very moment, I find insert mesh working extremely well for it.

melli06

@Firith Yeah I might try that out for the pattern, right now I did the groop loops/panel loops thing but as is quite apparent the rectangles get distorted. 
Also just realized I follow you on Artstation! lol

melli06

Hey all! Back with the near complete high-poly, went ahead and decimated it and rendered it in Blender's Cycles for a bit of fun. Not totally done with the face hands and hair
all the difficult stuff lol


Gonna be trying out Quixel on him so hopefully all goes well in future, now on to retopo! Cheers!