The Bi-Monthly CHARACTER ART Challenge | Summer 2016

Alemja

Welcome to the Bi-Monthly Character Art Challenge!

Due to the mid June start the challenge will run until the end of August
Previous Challenge Thread

How it works

• Each month, 3 Character Concepts will be provided
• You're free to approach any of the concepts however you like, as long as you stay true to the
• essence of the original concept.
• You have until the end of the month to complete any of the given concepts.

Guidelines

• Leave at least one critique per post. Being able to effectively receive, and give constructive criticism is an invaluable skill as any type of artist.
• There are no software restrictions; you're welcome to use as little, or as many different software packages as you like.
• Post your work in progress in the thread. You're welcome to cross post on different sites (Artstation, Facebook, etc.)
• Before starting your character, break down the concept and plan your work accordingly. Being able to effectively estimate how long it will take to complete a project is an important skill, especially for freelance artists.
• Your final presentation should be posed and rendered in any real time engine. (Marmoset, UE4, Cryengine, Unity, etc.)
• Don't be afraid to ask questions, but don't hesitate to find the answer on your own - chances are, the answer to your problem has already been answered within these forums
• We're all here to grow as artists. Learn as much as you can, and share what you've learned.
• If you feel anything should be modified or added to these guidelines, please let me know!

Resources

• Polycount Character Wiki 
• Polycount Tutorial List
• Monthly Character Art Challenge Pinterest Boards
• Polycount Character Art Challenge Facebook Group

Concepts

Please credit and link to the artists when posting on other sites!

Costume Design by Anastasia Bulgakova

Character by Michael Lim

Cyborg Demon by Aleksandr Nikonov

adrxzero

I really dig these concepts, looking forward to seeing people's interpretations.

ruebenDodds

These are great concept art pieces. I was thinking about the female character, but I'm have issue trying to make out the costume design. So here are the two ideas I'm have with the costume.

1 -> She is wearing latex suit with sleeveless jacket or coat, which their zip line that is running of one of the cross path of the front x shape in the dress to take it off..

2 -> Otherwise the costume design is that it's a combination of a jacket with gold hanging accessories and latex legs with a gold plate heels..

So feedback on the costume design for the female and thoughts on how you think it would fitted on her would be greatly appreciated. Because I haven't full made a decision on the character I would like to do for this challenge. But currently strongly leaning towards the female character.

trianglesqrt

I'm going to participate this time  This is going to be a good exercise to get into marvelous designer. Think i`ll start with creating a Human Base Mesh. Following the first Concept.

PyrZern

Everything inside me is telling me to make the girl, so I'm gonna make the guy instead :P

DanaosC

PyrZern said:

Everything inside me is telling me to make the girl, so I'm gonna make the guy instead :P

Oh the girl is kinda flat design-wise, I'm also gonna do the guy, looks interesting!

On a related note, how should i sculpt him if I want to have his hands in the pockets?! I am racking my brain here, is it even doable?

PyrZern

If you're going for full lowpoly, then it doesn't really matter, does it ? Just do an a-pose with bent elbows while you work, then pose afterward. The pockets could be just hand overlapping the pants... Or you could make pants with actual pockets. 

DanaosC

Well not really, see how the shirt bends over the hands, and the pockets clearly change shape and get wrinkled when the hands go on.
If I do the high poly while in a-pose then there will be no folks/wrinkles at the pocket area.

PyrZern

Hem of the jacket ?? I think we can pull that part up slightly after we bake the lowpoly (maybe with a bit of baked in wrinkles). Maybe we can move a few verticies of the pants when we put the hand inside ?  Think that would look weird ?

Alemja

If you go the low poly route, I would recommend modeling it straight and then have enough geometry to do a morph target or have some other rig to wrinkle the shirt. That's how it would be done for current gen game models.

DanaosC

Yeah sorry I meant jacket.
I mean it could look decent but in no way as realistic as it could be. I want to aim for something photorealistic in both textures and shapes. The hem of the jacket isn't just pulled up, it's folded. Plus the pocket takes the shape of the hand. This piece by Jamie-lee Lloyd came to mind. See how the pocket has the shape of the hand.
For the best looking results, we should make the pants and jacket in MD, then change the pose of the character body to the hands-in-pockets pose so then cloth will be on point.
The bad thing with this is that the clothes will always be shaped like the hand is in the pocket.
I guess we can't have it both ways.

PyrZern

Well, you could have a character that always has one hand in pocket. ^.^ In which case you sculpt the folds and bake them right in for his right pocket.

Jakub

To be fair, if you're making that character, it is not required to make exactly the same pose. Just don't put the hand in the pocket, problem solved :P

DanaosC

Jakub said:

To be fair, if you're making that character, it is not required to make exactly the same pose. Just don't put the hand in the pocket, problem solved :P

Yeah I thought of that too, but it looks cool It's also a nice challenge anyways~

JedTheKrampus

You can alway rig the arm and the pocket afterwards so you can put his hand in the pocket

DanaosC

JedTheKrampus said:

You can alway rig the arm and the pocket afterwards so you can put his hand in the pocket

It's not an issue of how to lower the arm but more like how the cloth is getting affected when the hand is in the pocket, which is more wrinkles/folds and different shapes than when it's not.

Eleszar1

DanaosC said:

JedTheKrampus said:

You can alway rig the arm and the pocket afterwards so you can put his hand in the pocket

It's not an issue of how to lower the arm but more like how the cloth is getting affected when the hand is in the pocket, which is more wrinkles/folds and different shapes than when it's not.

bake 2 diferent set of textures 1 with extra folds  for the parts that will be streched  due to the pose and one without

Hakon_Schug

Im new to polycount and this is going to be the challenge i Participate in :awesome: 
Its gonna be cool : Cyborg Demon ( this is just a rough sketch to test out concepting in Zbrush )

DanaosC

Eleszar1 said:

DanaosC said:

JedTheKrampus said:

You can alway rig the arm and the pocket afterwards so you can put his hand in the pocket

It's not an issue of how to lower the arm but more like how the cloth is getting affected when the hand is in the pocket, which is more wrinkles/folds and different shapes than when it's not.

bake 2 diferent set of textures 1 with extra folds  for the parts that will be streched  due to the pose and one without

No way, that means two different high polys, two different low polys and two UV sets. The best way is storing a morph target like Alemja said or just bake the pocket pose just for presentation purposes.

DanaosC

Hakon_Schug said:

Im new to polycount and this is going to be the challenge i Participate in :awesome: 
Its gonna be cool : Cyborg Demon ( this is just a rough sketch to test out concepting in Zbrush )

Welcome buddy, you could definitely try poly loops for this guy, godspeed!

PyrZern

One day I will learn Marvelous Designer properly... But for now, it's ZBrush.

Not sure I wanna make the character... Maybe just his costume. We will see. Now I'm going to retop this so I can sculpt it better.

Alemja

@Hakon_Schug I would suggest blocking out the rest of the model and get the big shapes/overall proportion nailed down first before you go in and start sculpting in the details. Jumping into details too early can lead to problems down the line that are harder to fix.

Hakon_Schug

@Alemja True that i will ! this was just a test concept in zbrush ( since i've never done that before ) i will start over and do a proper block out first with the Right Proportion

Jakub

@PyrZern

I think that your body proportions are incorrect atm. Overall he seems a bit too narrow, doens't really resemble grown male.

MaxHoek

@Hakon_Schug good start buddy. im excited for your progress! (;

Edgar T

@Hakon_Schug Be carefull with the measurement. You're taking in count the toes... and you should do it from head to heels, so the result is less than 8 heads.

Lucpus

I'm a bit confused, when you say "Your final presentation should be posed and rendered in any real time engine.", what will the final deliverable be? Am I going to submit a unity scene file? Sorry I don't know how the process works, this is my first character challenge.

Hakon_Schug

Pshyco said:

@Hakon_Schug Be carefull with the measurement. You're taking in count the toes... and you should do it from head to heels, so the result is less than 8 heads.

Yeah your right . Thanks

DanaosC

Lucpus said:

I'm a bit confused, when you say "Your final presentation should be posed and rendered in any real time engine.", what will the final deliverable be? Am I going to submit a unity scene file? Sorry I don't know how the process works, this is my first character challenge.

Hey Lucpus, the presentation will be rendered images. Either in Marmoset Toolbag, Unity, Unreal Engine and so on. You can also upload it to Marmoset Viewer or sketchfab. Cheers!

Hakon_Schug

Thanks for your feedback . I redone my work and used the correct mesaurments to create a new Full propotional concept in zbrush with Zspheres
:pleased: btw does any know how he looks from the back or do i have to '' improvise '' 

Kapoff

I feel like I should get back to those challenges.
Especially with the two first concepts.

Eleszar1

DanaosC said:

Eleszar1 said:

DanaosC said:

JedTheKrampus said:

You can alway rig the arm and the pocket afterwards so you can put his hand in the pocket

It's not an issue of how to lower the arm but more like how the cloth is getting affected when the hand is in the pocket, which is more wrinkles/folds and different shapes than when it's not.

bake 2 diferent set of textures 1 with extra folds  for the parts that will be streched  due to the pose and one without

No way, that means two different high polys, two different low polys and two UV sets. The best way is storing a morph target like Alemja said or just bake the pocket pose just for presentation purposes.

no just sculpt folds on the parts that will be effected by the pose on the same high poly and bake a second normal map and ao, no need extra work

PyrZern

Hakon_Schug Let your creativity juice flow :P

trianglesqrt

I still haven`t used the hand i made earlier lol. 
My Reference looks kind of messy.  I'm going to make a new head, used this one to measure, deleted the feet though, need to study them a bit more!
any updates @Hakon_Schug ? i'd like to see your zspheres converted :pleased:

Hakon_Schug

@trianglesqrt good going mate . Like your face XD .
i think ripcage is a little bit wide, try to make it slimmer like in your reference
Yeah i converted my Ztool and added the  anatomical proportion o the upper body in low res . but damn ...Hard surface anatomy is difficult , i need to learn a lot about hard surface sculpting, i hope i do so in this Challenge :chuffed: love to hear your feedback

PyrZern

Funny thing is; I think I know how to do the concept #1 and #3... but I am not exactly sure how to do concept #2...  I mean, in the past; I would just make the shirt/jacket mesh, then use Orb Crack to make the panels/trims thing... but now I'm not sure if I should do that.

ruebenDodds

Great start everyone. While after getting advice about just trying of the challenge I decide start it off. So here is my progress so far work from a base mesh that got from purchasing Zack Petroc tutorial. I base mesh is currently sitting around about 3500 polygons and I currently working on subdivision level 1. Because I trying to work out the main mass and landmarks for the character.

So I thought I would do the female character for this month challenge and learn to push myself to get a complete character within a deadline. If need be I will continue to work on it after the challenge. But I would like to see where I get up to within this challenge. So I can see where I need to still work on improve for doing a complete , because I'm still not experience in this area. Which I still have a lot to learn for myself.

So currently I haven't check the proportions of the base mesh with the concept art or just the overall proportions in general. But any feedback or advice on furthering and issue you see so far is greatly welcomed.  Best of luck everyone doing the challenge.  ^_^

A1mb0t

Hey everyone, nice jobs here so far! haven't done anything in zbrush for way too long and thought it might be time to at least start again. So I used zspheres for my base, then did a quick basic body sculpt and just started laying down shapes for the clothes. Let's see how this continues! 

PyrZern

ruebenDodds Shorter body is what I think. Bellybutton line up with elbows. And hands a bit below crotch. You also could separate her head from the body. That way you can subdivide only the head.

DanaosC

Sweet start everyone!

@A1mb0t
Her torso is a bit short, also the pelvis area needs somea ttention anatomically-wise. trianglesqrt did a nice sketch some posts above which will help you with the body shape.

So here's my start. Super rough draft as of now, Will play with the shapes and overall shapes more after I block everything in. 
I made him a tad bulkier as when I retopologize my models always look skinnier. 

In the end I'll go with a different pose. While hands in pocket would look cool it's too much of a hassle right now. Hair will be a challenge but I am gonna try out Ornatrix for this one. 

vempdance

Do the first one.

icecool

Hi anybody )
join to the challenge 
GL HF

DanaosC

Great start @icecool
I'd say check the proportions of the demon before moving on, the torso needs to be a tad longer and the legs even more.

DanaosC

An update on the upper part of the character. Jacket is pretty much done, texture will be done in Substance later on. I may have to come back and change it a bit but I think it's good as of now. I'll now more to finish the pants and shoes. Then I am thinking of some bionic eye instead of regular ones. Finally hair (oh bot) and the rest.

Hakon_Schug

DanaosC Good Going maybe you should 've done the Folds after the posing ?

I was slacking off a few days  haha
but now i finished my Rough sketch and now i have to set higher resolution and clean up the sketch.
What method is better for Hard surace sculpt ? Topology brush or Z-sphere topology ?!

Hakon_Schug

 

Hakon_Schug

 

DanaosC

@Hakon_Schug
I'll suggest again that panel loops would be great for this guy as you can make the crevices and "plates" of armor very easily.
But if you want to go the handsculpt way, to avoid it from getting muddy and have it clean and pretty I'd go for retopologizing the rough sketch and then crease and divide alongside with polish and TrimDynamic brush.

Alemja

@Hakon_Schugyou using the zbrush blockout you have as reference for shapes, volume and scale I would make the pieces of the model using hard surface techniques. It would be much cleaner and you can re-use the geometry for the low poly, cutting down on retopology time.

Lucospade

DanaosC said:

PyrZern said:

Everything inside me is telling me to make the girl, so I'm gonna make the guy instead :P

Oh the girl is kinda flat design-wise, I'm also gonna do the guy, looks interesting!

On a related note, how should i sculpt him if I want to have his hands in the pockets?! I am racking my brain here, is it even doable?

I really disagree. The other two are SUPER generic. At least she has some hint of a backstory hiding in her design.

DanaosC

Lucospade said:

DanaosC said:

PyrZern said:

Everything inside me is telling me to make the girl, so I'm gonna make the guy instead :P

Oh the girl is kinda flat design-wise, I'm also gonna do the guy, looks interesting!

On a related note, how should i sculpt him if I want to have his hands in the pockets?! I am racking my brain here, is it even doable?

I really disagree. The other two are SUPER generic. At least she has some hint of a backstory hiding in her design.

Really? We'll have to agree to disagree then. I just can't see it, She has some simple fabric covered around her, no actual pants or sleeves, just the leather covering everything. The boots also seem pretty straightforward. The only interesting/challenging part would be the golden thingies infront of her which are still nothing extreme.
The male one though has both organic and hardsurface parts, his jacket is quite complex with the way it's folding and the paterns in the textures are challenging.
I do respect your opinion though and I understand where you're coming from Each to his own~

Cheers!