Ninja - Stylized Character

lotet

LATEST

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Ninja Character, Made in ZBrush, Rendered in Modo.

Started working on this guy a while back. and now Im more or less finaly done with the highpoly!
any crits or comments before I start on the lowpoly I highly appreciated of course

TomGT

Ooh! Love the style, and so clean! Looking forward to your finished character.

Sebeuroc

Great style, looking very cool! I look forward to seeing what you do with the textures.

amirabd2130

looking forward to see more

artofmars

perfect amount of subtle details , can't wait to see how you handle the textures!

AgelosAp

Great start man, it really is subjective in such a stylized character but maybe the feet could do with a bit more exaggerated shape.
Btw loved your final for the troll, subbed and looking forward to this as well!

lotet

Thanks everyone! Im working away on the lowpoly now, almost done, Il post a new update when the UVs are done and Ive baked some test maps.

@AgelosAp  - thanks! Im a big fan of your work as well.  you might be right about the feet, good call! I wont fix anything on the highpoly now, but Il try to  remember moving some polygons around on the lowpoly when its baked.

Blade113

cool stuff

jose.fuentes

such amazing style! cant wait to see where you take this!

Bolovorix

Oh, very nice. I really love the shape of the head.

lotet

Thanks everyone!

here is the lowpoly, normal and AO baked.  Rendered in marmoset, so unfortunately not as sexy as the previous pics hehe.

Making the sword next.
I want it to be a separate texture set, and I want to have the sword done before I start the textures.

theStoff

Very fun looking character you have going here! I know this is pretty subjective but I feel like I'd expect sharper creases at the bottom of the sleeves and pants given the volume change. I feel that because you have some slightly sharper creases around the waist where less crumpling would be I'd expect to see more in other places. Sorry in being a bit late in suggesting that. Of course that isn't really necessary. Still lookin great!

lotet

So Ive been without internet for a week now, which kinda sucked, but finally got it back so I can update this thread, yey!

@thestoff - hmm, fair poin, but yeah, a bit late haha, maybe I can tweak it a bit when doing the textures.

also moved around some verts on the feet in the lowpoly to make it a bit more exagerated. I made the sleaves/pant shape a bit more refined aswell, though I dont think you can see any of these tweaks on these images. I mostly focused on the sword.

here be pixels.

and the sword on its own.

Wendy de Boer

Very stylish looking, I like the gesture a lot! As for the lowpoly, I think the knee and elbow areas could stand to have another loop for deformation purposes.

lotet

@Wendy de Boer - good call!

lotet

added some loops, fixed some small stuff, but most importantly Ive started texturing!
Its just some simple color blocking so far, and Im testing out some textures for the clothes.

Bolovorix

Oh, really like the patterns on there, especially on the white sash elements! It might look neat if the mask was a bit darker to really make those eyes pop a bit more and draw more attention to the head.

Cremuss

I approve the patterns as well, they look really cool I hope you're gonna add some flashy colours on the clothes though

Tectonic

neato! I really like the patterns. Blue eyes looks strange to me though. maybe go with green? or like a chestnut brown to match the color of the sword grip.

lotet

Update!

@Bolovorix and @Tectonic - grea ideas!  did some tweaks, hope you like this better.
@Cremuss - Ive been tempted, but I kinda wanna keep the dark ninja vibe.


so overall I darkened the whole character and changed the eye colors, hope this looks better! overall Im pretty happy with how it turned out, Im gonna ad some details here and there, like dirt and some wear n tear. I still wanna keep a pretty clean look overall. still have the sword to finish though.

tda

Oh man, i love the shape of his head so much! Great work dude, and the textures definitely look better darker. Looking forward to the texture updates, a little wear and tear like you mentioned will set this off

Bolovorix

OH yeah! Looking awesome!

Handwiches

This is coming along awesomely.

PyrZern

Are those some jagged edges around his sash ? Like, the bottom side of it ?

lotet

PyrZern said:

Are those some jagged edges around his sash ? Like, the bottom side of it ?

@pyrzern  -  noooo....maybe?   I guess I could add another loop =P

killnpc

ninjas are cool ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ

lotet

@killnpc - I hope im doing them justice ;P

so Ive been kinda on vacation for the last week or so (still am) sohavnt been able to update or work in this guy as much as i would like to. but I started working on some edge wear and dirt. Doing so, I realized I dont like how the jacket shaped up, so I made this quick paint over.
Im gonna go back to zbrush and sculpt out some new details!

I think its gonna add some interest to the design, and some slight color to tie in with the red sword grip.

lotet

had some time to start sculpting on the new jacket!

hectorsdors

Cool stuf here. Keep going!!! I wanna see more!

tda

Oh, i like the idea to add stitching man! Good idea to throw around a little more of that red, should make him pop real nice. If you're up for changing/adding more stuff at this point an armguard on one side could be cool, throw some more a-symmetry (and colour) into the mix? Something like this maybe - http://www.visualfanfare.com/gallery/var/albums/macro/figures/y_kiriko/y_kiriko_10_web.jpg

And ninja stars! He needs ninja stars!!

lotet

@tda - funny that you mentioned shoulder pads. I actually had a crude shoulder pad design in an earlier version of this character. but decided to scrap the idea because he ended up looking like a fantasy rogue rather then a ninja. 

but ninja stars are definitely a must! =P

tda

Ah, I meant some kind of forearm guard rather than a pauldron! I agree, shoulders would look weird on this guy with the poofy fabric. But yeah, a forearm bracer could be a good place to stow some stars too?

Sebeuroc

Looking great! I'm a fan of the design updates.

lotet

@tda - oh, silly me, I just red shoulder pad instead of armguard for some reason.
@Sebeuroc - Thanks, me too haha, Im honestly having a lot of trouble with the design of this guy, I want to keep the simple "dark cloth only" concept of a ninja but still have it somewhat interesting, its a hard balance.

Im thinking of going back to the drawing board and redo some stuff, not sure yet.

lotet

So...not really happy with the outcome of this guy.

Trying out some alternative designs and see if I like it better. nothing set in stone yet, might go back to the current model, but I wanna do some experimenting first, so here is a sketch I did over the weekend and a quick blockout.

Bolovorix

Looking good @lotet interested in seeing what you're going to end up doing. Also that concept sketch is a lot of fun, is that your original sketch for this character?

jose.fuentes

so so good, i love the style, keep it up!

lotet

@Bolovorix - thanks, yes, its an original sketch, but I made it a few days ago. Im trying to explore a new feel for the character, so its not the original design, I actually just kinda winged the first design, which I regret now haha.

@jose.fuentes -Thank you!

lotet

Here is the progress of the new sculpt, really liking it so far.

Wendy de Boer

I find it amusing that you would scrap a character that was already good, and start again from scratch! I suppose though, that's what we have to do at times as artists.
Overall, I like the new direction for the character. That said, I think the arms could benefit from a more anatomical approach. I understand it's very stylized, but currently the shapes read as quite balloon-like and not really like muscle.

The biggest problem I think is that he has very short delts. The deltoid muscle actually comes down very far on the arm; the insertion is halfway down the humerus. On the other hand, the origin of forearm extensors should be much higher on the humerus. I would also flatten the side plane of the arm at the briachialis and square off the biceps more. You could add peaks to the silhouette of the triceps and the forearm muscles. I think this would help getting rid of the balloon-like quality. Lastly, you only included the sternal heads of the sternocleidomastoid, and missed the clavicular heads.

Between the different muscles of the arm, as well as the different heads of the deltoid, there is some very interesting interlocking. The muscles of the shoulder, upper arm and forearm overlap and interact a lot more than you might expect; they are not just confined to their respective compartments. It could be simplified for a stylized model, but if you can hint at the interlocking, I think the stylization will be much stronger for it.

I created an anatomy draw-over for you, I hope that helps clarify things. I ended up spending a little longer on this than I expected, but at least it was a good reminder for myself as well! :proud:

Brian "Panda" Choi

^ That was super hawt analysis.

lotet

Wendy de Boer said:

I find it amusing that you would scrap a character that was already good, and start again from scratch! I suppose though, that's what we have to do at times as artists.

I created an anatomy draw-over for you, I hope that helps clarify things. I ended up spending a little longer on this than I expected, but at least it was a good reminder for myself as well! :proud:

wow...just thank you. 

and yeah, I just didnt like where the character was headed, I feel kinda weird about it too, this is the first time ive done something like this. I usually realize if I dont like something way earlier, but I just kept telling myself; Il solve it in the lowpoly, il solve it the textures and so on.

anyways, thank you again! luckily Im still blocking stuff out so this is a very welcome breakdown.

Dimfist

Fun character!  I really did like the first version but looking forward to this next iteration! 

Wendy de Boer

Glad I could be of help!

lotet

So here is another update!

Started working on some folds and other details. I still have some work to do on the arms, would love some more feedback @Wendy de Boer if you have the time.  - I have a hard time separating the triceps and the biceps and still keep within the style for some reason.

and heres a close up on the arm if anyone wanna break it down and/or laugh at my shitty anatomy or something.

 

Wendy de Boer

I think the anatomy improved a lot so far. I'd do another paint-over to give you ideas for stylization, however I'm on a holiday and I have no access to my digital art tools for the next three weeks. Sorry about that! Maybe someone else can chip in.

polymator

Hey man it looking great! I'm getting awesome "Mark of the Ninja" vibes.
I'm no anatomy expert but here are a couple of suggestions:

• Bring in the lower end of the triceps' lateral head and the biceps. The brachioradialis connects below the triceps so you need space for it.
• The deltoid connects a little lower than where you have it right now
• I feel like the triceps are kinda missing the medial head
• Overall it could benefit from some muscle group separation. Keep it subtle to maintain the style you've got going.

Quick paintover thing.


Oh and maybe try flaring out the feet to give them the same treatment as the hands and see how you like it.

Keep it up!

theStoff

Well first I have to say I'm really impressed that you'd go so far back in the interest of making the best model you can! The first design was nice but I feel what you have now feels a lot more solid, better shape language and much crisper sculpt overall. As far as suggestions go everything I can say is entirely subjective but I would like to put in a point or two. First is the elbow area. I find the inside of the elbow a bit too concave. I'd expect the bicep to sink in a bit before the elbow. I also agree with polymator about the deltoid. Lastly I'd maybe pull out the neck a bit to match the chin. Again though well done!

Daf57

Loving this character! Nice work! Love the community effort as well - it's really helping to shape up the project!

lotet

@Daf57 - Thanks, and yeah, its awesome getting so much help, especially with this characters since Ive been struggling unproportionally from the start =P
@theStoff - hopefully it looks better now, and yeah, I like this "new" version way more too, I did lots of arm stuff, also extended the chin area as you suggested.
@polymator - thanks for the awesome PO, hopefully this is better I still think there are a lot of areas that can be tweaked but hopefully I havnt made it worse haha : )

So here is the new updated arm, tell me what you think!

theStoff

That works better I find. Good stuff @lotet !