Following Along - Summer Character Workshop - Female Knight

PyrZern

UPDATED: It's done.



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ORIGINAL POST:

So, welp, I wasn't one of the Chosen few for Gir's character workshop. No matter, I intend to get the most out of this regardless.  So, this thread will be my follow along to what they are doing, in almost real time... 1-2 days delayed, maybe.  I'd stick to the same workflow and pipeline.


THE REAL SUMMER CHARACTER WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
Lee Devonald: http://polycount.com/discussion/174008/summer-character-workshop-swordswoman-potential-nudity-warning#latest
Joe Atilano: http://polycount.com/discussion/174026/summer-character-workshop-most-high-ceoptra#latest
Tom Lishman: http://polycount.com/discussion/174043/summer-character-workshop-nemesis-demon#latest
Shana Vandercruysse: http://polycount.com/discussion/174047/summer-character-workshop-the-baker#latest
Sanna Kempe: http://polycount.com/discussion/174058/summer-character-workshop-the-swordmaster#latest
Nathaniel Ramsey: http://polycount.com/discussion/174074/summer-character-workshop-illaoi-fanart#latest
Stevie Cole: http://polycount.com/discussion/174109/summer-workshop-neko-mancer#latest



With that out of the way, let's go.

For the concept art, I pick a Female Knight piece by Kyoung Hwan Kim / https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lrk15

The concept looks like fun. Somewhat elegant, somewhat interesting design, and the thought of translating all that into 3d excites me.   

So... break it down.
8.5 head tall. (9 head if counting the helmet decoration). Legs noticeably longer than body. (typical portrayal of women in fantasy... or anywhere else)  There aren't a lot of materials here... Silky cloths, less silky cloths, steel armors, leather straps, and whatever her gauntlets/gloves are made of. Looks like thick fabric to me. Or could be some fine leather.



Extra Notes:
* Welp, no hair cards.
* No facial features.
* Barely any skin visible (boobs).
* Coming up with the design on the back will be fun.
* High heels, hhhhhnng.

Ged

nice work, the concept has a white background and there is a lot of white on the metal in the concept which may be reflections of that white background put there on purpose by the concept artist? so perhaps the metal should be fairly reflective. The fingers and hands seem a bit too thin or small, check these against some reference I reckon. When you get on to the skin get some warmth into areas on her face where blood is close to the surface, nose, lips cheeks etc, that will give her more life, this is emphasised but shows how even stylised characters can have a lot of realistic colour variation in thier face and skin https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4a/37/0c/4a370ca5aed10444d79c004ad9acb256.jpg

lotet

Its looking pretty good! would love to see some more variation and breakup in the metal/armor.(rust, dirt, mud color variation, that sort of stuff) and it could be shinier overall. maybe ad some bumps here and there?

the cloth is looking a tad shiny, and could also use some wear/dirt on it, even for a stylized piece.

like me and others have mentioned before, the fingers are crazy thin!

overall its looking really good, the body, armor, clothes, pretty much everything except the face I think either you have to put more work into it, or cover it up for a better overall piece, its up to you man, but I dont think the face holds up the way its looking now.

Keep pushing it!

PyrZern

Great points there guys !! I will work on those next.
@lotet It's always the face, man! Always the face. I will get it right this time, though :P

I already started on her skin variations and some details. Will add some light blue to her skin color soon. Eyelashes placeholders right now. Texture size/quality will be higher when it's final, this is only 2k res, not 4k.

Alemja

Her pupils look very constricted, I would open them up a little bit more. I think she will look a little less "bug-eyed" that way

PyrZern

Made lots of small changes. Including armors details, scratches, spec/gloss value, etc etc.   Eyelashes barely visible at all from this distance...  Hands not resized yet. Will do that soon.

Gonna work on her make up next... Then her hands/gloves. Will also make some parts of armors more shiney.

PyrZern

Texture not final, neither is her pose. But it's getting there now !!!

Added: OMG. I forgot a piece of armors; the thing between the shoulder pads and the neckguard.... Fkkkkk. Flip desk.

PyrZern

I think I'm calling this done now.  Might play around a bit more to see if I can get better lighting.

lotet

Congrats on finishing! metal is looking much better now, I think the lighting and overall composition could use some work like you mentioned. have you tried marmoset 3 yet?

Ged

well done getting the model done, the metal has improved too, yeah the lighting and shadows dont look finished yet - theres hardly any contrast between light and shadow. try using some interesting lighting reference and seeing if you can replicate the look, for example stuff like this is cool http://www.3dartistonline.com/users/959/thm1024/1356384027_Knight_stricks_1_1100.jpg

 Also the face lacks colour variation and looks a little sweaty, try adding some colour around her eyes and on the tip of the nose and maybe try using marmoset sss if youre really going for realism. the eyes look like they are missing shine and a shadow of the upper lid.

PyrZern

Testing Testing !

Funny thing is; the eyeball is already very shiny... And the upper lid shadow is either too faint, or too strong that the eyes don't appear to 'pop' enough...  *flipping desk*

Elithenia

*puts desk back up*
It is coming along great though!

Ged

it is improving dont flip all the desks yet! hehe. Im only being a bit blunt with my feedback because I reckon theres great potential in this piece, it could be a great boost for your portfolio. Something that is standing out right now to me is how bright the blue is of the eyes. check out reference like this, the iris is not all one brightness of blue but has a gradient going from darker at the top to lighter at the bottom (due to the light direction) https://thumb7.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/2303/2303,1234721326,1/stock-photo-close-up-portrait-of-beautiful-blue-eyed-woman-deep-in-thougts-25003780.jpg

I also think the black cloth could be a little more shiny, on the concept theres a shine on her black cloth covered breast.

lotet

hey, quick thing with the eyes. the pupil is kind of small, which is really giving the crazy eye look, but the biggest thing is the actually position of the eye in relation to the eyelids. In a "normal posed eye" you rarely see the top side of the iris as its covered by the top eye lid.

If you look at this eye, It feels Relaxed and normal. 
In this example you can clearly tell the person is scared.

I hope this makes sense.

also. you should look at some makeup tutorials, right now it looks like she is wearing mascara but then forgot to put on the rest of her makeup.  either tweak your eyelashes texture so it dosnt look like mascara is applied, or finish up that poor girls makeup  

I really think you should fix up the eyes, also agree with what @ged is saying about them. I understand that you might not want to keep working and tweaking this forever and go back and change up textures, but for future projects I think you would really benefit from doing some head studies to get that skill up par with the rest of your tool set. do a couple of highpoly bust with polypaint or something.

anyways, hope that helps and I do think youve come a long way with this character, good job

Magihat

Quite extreme but hopefully it will help to illustrate the points others have made about the eye.

PyrZern

Guys, thanks a lot for the feedback! 

Somehow substance painter 2 doesn't like it when I work in 4k... with lots of layers. The thing could take up to 1-2 mins after any small change... usually within 30 secs, though. But anyhow...