UPDATE: Challenge will run until the end of December January
Previous Challenge Thread
The Bi-Monthly CHARACTER ART Challenge | November - January
hero character
Welcome to the Bi-Monthly Character Art Challenge!
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 deadline 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.
However do try to make the final result game-ready
- 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!
Replies
I have been looking to expand my portfolio and found out about this challenge some time ago. I decided to join for this edition. I will propably go with Santa Claus. Hope we can learn something from each other
@marcchild49 You pick one of the 3 concepts and make a model based off of it. I select 3 concepts every time, one male, one female, one other (robot, creature, humanoid etc). Participation is optional, and you get to decide whether or not you want to do the Challenge, if you aren't feeling it this time you can wait until the next. I try to keep all 3 of the concepts similar in look and feel and am open to suggestions if there are themes people really want to see.
In spirit of the season, I felt like things that have a lot of fur or look like they could work in a cold environment was a good theme to go on. I tried to limit the amount of metal in the concepts since we had a lot of armored things last time.
PyrZern My critique would be that the head looks a bit too big for the deers body, but good start!
@apollo580 Looking good so far. The ears look a bit too high up on the head to me though.
I really wanted to do the last challenge but for a couple of reasons it didn't get past the blocking out stage.
This time though, I'm committed. And I'm going to make sure I stay at it by showing my progress right from the beginning. Going for Santa here, I've got a rough blockout of him to build around.
@Drocho, nice start. not sure i can explain properly but looking at the concept his overall silhouette should have his lower body taking more space (like a triangle). I would also make his legs longer below the knee & his head smaller
UPDATE
And this is my sketched base ATM, equine/cervidae are difficult, but pretty.
It has been quite a time since I took part in a Polycount Challenge. The last one I did was the December-February one. I really like the three concepts involved for this edition, and was wondering which one I would do for several minutes.
My choice is set on the Ulfen Guard, for the main reasons that I don't don't have a portfolio piece showcasing alpha hair/fur and realistic texturing, and I do have a few creatures/muscled beasts. So here I go for the Ulfen Guard.
To me the characters reads as a woman (cause of the hips and chest width, and face feminity) but it could also be a handsome young man with some inflated chest and hips armor parts.
I am gonna make it as I first read it, so, as a woman. I am going for a fully realistic style, with highly detailed materials.
Here is a breakdown I did to see where I am headed:
I have never really worked on realistic hair/fur yet so my time estimations might be wrong for this part; but overall I estimated this character to take 85 hours to complete from scratch to final in-game mesh (not including posing); 35h for the high poly, 26h for the low poly/uvs/shading, 4h for the baking process, and about 20h for texturing (counting 10h for the fur and hair textures).
I can do it in 3 weeks - a month, depending on my free time and current schedule.
@PyrZern The head is way too big compared to the body. The torso and belly parts are too small. At the moment your deer looks like a young one instead of a great father. I guess it will be great fun to sculpt all the muscle masses!
@apollo580 You shouldn't go this fast into a high density dynamesh. A good idea might be separating the head from the body so you can have fun already getting into details for the head. Good start on the head though. The nose is too wide and ears going too high. It is interesting you read the concept as a man.
@Drocho You too are going too quickly in a high density mesh, in my opinion. A great way to block out shapes is extracting parts from your base body then zremeshing them with a low value and then subdividing, so you can still play with the lower levels to move the big shapes while still being able to sculpt higher details. It is how I personally proceed in sculpting my high poly models, but also for blocking out, just les detailed and accurate.
I will post my progress soon. Let's get started!
Cheers!
Just want some opinions on Torso topology before I go any further. I'm very, very new to this. I hope I don't end up spamming the thread with tiny updates.
@PyrZern In addition to the other critiques, you should probably choose a better matcap for showing it off. That one obscures a lot of the forms.
@AdamDanby why not use the Julie model that ships with zbrush? (I'm editing this to say nevermind, that topology is way worse than I remember! Why not use the Nick average male and convert to female?)
Still in blocking out phase, i am not sure if proportions are right for this guy.
Here is another update from me, just trying to get the base mesh made before I work on changing him to be bulkier
@lkameen3, didn't even think about it tbh. no harm done though, i do few females so doing it from scratch was probably to my benefit.
face is looking awesome. i would flatten the nose bridge & tip & make it less bulbous for a female. & like ad1 said inflate the lips a little. i would also recommend supplementing the concept with some reference of celebrities or women with very characteristic faces
I'm planning to start on this tomorrow I've never participated in any challenge yet. Are there any things I should keep in mind?
@AdamDanby isn't it better to have the armor done before you bring it back in Zbrush and refine it. Since the armor has an influence on the way your wrinkles should fall?
I believe his gut and lower body shapes overall should be more full and rotund, also more jolly.
@Ad1 i agree with @adrxzero And his nose looks a bit too small.
@AdamDanby Like your take on the clothes! I'd suggest being mindful of belt, the fabric is looking slightly pillow-y at the moment. But i really like the pants!
Your start looks great! Only issue I see is that her butt looks a bit unnaturally flat
I've just been doing some sculpting here on Santa's head and body.
@ShortCake, cheers! hope the pillow look will subside as secondary wrinkles are added into the MD clothing
your anatomy is looking great. disagree with APoitr above & would say her flatter ass gives her a nice lithe look. don't have anything to crit, very inspiring tho
@Sunray, not sure I understand the question. pc isn't fast enough to sim a lot of clothing in md at once so I do individual parts & move them around in ZB to accommodate other pieces. also i add secondary wrinkles & any that would appear via armor or other parts manually
i think the santa should be generally shorter & wider than you have him atm. the concept looks to me like it was influenced from fantasy dwarves so I would look to them for some reference
@ShortCake that is looking real nice!
@Sunray anatomy is looking good, one thing i would say is that his legs in the concept are more defined and the trousers are a lot tighter - might be worth revisiting that area
Below is my update
Aonar i really like the pants you are using as reference, do you know what they are called?
Here is my progress, i was busy during the weekend so not much done, added more elements and adjusted the lower body.
Heres where my deer stands atm, all the fur is going to be done in substance following Nikita Volobuev's tutorial, so only fleshy details ect i'll sculpt.
Aonar i really like the pants you are using as reference, do you know what they are called?
Here is my progress, i was busy during the weekend so not much done, added more elements and adjusted the lower body.
@Aonar Killer start! Love the face. May I suggest making his hands a little smaller? I think it would make him look bigger overall.
@Isunoj Love his shape and proportions!
I narrowed her shoulders slightly and gave her a little more booty also blocked out the clothes in Marvelous, now just going over it, making sure the proportions are where I want them. I'm thinking of re-doing her legwarmers, I'm not overly excited about how they turned out.
@ShortCake Love the armor man looks good
@apollo580 I feel like you defined the muscles a bit too much he looks to ripped imo.
@RuiShi looking great so far but just a tiny little thing I would change is the nostrils. I would add a bit more shape on top of them like in the concept
Thanks for the images and for finding Derek Poundstone! I had a hard time finding a good reference but his body type is spot on. Your first blockout is looking good--just keep adjusting proportions. He could look less tall and more blocky.
Here's my blockout. I'm basing the face on Russell Crowe from Noah because I think he looks sort of like Santa and I like that look more than the one in the reference. If that's going to be breaking any rules just lmk. Thanks!
@ShortCake looking so good man! loving the cloth folds
@apollo580 really nice start man, like others have mentioned think more about adding fat
@Sunray face is great but the lips are kinda bothering me, i think they're too wide maybe (wont really matter with the beard tho haha)
@Michealon Yeah I hate the lips as well I can't get them right hope to get them a bit better at the next sdiv.
Thanks for the advice, I tried to tone it down and added a belly instead of 6 pack abs!
@ShortCake, Thanks for the feedback. Dude, your model looks fantastic.
Sweet Alan Moore look! also good job on shapes and proportions, I look forward to seeing more updates.
@ShortCake Wew this is next-level, I love it. How did you make the lower leg parts? Is it MD? Curious to see how you did!
@apollo580 Nice start on the torso and face. Something feels off about his belly and knees.
@Isunoj Nice beard!
Here is my current progress, mainly blocking out shapes. Did a MD base for the pants and tee, and detailed the face which still isn't where I want it but I'll get back to it a bit later.
Any crits welcomed!
GravityBwlast i get the impression that her legs are a bit short propably because of clothing, maybe try rising her hips?
Added some colors for preview and started scultping cloth. I am starting to worry about hair and fur, i have never done it right with planes.