Archer Heroine

Mitchellangelo

Hey everyone.  I'm back.  I saw this really good character concept design and now I'm trying to bring her to life in 3D.

  I feel that I am overall done with the first step, which is the body mesh.  Does anyone have any suggestions at this stage?

Mitchellangelo

And here's a face close-up:

DGB

The head and body still look a little soft, although the general proportions look okay. It's hard to tell without any straight-on or profile shots. Also, the neck isn't flowing into the head and the jaw very well.

Mitchellangelo

Thank you DCB.  I'll give that another look.

lkameen3

you need to go back through and work on your proportions and anatomy especially the head

travisdreams

try to spend more time getting the proportions and overall character's anatomy done in the lowest topology possible and make your way up. I'd recommend dynameshing this to a low resolution and move around the mesh till it looks more solid in the anatomy/proportions. The faster you rush towards working on a really dense model, the more muddy/noisey it'll become. Typically you usually only wanna work on a really dense model when you're ready to detail and not during the adjustment of proportions. Hope this helps 

Mitchellangelo

Thank you travisdreams.  I think I see what you're saying.  Ever since I've been introduced to ZRemesh, my life pre-retopology has been so much easier.

Mitchellangelo

Okay here is my latest update for the body and face.  My only concern now is that she looks a little older.  Do you think so?

Mitchellangelo

I have everything blocked out on her right now.  I'm currently working on adding the little details in Maya, like the leather straps.  Her hair may not be the best but it's just a place-holder for now.  Is there anything I need to fix proportion-wise or anything else?

DGB

Good start on the hair. I'd make the jaw and and the nose/mouth area a little narrower, though. Also, in the concept it looks like the boots are only flaring out in front as opposed to the back and front as well. Also, something to look into later if you're already progressing with the clothes: using the Zmodeler brush makes clothing in Zbrush a lot easier to work with if you don't have something like marvelous designer available, as you can build up a low poly version around the body mesh without having to import/export from Max/Maya or similar program.

Magihat

Mitchellangelo said:

Is there anything I need to fix proportion-wise or anything else?

To put it bluntly - a whole lot. I would not advice going into details on what you have now and instead continue working on the basic anatomy. For starters the feet are crazy big and proportioned in a weird way. The arm is problematic both in form and length. Among other things. Perhaps this extremely crude thing will help. Another thing you might want to consider is using the see-through slider to check proportions yourself.

Mitchellangelo

Thank you DCB, I can go back and tweak those proportions.  Also thank you Magihat, I'll give that another look.

Mitchellangelo

Also DCB, thank you for that brush suggestion.  Clothing is so hard to do in ZBrush and I've been trying to find the right brush and method to make great clothing details.  I will so give Zmodeler a try when I go into detail on the clothing.

Tomtegubbe

I would ditch the extraterrestial face and consider trying to make the face look more human as in realistic. But that's just a personal preference, never understood the appeal of anime faces. Your reference actually looks a bit odd, maybe you could look at real humans for reference and just put the clothing that appears in your reference on that?
https://www.3d.sk/photos/showSet/id/2731/thumb/small/page/1

Texelion

I think you should just do a bust, concentrate on the face, try to get at least that part right without having to worry about proportions and clothes. Doing a whole character, even if she's half-naked, can be overwhelming when you don't even get the face right.

As Tom said, starting with a real human would be a good idea, to understand how a face is made, before stylizing it. Anime faces are not easier to make than realistic ones, despite the lack of details, they are actually harder to understand.

Also, you need a lowpoly with a good topology for the face and body. It will be a lot easier, believe me. You can probably find a good basemesh to study before doing your own. Even the basic humans from zbrush could be useful.

And use references, a lot of them, not just the character concept.

https://fr.pinterest.com/jungyonglee9/wireframe/

Mitchellangelo

I appreciate your personal opinion Tomtegubbe.  Thank you for the suggestion Texelion.

Mitchellangelo

I've done some work on her proportions, and I feel that her figure is more loyal to the concept now.  The two most notable features about her silhouette in the concept were a skinny waist and large hips.  Let me know if you have anything more to say about her proportions though.  I've also done some work on her face.  Hopefully it's more structurally sound and more attractive now.  My next goal is to create the high-res details on her clothes.  

DGB

The proportions are improved and the face is looking better as well, but I'd try defining the planes of the face a little more before proceeding to far. In the original concept, notice how the lit area in the lower half of the face forms a triangle from the eyes and narrows down as it approaches the mouth and chin area. Also, check out this reference for face planes as well. The only other major issue I see with the face right now is that the upper eyelids look too uniform and they don't look as though they tuck in enough at the crease.

Looks like the clothing is coming along well, though!

Mitchellangelo

Thank you DCB, I will give the facial proportions another look and check out that link you sent me.

Mitchellangelo

I know it looks like I haven't gotten very much done but I'm about to break for the holidays.  So I just wanted to put up one more update.  I'm blocking out the clothes now.  When I come back after Christmas I'll work on the secondary clothing details.  Just let me know if you have any critiques for this step.  I am going to give the face another look too.

PyrZern

Don't just post pictures from angles you think look best. Especially when you're trying to improve.  Take pictures from angles you think look worse/wrong, or from angles we can help.

I suggest profile shots of just her face. Front, Side, 3/4 view.

Mitchellangelo

Thank you PyrZern.  Here we go:

DGB

Good advice from PyrZern; more images are always better. The planes in the face are starting to come out a little more, though the rest body is still very soft-looking in general. If I were you I'd define the forms of the body and face more before getting too far into the clothing and other details, especially in the legs and bust, where you'll see the most skin. Sometimes when I'm sculpting a face I'll either sculpt or paint in the eyes as it helps me pinpoint discrepancies in the proportions or details in the face.

Mitchellangelo

Thanks DCB.  I can give the body another look before continuing with the clothing.  Do you know of any images that show plane structure for the whole body, like the image you sent me with the face planes?

DGB

You can find a lot of good references on Pinterest and Google like this one, though even just general anatomy images should be pretty helpful.

PyrZern

I would flatten her cheeks around the nose. Also, move her nose up a bit higher.

Mitchellangelo

That's an okay image DCB, but I'll look around on Pinterest.  Thank you PyrZern, I'll give that area another look.

Mitchellangelo

I've returned from the holiday break and I have done some work on the body.  Hopefully the bodily forms look a lot less soft.  I also gave the proportions another check.  I scaled up the hands a little too.  I'm about to go back to the clothes.  Do you see anything that needs work on the body at this point?

RainbowRat

Super interesting to follow your process and all the critique in this thread! I haven´t done a human sculpt myself yet and still practice anatomy, but the arm muscles in side view look rather wrongly overdefined to me. I think you should push those back a little and look at arm anatomy shots specifically. Or other anime sculpts and research how they did their arms. Another thing would be the shoes. They do come close to the concept but in my opinion it doesn´t work in the sculpt, they look way too long and and the bootleg in sideview looks so stiff and static. (actually I think it already looks too long in the concept : P )

Mitchellangelo

Thank you Rainbow Rat.  I'll give those areas another look.

mcgillchris

Making good progress! I'd say you could benefit from some muscle/anatomy study though, its pretty boring stuff, but just doing a few sculpts of arms/legs/etc would probably go a lot way for you seeing what could be improved. I'd particularly focus on how each muscle works and what it does. I've only done a few character models, but I often have the same problem. 

Mitchellangelo

You're right mcgillschris.  I've been meaning to squeeze anatomical practice sculpts into my busy schedule.  Most of my spare time is dedicated to my portfolio, but I can see what I can do to schedule in some practice sessions.  Thanks man!

Mitchellangelo

Here I am again.  I have a lot of clothing updates.  I feel like I've gone far into tertiary detail.  Some areas are going to have to be redone during retopology, especially all of the belts and straps.  Let me know if you see anything that could use more attention.

Mitchellangelo

I know it's a lot of closeups so bare with me.

Mitchellangelo

Awesome!  This clothing must be perfect!!  Going once....going twice..........

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Mitchellangelo

Oh, I see what you mean.  I will keep my posting format constant in the future.  Do you have anything critique on the clothing details though?

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Mitchellangelo

Thank you for your thoughts TeriyakiStyle.

Mitchellangelo

Hey everybody!  I know it's been months, but here is another update.  It's a huge leap from the last one, but I'm finally on render tests.  This isn't the final render.  She will be posed and of course I'm working on her hair.  Is there any feedback you have for me at this stage?  I want to try to make her green skirt (and possibly her dress) look more like soft cloth.  Do you have any suggestions on how to do that in Marmoset?

Mitchellangelo

Here are some renders with her hair texture done.  She is still going to be posed.  Do you think anything looks awkward at this point.  And please let me know if you see something that looks wrong.  Please don't leave me convinced that it's perfect!!.......please?..

Mitchellangelo

Here it is, the final product.  You can also see a Marmoset Viewer file of it at https://www.artstation.com/embed/5586190.