Atalanta, Ancient Greek Huntress
polycounter lvl 3
*Update 30/01/18
I've been updating my portfolio and realised that I'd yet to update this post.
Artstation link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6VY3w
I textured her in Substance Painter and rendered the images in Marmoset.
For this project I'm making a 3D realistic character based on the Ancient Greek Atalanta.
Weapons
First and foremost, I decided to look at what she might be wearing. I want the balance between soft, folded Greek clothing with strong dyes and gold embroidery, and the tight roughness of armour.
The hair will be curly and braided so I have already been looking into how I might achieve that.
Face
Looking at the faces they depicted in sculpture and real women. The closest I can get to their look is Mediterranean women.
Body
As Atalanta is a huntress I had to look at a range of body types on the athletic side. Decathletes and female MMA fighters work the best because the range of sports they do gives them a more balanced muscle concentration.
Using my ref board and a model, I photo-bashed an initial look for Atalanta.
3D
At the moment I've got the head sculpted to a point that I like, and am going to start on the body.
Because I started with a retopologised head mesh from another project, I won't have to worry too much about topology later on.
I've been updating my portfolio and realised that I'd yet to update this post.
Artstation link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6VY3w
I textured her in Substance Painter and rendered the images in Marmoset.
For this project I'm making a 3D realistic character based on the Ancient Greek Atalanta.
Atalanta Life
*Physical attributes can be decided from these
- Nursed by bear
- Raised by hunters
- Learned to fight and hunt as a bear would
- Grew up in wilderness
- Always happy
- Wear Calydonian boar hide and head?
- Which had an arrow through the eye
- Exceptional athlete
- Could out-race any man
- Can wrestle any man
- Good runner
- Was said to be one of the world’s most beautiful women
- In great athletic condition
- Young adult
- Father wanted her to marry and marriage age was usually 14-16
- Since she refused to get married for so long, I imagine she was at least in her late teens or a young adult when she had her adventures
- Wears armour even while running
Weapons
- Bow
- Arrows
- Quiver
- Spear
- Dagger
- Athletic outfit had one breast uncovered
- Was tricked into marriage by being distracted with 3 golden apples
- Excellent swift-footed huntress
- Swore oath to and has the protection/favourite of Artemis
First and foremost, I decided to look at what she might be wearing. I want the balance between soft, folded Greek clothing with strong dyes and gold embroidery, and the tight roughness of armour.
The hair will be curly and braided so I have already been looking into how I might achieve that.
Face
Looking at the faces they depicted in sculpture and real women. The closest I can get to their look is Mediterranean women.
Body
As Atalanta is a huntress I had to look at a range of body types on the athletic side. Decathletes and female MMA fighters work the best because the range of sports they do gives them a more balanced muscle concentration.
Using my ref board and a model, I photo-bashed an initial look for Atalanta.
3D
At the moment I've got the head sculpted to a point that I like, and am going to start on the body.
Because I started with a retopologised head mesh from another project, I won't have to worry too much about topology later on.
Replies
You have done a tremendous job gathering reference. It is refreshing to see someone address their personal work so seriously.
However, since it is pretty early along your workflow, It might be a good idea to take another look at the head. You have super polished features and separately they all look well exectued, but as an ensemble, head looks like it needs a little bit of structure.
Every face has distinct landmarks, that are created by muscles and skull bones and define its' underlying structure. It's essential to show that structure in order to produce a believable anatomically correct face.
Here are some references I've gathered.
Your head looks fine enough and the differences may seem miniscule but believe me, they mean the world in comparison.
Take a look at these heads by Adam Skutt.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lRL5o
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/l6KZa
Granted, male faces show these features and landmarks much more prominently, and female faces are generally more soft and round, but the structure is still there and it's pretty much the same.
With that being said, I've drafted a quick overpaint of what i was tryng to convey.
I hope it helps.
Now I'm not saying you need to make yor head from scratch. Instead, when you have the time, try this excercise: Dynamesh your head, and try to break it down to simple planes with trim dynamic or hpolish brushes. This might be useful.
Also, when you're working from reference, try working with a neutral angle photo. The olive-eyed girl, that was the main inspiration for your head, was photographed from the downward facing angle and it might have affected your proportions slightly.
Best of luck!
I'm having to look at female muscle structure, but then go back to my body ref board as a lot of the muscle breakdowns/studies have averagely muscled women, and I need that Olympic body~
If anyone has some good muscle ref for athletic women -bonus points if 3D viewer- I'd be grateful
All early stages and I'm not 100% decided on anything, so crit (head or body) always appreciated.
I've added definition to the legs.
This week I'll be designing the outfit with paintovers/photo-bashing. I'm excited to get on with the main theme of this project.
I might make the greaves a bit shorter as they are making her legs look a bit too short (the character is 5"4 though so she doesn't have that Glamazon height).
Having the hair and the colours sorted out really helps bring the character together and I'm glad to see the project moving forward pretty quickly.
This week I'll be finishing up the outfit and weaponry for sculpting -end of or next week.
Ecorche's and scans are your best friends, Scans are especially good because they are basically the only accurate format that can give you a ton of angles. Anatomy 360 has a bunch of free ref scans. Maybe break up each main area and focus on learning those areas. New masters academy also has a really really good series on understanding anatomy nicely broken down, but you do have to pay.
In terms of your actually sculpt so far she like 8-9 heads high, average male is a bout 7.5. Heroic builds are fine but I think the taller you go the more difficult the proportions are.
P.s this is obviously all just opinion, but I spent some time just properly committing to studying this stuff like you would for an exam and putting everything else to the side and it massively helped in the long run.
To Svartberg, thanks for sharing advice on understanding the face and choosing reference photos, and to Sam's_Stuff, thanks for sharing Anatomy 360!
@AgreeingMachine thanks for the advice
As you're going to revisit her anatomy, I would say try to decrease the mesh density, in my opinion you should first fix the main forms/muscles before you go to a higher density. If you start with a high density mesh, like yours, it can look lumpy in the end.
I was lucky enough to get some help from Blair Armitage with the anatomy of the character so I spent time refining the base and the overall design.
After finishing the face I blocked out some hair to get a feel for how it will flow.
I blocked out most of the clothing in 3ds Max and have began to add detail in Zbrush; I've made some tweaks from the 2D version.
Though I'm glad I got to learn the anatomy I want to speed up and get the high poly finished this week.
Crit welcome as always.