[WIP] Confused soldier
polycounter lvl 8
Hey Polycount, I wanted to show something I've been working on for some weeks now that I think I could get some feedback.
He first started as a model of a prussian soldier that was going to be my first game-ready human, but then I twisted the concept to make something to push myself a bit in everything and learn some design instead of almost copying from references of soldiers, so I turned him into a soldier so clueless of what he has to do and where he is that he's forgotten for what side he's fighting for. I gave him a katana, a hat from the napoleonic france, a uniform and prussian medals, some contemporary elements, an old west revolver...
I'm already starting retopo and UV's for some pieces. I baked the katana and flag already to be able to place them more easily in a single Zbrush file. I plan to make some simple rigging and work on my presentation too.
The baked revolver for the belt:
The arrows and bow I will place in his backpack (I changed the top feathers for alphas in the end, but the rest remains the same):
The baked katana:
The baked flag and the hair rendered straight from Mental Ray (with an old version of the soldier as a base, so it's not the same as the first images):
I have the project scattered over a buch of files, so it's hard to show a complete version of every part right now, but more or less the first images show how he is right now.
Any feedback is appreciated!
He first started as a model of a prussian soldier that was going to be my first game-ready human, but then I twisted the concept to make something to push myself a bit in everything and learn some design instead of almost copying from references of soldiers, so I turned him into a soldier so clueless of what he has to do and where he is that he's forgotten for what side he's fighting for. I gave him a katana, a hat from the napoleonic france, a uniform and prussian medals, some contemporary elements, an old west revolver...
I'm already starting retopo and UV's for some pieces. I baked the katana and flag already to be able to place them more easily in a single Zbrush file. I plan to make some simple rigging and work on my presentation too.
The baked revolver for the belt:
The arrows and bow I will place in his backpack (I changed the top feathers for alphas in the end, but the rest remains the same):
The baked katana:
The baked flag and the hair rendered straight from Mental Ray (with an old version of the soldier as a base, so it's not the same as the first images):
I have the project scattered over a buch of files, so it's hard to show a complete version of every part right now, but more or less the first images show how he is right now.
Any feedback is appreciated!
Replies
The overall design is obtuse, admittedly. I get what you were going for, but your birdwalking away from the Prussian design has, in my estimation, created a lack of clarity to what this character is. I feel like you should have stuck to the Prussian.
Yeah I maybe went too far with part of the design. I don't like the bow too much for example; I tried to make something with a fantasy vibe without falling into the generic bow with a lot of sharp spikes, but ended a bit obtuse. I already retopo'd it and almost finished its UVs and the arrow's, so I'll probably stick with it.
You're not hitting the bony landmarks of the face well like the zygomatic arch. You're ending up with a muddy facial sculpt overall; it's gonna bake bad.
The upper lip also doesn't make sense with the way the forms are on that area of the face.
The philtrum is the wrong shape and looks off; that needs fixing.
You need more mass for the nasiolabial fold.
Your brow as it hangs over the eyes needs more definition and needs correction. The curvature of the brow does not work like that, even if it is that pronounced over the eye.
The ear is muddy. A lot of unneceessary bumps. Smooth it out.
Why are his palms facing backwards? That's not a neutral pose. You're going to make deformations a lot worse if this gets rigged and animated.
His adam's apple is way too low. Adam's apples are not halfaway down men's necks.
The sternocledoid mastoid muscle needs better form, gradation in mass, and insertion defintion into the collar bone as it comes from the back of the ears.
You really have to lose a lot of the additions. It's just not making for a good looking character. The backpack. The banner. It's just this pastiche; you have opportunity to really clarify the character and focus on doing quality, not quantity. Don't just relent and say "It's too far in, I can't fix it." You haven't got te texturing yet. You can still fix this character to make it bomb.
Regarding the design, I feel like if I only added some pieces like the katana and the hat it wouldn't be that clear what the role of the character is, and he could be just a dude with a sword and a bunch of military equipment. I'm not saying that it couldn't be done with less objects if his personality is captured correctly, but considering I'm also making him with the idea of a big project for a pretty long timelapse to see how I manage with more heavy characters and various elements, I think this is the way to go.
Also, I wouldn't be able to take big parts out of him after this time working of them, it would just feel like I wasted hours and hours to end up throwing them up in the thrash, and it could be for the better, but that would hurt my soul and I can't do it, except maybe for the bow, which also ended being a lot more dense on polys that I expected, even if I knew it would be pretty heavy, and probably doesn't contribute much to the character to make it worth.
Plenty of professionals and amateurs here have trashed their characters. Lord knows I have multiple times, but if it's going to make your character look better do it. It's going to hurt, but you have time.
"he could be just a dude with a sword and a bunch of military equipment." is a weak idea. You have space to make it stronger. Don't make this action hero #565. There is quality in brevity, and this character could use a more succinct accesorization. More stuff doesn't make him cooler, it makes him unappealing.
If you don't want to throw ANYTHING away, just present the props individually and polish them to look good.
Why are his palms still facing inwards? You're going to make riggers very sad and confused.
The face still has issues. I really recommend dropping to lower subdivisions so we can make sure your large volumes and forms are on point before you start detailing in medium forms and even pores. Elements like the lips are improperly defined and sculpted, not accounting for the way the muscles are around the mouth.
Use the head of your character as the measurement, and reference this chart for ease:
About his design, I admit I dropped a bit of an excuse before, but I dunno, I think he's okay with the amount of accesories he has at the moment.
And I didn't change the arm because I would practically have to rig him right now to move everything without deforming the pieces. I'm not a rigger, but I think having the palms facing inwards it's a pretty standard position, so it shouldn't give too much trouble just for posing and make him grab the flag. Also I've saved some of the pieces without subdivisions to make the lowpoly, and if I move all the subtools of the arm I could not only go catastrophically, but I would also have to adjust every saved piece later.
Made the eyebrows and eyelashes too, but Max is crashing like crazy everytime I add some alpha planes to a scene so this is the best I could render without making it explode (I still haven't moved the beard):
Palms facing backwards is not standard T-pose position for hands. I recommend changing them before you build a habit out of laziness. I rig assets. Palms facing inwards makes me sad.
Yeah, it's like a forced pronation which I can already feel that it must hurt just by looking at it.
I ended up changing the arms just to stop worring about it, changed some parts like the armor and the clothes and adjusted the body again.
There are still some parts like the piece of cloth of his left arm that are still not finished and some others that I'll probably try to clean up a bit more, but can't think of a lot more changes and I'm honestly starting to feel a bit in a loop changing pieces again and again, so I'd call the high poly almost finished unless you have any other ideas that could improve his looks a bit more.
His hands are terribly sculpted. They need more polish and care. Right now, they look like broken tree twigs attached to a muddy block.
Your legs are still proportionally off.
I'm going to do something that I am starting to believe you haven't done: superimposed a correct proportional figure onto your own model instead of eyeballing it.
Like this:
The character overall still isn't reading appealing. It's just so much pastiche that it doesn't read as a clear idea. I really recommend removing elements, or doing a different design, to clarify it and make it stronger. No amount of good texturing can save a bad idea.