Hey guys, I've been working on this character for some time now had some problems with my computer so it took a little longer as I expected but it's done. The character was for the polycount character challenge a while back. I'm hoping to receive as much feedback as I can on it soI can learn from it for my next characters. More images on my Artstation https://www.artstation.com/artwork/4xG2k
Nice work! What do you mean first character for portfolio though? Is this your first complete character or just going in to portfolio work now? -Seems like you have a solid grasp of garment making! -Topology seems excessive, especially on some areas like face, boots. You may want to watch that if you are targeting game studios etc. - I'd rather have the cap being cloth and blue like the concept, to create a nicer contrast. - Clump of hair on forehead would benefit from being more inflated, seems like it's embedded on the head model even though it's not. - Jewel/mechanism on his left hand could have been emmisive or lit in a way that it is the focus of composition, right now it gets lost. - The first images with the brown background blend with the character's palette and look unflattering. Overall a nice piece, and if this is your first character, or early work it looks really promising!
Second complete character but this is the first serious one that I'm using for my portfolio. -Thanks used marvelous designer and cleaned it up in ZBrush. - Yeah I might have gone to dense on the boots I have no idea what a reasonable polycount is for the face I just googled Nathan drake topology and used that as a reference. -Yeah maybe that would have been better I tried to get less contrast in due all the shiny stuff in the face like the glowing eye and the tubes. But maybe that was the wrong call. -Thanks will keep that in mind for the next time I'm having a pretty hard time with hair. - I didn't want the attention to be on the watch/jewel as I thought it was one of the least good looking parts of the model so I tried to not give it to much attention haha. Might have been better to do so for storytelling? -Thanks should I try to contrast the background with the character if I just have a color as background?
@Sunray, backgrounds, it's pretty subjective what works, depends on the subject as well. As a rule of thumb though don't use a color where if you would blur out your character it's the same or a close color. I'd go with a complementary to brown perhaps? Like a desaturated blue. Jewel, I just saw the jewel on the concept and it looked cool, like a good focus point but if it wasn't as polished at the end then it was a good call to leave it to the side. Brian makes a good point as well for the face! Keep it up man!
@Brian "Panda" Choi Thanks man, I will pay more attention to the color zones in my next face. I was already sad by how flat my face felt I think that will help a lot! I think some scars would have looked nice yeah.
@AgelosAp Thanks didn't even think about using a complementary color for the backgrounds although that sounds pretty logic haha. I will definitely try it in my future renders!
I don't think it got worse, I do think the bridge of the nose is a little too broad though, the mandible also, makes the head a little shapeless, you could adjust this with some subtle soft selection movements, shouldn't affect the textures that much. Also make sure your roughness levels replicate that of human face skin.
(Above is an example and not entirely accurate) There is a few journal entries I don't have on hand that are worth reading. A lot of science has gone into this sort of stuff. SSS would take it up a notch also, even if you fake it - Object space normal can be great for this sort of thing.
@Youshi Thanks man, I think you're right did a quick fix in photoshop just to look at how it would affect the head My gloss map looks pretty different thanks for the refernce! I spend some time on sss but not to much I didn't totally understand the skin shader in marmoset going to take a deeper look into that.
Thanks for the feedback once again. I revisited the project and tried to get the changes in there as much ass possible. I think he looks a bit better now. Also got the polycount on the boots down! More renders https://www.artstation.com/artwork/P1dNL Feel free to point out if you still see some things that could be improved!
Replies
-Seems like you have a solid grasp of garment making!
-Topology seems excessive, especially on some areas like face, boots. You may want to watch that if you are targeting game studios etc.
- I'd rather have the cap being cloth and blue like the concept, to create a nicer contrast.
- Clump of hair on forehead would benefit from being more inflated, seems like it's embedded on the head model even though it's not.
- Jewel/mechanism on his left hand could have been emmisive or lit in a way that it is the focus of composition, right now it gets lost.
- The first images with the brown background blend with the character's palette and look unflattering.
Overall a nice piece, and if this is your first character, or early work it looks really promising!
thanks for all the useful feedback!
Second complete character but this is the first serious one that I'm using for my portfolio.
-Thanks used marvelous designer and cleaned it up in ZBrush.
- Yeah I might have gone to dense on the boots I have no idea what a reasonable polycount is for the face I just googled Nathan drake topology and used that as a reference.
-Yeah maybe that would have been better I tried to get less contrast in due all the shiny stuff in the face like the glowing eye and the tubes. But maybe that was the wrong call.
-Thanks will keep that in mind for the next time I'm having a pretty hard time with hair.
- I didn't want the attention to be on the watch/jewel as I thought it was one of the least good looking parts of the model so I tried to not give it to much attention haha. Might have been better to do so for storytelling?
-Thanks should I try to contrast the background with the character if I just have a color as background?
Also makeup would be nice. Eye shadow. Mascara. Moles. Acne. Scars. Something.
backgrounds, it's pretty subjective what works, depends on the subject as well. As a rule of thumb though don't use a color where if you would blur out your character it's the same or a close color. I'd go with a complementary to brown perhaps? Like a desaturated blue.
Jewel, I just saw the jewel on the concept and it looked cool, like a good focus point but if it wasn't as polished at the end then it was a good call to leave it to the side.
Brian makes a good point as well for the face! Keep it up man!
Thanks man, I will pay more attention to the color zones in my next face. I was already sad by how flat my face felt I think that will help a lot! I think some scars would have looked nice yeah.
@AgelosAp
Thanks didn't even think about using a complementary color for the backgrounds although that sounds pretty logic haha. I will definitely try it in my future renders!
Also make sure your roughness levels replicate that of human face skin.
(Above is an example and not entirely accurate)
There is a few journal entries I don't have on hand that are worth reading. A lot of science has gone into this sort of stuff.
SSS would take it up a notch also, even if you fake it - Object space normal can be great for this sort of thing.
Thanks man, I think you're right did a quick fix in photoshop just to look at how it would affect the head
My gloss map looks pretty different thanks for the refernce!
I spend some time on sss but not to much I didn't totally understand the skin shader in marmoset going to take a deeper look into that.
Check this out if you havent already. Pretty simple breakdown.
Thanks, I used an older tutorial of marmoset 2 might be a better idea to use that one haha.
@Brian "Panda" Choi
Thanks for the feedback once again. I revisited the project and tried to get the changes in there as much ass possible. I think he looks a bit better now. Also got the polycount on the boots down! More renders https://www.artstation.com/artwork/P1dNL Feel free to point out if you still see some things that could be improved!